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Abstract—Intelligent homes are nowadays equipped with all of lamps [5]. Also, methods have been proposed in order to
sort of smart devices for the control of appliances and domotic calculate the costs instead of directly metering [6].
applications. One of the main aims of these devices is, apart from In this paper, we present a smart lighting system that can be
the comfort of having automated systems, the efficient use of applied in smart homes, implemented experimentally on a
energy. This paper reports on the design and FPGA
implementation of a smart lighting system for application in
FPGA board and being capable of automatically adapting to
small smart homes. Unlike those systems using pervasive remote user needs and conditions, while requiring minimal field
controls, the proposed system is based on automatic detection of programming.
application conditions, and it requires minimum programming
by the end user. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
Figure 1 shows the block structure of the system, which
Index Terms—FPGA, smart home, lighting automated control. was programmed using the Altera DE2 board, based on a
Cyclone II FPGA. A clock signal at 1Hz is generated in order
I. INTRODUCTION to regulate the operation of the entire system. Counters for
Usage of electricity is one of the most important issues in hours, minutes and seconds were synchronized and two buttons
the global concern about energy. At the domestic level, apart of the board are used to set the time, which is shown in a group
from electrical appliances such as fridges, cookers and washing of 7-segment displays.
machines, lighting is perhaps the main factor in power Programming of the timing for switching the lights on/off is
consumption and there have been a lot of research efforts accomplished by a second module on the system. Here, the
towards the reduction of its costs by means of smart devices user sets the times of the day in which automatic detection of
and systems. people will be operating. When the system is on, signals
Although there are many proposals for the automation of indicating the presence or traffic of people are used as inputs to
lighting in smart homes, it is clear that a balance must be made the control system, which in return will generate the outputs
between the prices of energy, the costs of smart devices and the controlling the state of the lamps.
actual comfort of users. Missaoui, Joumaa, Ploix & Bacha [1] Intelligence of the system is provided by another logic
report a recent study on a model that considers simultaneously module, in which counters, adders and subtractors keep a count
these perspectives. Also, it is always important to think about of people in every room, and this condition is evaluated
the real needs and living conditions of users before proposing a together with the timing programmed in the previous module.
smart home solution, i.e., a system that works well for a given This way, light in a room is on only when it is required by
application might not result suitable for other uses. people. Furthermore, deriving information from the sequence
Context-aware systems have been proposed both for the of activation of flip-flops in the counters, the system is capable
control of lighting [2] and for inference of family needs in to detect the direction of movements between rooms, which is
residential environments [3]. In effect, in order to have a real particularly critical in small houses, where rooms often share
“smart” system, it is desirable that the proposed system is able areas for communication between them.
to “learn” from the context or environment and from the usage
patterns of the inhabitants of a house or a building. This is one
of the ideas behind the system proposed in this paper.
Different attempts to reduce the costs of electricity have PROGRAMMABLE INTELLIGENT INPUT – OUTPUT
DIGITAL CLOCK TIMER FOR DETECTION
been made, such as the sophisticated model proposed by ASSIGNMENTS
GENERATOR SYSTEM OF LIGHTING
AND CONTROL
Zhang, Liu & Papageorgiou [4] for the distribution of costs ENABLING NEEDS
among sets of smart homes with microgrids, and other more
conventional studies about energy efficiency of different types
Fig. 1. Logic structure of the lighting control system.
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Figure 2 shows the schematic of a circuit detecting the board. The system proved to be functional when adapted to the
conditions for the use of a lamp, depending on the counts of needs of a family in a small home. Programming required by
people entering and leaving the room, the time at which the end users is minimal and the operation of the system is
movement occurs, and the direction of traffic. adjusted automatically depending on the conditions of use.
The last block in the system diagram corresponds to the Practical implementation for actual smart home operation
inputs and outputs. Assignment of pins depends on the number would require a small PCB with the FPGA, a few
of rooms and lamps of a given application, which is limited in programming buttons, 7-segment displays and additional
this design to the availability of ports in the expansion headers interfaces for inputs (sensor signals) and outputs (light
of the Altera DE2 board. switching signals).
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