A Smart Home Appliances Control System Based On
Digital Electronics and GSM Network
R. A. Johar, E. Fakieh, R. Allagani, S. M. Qaisar
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Effat University, Jeddah, KSA
{rajohar, eafakieh, rmallagani}@effat.edu.sa, sqaisar@effatuniversity.edu.sa
Abstract—In current era, the Internet of Things (IoT)
is becoming an important part of our daily life. It is
employed in a variety of applications like smart cities,
intelligent transportation, smart grid, wearables, etc.
The aim of this project is to contribute to the evolution of
Internet of Things (IoT) application in smart homes. It
uses DTMF (Dual Tone – Multi-Frequency) connection
to control the home appliances remotely via a GSM
network. It overwhelms the confines of conventional wall
switches, have to be functioned physically. The idea is to
employ a DTMF decoder through which home
appliances can be controlled by dialing a predefined
number, via smart phone, for a specific load. It allows to
operate the system globally via cellular phone. The
system receives commands from a smartphone, decode it
via a DTMF decoder and generates a digital output
which passes through a CMOS based active low decoder
and Flip Flops to activate or deactivate an intended load
in the home. The load activation and deactivation
activities are also logged on the cloud. It is done by
observing the Flip Flops status via a front-end controller
and passing this information to the server via a Bluetooth
liaison. The server then updates the system status on the
cloud via the Thingspeak liaison. The front-end
electronics Truth Table and logic diagrams are
presented. The system modules are modeled with
Multisim and MATLAB. The simulation results have
shown a proper system operation.
Index Terms— IoT, DTMF, GSM, Smart Home, Front-
End Electronics, ThingSpeak
I. INTRODUCTION
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to devices which
are mutually connected via the Internet [5]. It is similar
to devices talking to each other in order to improve the
quality of our life. The IoT is an important wide
spreading technology. Recently it is employed in a
variety of applications like smart cities [1], wearables
[2], smart grid [3], smart agriculture [4], etc.
An interesting application of the IoT is a home
automation system. It allows to remotely control the
home appliances such as light, air conditioner, curtains,
door lock, laundry, oven, etc. It shows many
advantages like consumer comfort, energy
conservation, etc. [6]. For example, forgetting to turn
off lights, when leaving out of home, would not be a
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problem. Because, you can observe the system status
via the cloud based log and can turn on/off the devices
remotely like from workplace, university, etc.
Moreover, while approaching home, you can turn on
the air conditioner. It will make the home ambiance
comfortable while you reach there. Besides improving
the consumer comfort level, it also makes the system
cost effective by lowering the energy consumption and
electricity bills. Another merit of a home automation
system is security. The kids may unintentionally leave
the door unlocked post catching their bus to school. No
need to worry, in such case, you as the user, can lock
the door while you are away from home. Moreover, it
can allow you to monitor your household appliances
and insure safety in your home by using surveillance
cameras [7, 8]. In this context, several home
automation systems were put forward [9]. In [10],
authors have presented an Arduino based home
automation system. The Arduino is connected to the
nearby smartphone via a Bluetooth interface. An
Android based application runs on the smartphone for
switching the home appliances. In [11], authors have
employed a similar principle for the home automation.
However, the liaison between the smartphone and the
front-end controller is realized via the Wi-Fi interface.
Another home automation system is presented in [12].
In this case, the household appliances are remote
controlled with an Infrared (IR) tele-command.
Methods presented in [10, 11, 12] share a common
limitation that is the range of reception. For instance,
a typical Wi-Fi router extends its reception to around
32meter. The communication range of Bluetooth
module extends to 9m and for the reception range of an
IR module it is only 6m. It limits these systems
functionality within or around the intended homes.
In order to overcome the above mentioned
drawbacks the devised home automation system is
based on the Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) Network [14]. It is a
continuation of the worked presented in [13]. The idea
to employ the GSM based liaison between the
smartphone and the front-end electronics module. It
allows to globally control the intended home
appliances via the smartphone. Moreover, the home
appliances status is periodically logged on the cloud. In
this way the intended appliances status can be globally
supervised at any time. It allows a timely interaction
and cure in case of need.

II. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

The devised system principle is shown on Figure 1.

Figure 1: The home automation system block diagram

Figure 1, shows that the system is composed of a

Smartphone which acts as the intended appliance
on/off command generator and transmitter. It is linked
to the front-end electronics via a GSM receiver [14].
The received command is transferred to the DTMF
receiver via the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port. The
DTMF output is decoded and the decoder output is
memorized to update and hold the intended appliance
status. The command memory output is also conveyed
to the front-end embedded controller. It translates it in
a format understandable by the server and convey it to Figure 2: The proposed system flowchart
the server via a Bluetooth port. Finally, server updates
this log on the cloud based storage.
The system front-end electronics flow chart is III. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
shown on Figure 2. It shows that the user starts the
process by calling the GSM receiver via a smart
In order to demonstrate the interesting features of
phone. Once the connection is established, the user
the proposed system a prototype realization is
enters a command via dialing an appropriate digit. It
required. In this context a components level design is
decides that which appliance is going to be activated
proposed and its functionality is verified with
or deactivated.
simulations.
The GSM receiver transmits the received command
The system front-end electronics components level
to the DTMF receiver. It is done via a USB interface.
diagram is shown on Figure 3.
The DTMF receiver generates a 3-Bit binary code as
shown on Figure 1. D0 is employed as the data line of
a 4x1 command memory. The command memory
consists of 4 D-latches with an enable line. D1 and D2 To Appliances
act like the 2x4 lines decoder module selection lines.
The decoder outputs are inverted and are applied as
enable lines of the command memory. If enable is 1,
then its concerned latch is active otherwise it is in the To server
via
hold state. If the enable is 1 and the D0 is 1 then the Front-End
concerned appliance is switched on. However, if the Processor

enable is 1 and the D0 is 0 then it is turned off. The

updated device status is memorized by the latch.
Command Memory
If enable is 0 then the concerned latch is in hold state
and the concerned appliance does not change its state.
Figure 3: The proposed system components level diagram

A Samsung smartphone is used as a remote

command processor. The front-end embedded
processor is realized with the Arduino Uno [15]. It is
based on the ATmega328P microcontroller which acts

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as its brain. It is configured via a C based specifically enables and can have any value between 1, 2, 3, and 4.
developed application. The command memory outputs Table 2: The Truth Table of DTMF Decoder [18].
present the concerned device status. These outputs are
continuously monitored by the front-end controller.
The updates are shared with the server via a Bluetooth
Low Group High Group
interface. At the end of front-end controller, the (Hz) (Hz)
Digit D2 D1 D0
BC417 Bluetooth stick is employed for this purpose
[16]. On server side the Bluetooth port is linked with
this stick. For he studied case the server is realized 941 1633 0 0 0 0
with a Windows operating system based personal 697 1209 1 0 0 1
computer (PC) which is configured by employing a 697 1336 2 0 1 0
specifically developed MATLAB based application 697 1447 3 0 1 1
[17]. 770 1209 4 1 0 0
The front-end module function is clear from Table 770 1336 5 1 0 1
1 and its logic diagram shown on Figure 9. It shows 770 1447 6 1 1 0
that the user will first make decision on what appliance 852 1209 7 1 1 1
he wants to control, and according to table 1, he will Table 3: The Truth Table of employed Decoder.
dial a certain digit via smartphone. The system
functionality is illustrated with the help of following Inputs Outputs
example. ̅
E A1 A0 ̅̅̅0
O ̅̅̅
O1 ̅̅̅2
O ̅̅̅3
O
Let us suppose that after consulting the cloud based 1 X X 1 1 1 1
system log. The user decides to turn on lights in the 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
intended home. At first step he establishes the liaison 0 0 1 1 0 1 1
with the GSM receiver, connected to the front-end 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
electronics (cf. Figure 1). It is done by calling the 0 1 1 1 1 1 0
receiver through the GSM network [13, 14]. Then he Table 4: The Truth Table of employed D-Latches.
dials ‘1’ (cf. Table 1). The command is received by the
GSM receiver and is later on conveyed to the DTMF Previous
Inputs Outputs State
Value
receiver via a USB port. The DTMF receiver decodes
the command and generates a binary code of ‘001’. It ̅̅̅
EA D Qprev. QI 𝐐𝐢
means that both D2 and D1 are ‘0’and D0 is ‘1’. The
process is further clear from the DTMF decoder Truth 0 X X Qprev 1 Hold
Table, shown in Table 2.
The D2 and D1 will act as the selection lines of the 1 0 X 0 1 Reset
active low decoder, the output O0 will be activated (cf. 1 1 X 1 0 Set
Table 3). Being an active low decoder the active output
O0 will be turned to ‘0’. The deactivated outputs, O1,
O2 and O3, will remain ‘1’. The employed decoder
functionality is further described with the help of
Table 3 and the logic diagram shown on Figure 4.
The decoder outputs status will be converted into
the standard logic by passing them through invertors.
In this way the invertors network output Y1 becomes
active ‘1’, and the rest, Y2, Y3 and Y4, remains Figure 4: The employed decoder logic diagram.
deactivated ‘0’. As a result, it enables the first D-Latch
(DA). It makes QA to follow the data line DA. The DA
is driven by the DTMF decoder output D0. For this
case, the D0 is ‘1’. Therefore, QA will also become ‘1’
and it will turn on the intended home lights. The other
D-Latches are in a hold state. It is because of the
reason that their enable pins remain deactivated. The Figure 5: The employed D-Latch logic diagram.
functionality of employed D-Latches is further The status of D-Latches is also conveyed to the
described with the help of Table 4 and the logic front-end processor. It is implemented by using an
diagram shown on Figure 5. Where, I is indexing the Arduino Uno card [15]. It is configured by employing
D-Latches inputs and outputs and can have any values a specifically developed C based application. The
between A, B, C and D. n is indexing the generated linkage between D-Latches outputs and the front-end

54
processor is realized via the Arduino Uno digital PINs
2, 4, 7 and 8.
Figure 6: The Arduino Uno card [15].
The front-end processor transfers this information
to the server. The liaison is developed by employing
the BC417 Bluetooth stick [12]. This module is
powered by Arduino Mega. Its input and output data
lines are connected with the Arduino Mega Tx (Serial
Transmitter) and Rx (Serial Receiver) lines [19].
described in Section-III. In this case, after establishing
a connection between the mobile transmitter and the
GSM receiver modules, the command ‘1’ is dialed by
the user. It results into the DTMF decoder output of
D2=0, D1=0 and D0=1. The process is further clear
from Table 1. The four intended appliances, light, door
lock, air conditioner and curtains, statuses are modeled
with LEDs. Figures 8-A and 8-B, show that with
respect to the generated command ‘1’, intended to turn
on the concerned home lights, the status of first LED
is successfully updated as on. It assures a proper
functionality of the devised system front-end
electronics. A similar mechanism is repeated to test all
eight possibilities, shown on Table 1. The simulation
and experimental results achieved the desired
objective to control the intended home appliances via
remote smartphone based originated commands. It
allows the user to globally control the desired
appliance status and at any time.

Figure 7: The BC417 Bluetooth stick.

The server is realized with a PC, which is
configured with a MATLAB based specifically
developed application [17]. It displays and manages
the intended appliances status on the monitor for the
terminal user. Moreover, it also updates this
information on the cloud via the ‘ThingSpeak’ liaison.
The cloud log is updated by employing the MATLAB
function ‘thingSpeakWrite’. The authenticity of this
log is confirmed and analyzed by employing the
MATLAB function ‘thingSpeakRead’. The
information is also accessed remotely on smartphone Figure 8-A: The front-end electronics simulation results.
by employing the Android based ThingView app [20].
It allows to monitor the intended home appliances
status remotely and allows a timely interaction and
cure whenever required.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The proposed system implementation is modeled by

employing Multisim, C and MTLAB [17, 21]. The
front-end electronics modules are implemented in
Multisim and the server based application is modeled
with MATLAB. The front end controller is configured
with a C based specifically developed application. The
system operation is verified with electrical and Figure 8-B: The system experimentation setup.
behavioral simulations.
A screen shot of the simulation result of the front- The status of appliances is also logged on the server
end electronics, modeled with Multisim, is shown on by employing the MATLAB function
‘thingSpeakWrite’. This cloud based log is later on
Figure 8-A. The experimentation setup is shown on
also accessed remotely on smartphone by employing
Figure 8-B. The system is simulated and tested with
the Android based ThingView app. It makes possible
experimentation for the same illustration example to monitor the intended home appliances status

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remotely and allows a timely interaction and cure
whenever required.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper an IoT based smart home automation
system is devised. It is realized by intelligently
combining the emerging IoT technology with a smart
combination of an Android based smartphone,
Bluetooth wireless interface, PC and a smart front-end
electronics module.
A design methodology and implementation
strategy of different system modules is described. The
front-end electronics moulded are modelled and
simulated with Multisim. The functionality is verified
with electric simulations.
The front-end processor is implemented with
Arduino Uno. It is configured with a C based
specifically developed application. The liaison
between front-end processor and server is realized by
employing the Bluetooth interface. The system
operation is successfully emulated and tested for a
range of less than or maximum equal to 50meters
distance between the server and the front-end
electronics.
The server based operations are achieved with a
MATLAB based specifically developed application.
The developed codes are kept structural and
interactive. Most of the system inputs and outputs are
kept accessible. It allows to easily scale this system for
more complex applications. Moreover, it can also be
employ for students’ concept building and
demonstration purpose.
The intended home appliances status is
successfully updated on the cloud via the MATLAB
based developed server application. This cloud based
log is also successfully accessed on a Smartphone via
the ThingView application. It allows to access the
devised system status globally and at any time. It
makes possible to monitor the intended home
appliances status remotely and allows a timely
interaction and cure whenever required.
The devised system is easily scalable. A future
work is to add more sensors in the front-end
electronics module. It will allow to monitor other
parameters of intended appliances like temperature,
power consumption, etc. Moreover, addition of
machine learning and event driven tools will
respectively improve the devised system reliability
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and efficiency [22-25]. Integration of these tools in the
suggested system is another future work.
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Table 1: The Truth Table of employed front-end electronics.

DTMF Output Demultiplexer Output Inverter Output Command Memory Outputs (4 modules)
D2 D1 D0 O0 O1 O2 O3 Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 QA QB QC QD
Mobile
Digit Demultiplexer Input to D
Inverter Input Input to D Latch(s) Appliances
Input Latch (s)

DoorLock AC Curtains
A1 A0 DA,B,C,D A1 A2 A3 A4 E1 E2 E3 E4 Light Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4
D 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 Reset
Hold Hold Hold
1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 Set
2 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 Reset
Hold Hold Hold
3 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 Set
4 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 Reset
Hold Hold Hold
5 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 Set
6 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Reset
Hold Hold Hold
7 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Set

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.

Figure 9. Logic diagram of the proposed front-end electronics module.

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