2019 the 7th International Conference on Smart Energy Grid Engineering
A Smart Switch Control System Using ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module Integrated with an
Android Application
S. P. Makhanya, E. M. Dogo, N. I. Nwulu, U. Damisa
Dept. Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science
University of Johannesburg
South Africa
e-mail: 201423502@student.uj.ac.za, eustaced@uj.ac.za, nnwulu@uj.ac.za, uyikumhe@yahoo.com
Abstract—There is an increase in demand for low-cost Smart
Switch Control Systems (SSCS) that can remotely control
home switches or devices in residential environments using
mobile applications or websites. In this paper, an SSCS which
uses open source software, and can be configured without any
physical adjustment to the environment, is developed to
automatically minimize energy consumption. The device
comprises two parts: An Android application and a unit made
up of a programmable Arduino board, ESP8266 Wi-Fi module,
wall socket and an SD card. In the SSCS, the Android
application is used to remotely control switches using the Wi-Fi
technology. Tests carried out on the system proved its
effectiveness and quick response to signals.
Keywords-smart switch control system (SSCS); ESP8266 wi-
fi module; arduino; android application
I. INTRODUCTION
A Smart Switch Control System (SSCS) can be defined
as a networked system consisting of electrical outlets, lights,
heating and cooling systems that can be controlled remotely
[1]. The advent of Industry 4.0 and the increasing demand
for automation have necessitated the need for effective
systems for monitoring and control of household energy
consumption in a bid to minimize energy losses [2], [3].
There are numerous SSCS that have been developed as a
subset of Home Automation Systems (HASs), utilizing
different technologies like Bluetooth, Infrared, GSM etc. [4].
In [5], the authors developed a home automation system
that integrates Wi-Fi with an android mobile application. In
essence, this system uses an Android application installed on
a mobile device to communicate with a home automation
system using long range Wi-Fi technology. The application
is used to send commands to turn ON/OFF electrical
equipment such as home appliances etc. The system uses a
simple GUI application which allows the user to monitor the
results from an Android mobile application virtually
anywhere. In addition, from a security perspective, they
provided access codes for the Wi-Fi, thus their system helped
users to minimize human controls whilst providing a secure
home automation system.
In [6], the authors designed a Smart Home System Based
on a Wi-Fi Smart Plug. Their objective was to develop a low
cost and flexible solution to control and monitor home
appliances using Smart Plug devices. The system integrated
components such as the temperature sensors, current sensor
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and an IR-emitter. It allowed users to plug devices into the
smart plug and remotely switch power on/off and retrieve
information of the device‟s power consumption and ambient
temperature. Furthermore, it allowed users to control the
nearby devices using the integrated IR-emitter. The system
allowed two types of connections: A Wi-Fi Ad-Hoc mode
and a router in Wi-Fi infrastructure mode. The smart plug
included intelligent and information-oriented features such as
control function, communication function, timing function
among others.
A review of other similar works [3]-[6] shows that some
proposed SSCS have limitations like limited operating
ranges, unnecessary complexity, and so on. Hence the
integration of the Internet of Thing (IoT) and SSCS is a
perfect proposition for a reliable, easy-to-operate SSCS
solution. An SSCS that uses open source software is
therefore developed so that a user can control their home
switches wirelessly from a remote location to curb
excessive/unnecessary power consumption.
The rest of this paper is organized thus: In Section II, the
design of the proposed SSCS is presented. The Section is
divided into two parts - the first for the hardware and the
second for the software of the SSCS. Section III details the
test, results and discussion. Section IV presents the
conclusion and a recommendation for future advancement of
the work.
II. SYSTEM DESIGN
A. Hardware Design
The hardware components of the proposed SSCS are an
Arduino UNO board, an ESP8266 Wi-Fi module, wall
sockets, AC/DC power supply, Level Logic Converter (LLC)
and an SD card. The Android mobile application which can
run on a smartphone, tablet or an android compatible
computer is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that accepts
commands from the user. The commands are sent to the
controlling unit (Arduino UNO) of the smart device via Wi-
Fi communication. The Arduino UNO is an embedded
microcontroller which acts as the brain of the system. It
processes all the commands received and sends them to the
relay board which performs the switching task. The system
has four AC socket outlets, each of which is controlled by a
relay. Figure 1 shows the detailed block diagram of the
components of the hardware unit. Figures 2 and 3 are the
interior and exterior of the SSCS device respectively.

Figure 1. Detailed block diagram of the SSCS hardware unit.

Figure 4. Activity diagram of the Android application.

Figure 2. Interior of the SSCS prototype.

Figure 5. Developed Android application login page.

Figure 3. Exterior of the SSCS prototype.

B. Software Design
The GUI of the developed Android application is shown
below. It has a page for login or creation of account and
other pages for control of switches, viewing of switch status
and addition of switches. The application accesses data from
the SD card to verify the credentials entered on the login
page. Figure 4 is the activity diagram of the android
application. Figures 5 and 6 are snapshots of the login and
control pages respectively. Figure 6. Developed Android application control page.

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 III. TESTS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS switch number while the y-axes are for the average response
The system was set-up as follows: the ESP8266 Wi-Fi times. Note that on the x-axes, Switch 5 represents all the
switches (ALL). There were no significant differences
module was configured, and its firmware was set-up using
between the time responses of the switches, with the
the ESP8266 Download Tool V3.6.4 and made ready to difference being in milliseconds (ms) which was probably
respond to AT commands. A serial monitor of the Arduino due to human errors while starting and stopping the timer.
IDE was used to type in the commands, such as AT,
AT+GMR etc. Note that all AT commands were entered in
capital letters. AT was sent and the ESP8266 responded with
„OK‟ to show that the AT commands are set and ready to be
used. Furthermore, AT+GMR was sent and the ESP8266
responded with the AT version, SDK version and compile
mode. Several other AT commands were sent as can be seen
in Figure 7.

Figure 8. Plot of the switch time response test for turning off the switches.

Figure 9. Plot of the switch time response test for turning on the switches.

A survey was carried out to determine user satisfaction

by users of the developed SSCS. The Android application
and the smart unit were given to six users (two students from
each of the Engineering, Accounting and Psychology
Figure 7. ESP8266 Download Tool V3.6.4 displaying results. Departments), and their operation was thoroughly explained.
Table I details the survey questions and codes, and Table II
To ascertain successful communication between the details the responses of the respondents. Figure 10 is a bar
mobile application and the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module, the chart of the ratings obtained.
serial monitor of the Arduino IDE was used to view the
actions between the NodeMCU-App and the ESP8266, TABLE I. SURVEY RATING CODES
where the NodeMCU-App Arduino code was run on the Code Question
Arduino IDE and its Android code was run on Android RC1 Is the device easy to use
studio while a compatible mobile phone was connected. An
IP address was inserted in the NodeMCU-App and an LED RC2 Is the aesthetics of the smart unit pleasing
was turned ON/OFF. This proved that there was RC3 Is the GUI of the android application aesthetically pleasing?
communication between the NodeMCU-App and the RC4 Is the overall performance of the system satisfactory?
ESP8266 which was through commands sent via HTTP. In
RC5 Will you recommend this device to other users?
addition, the LED turned on wirelessly from the commands
sent from the NodeMCU-App via Wi-Fi, and this code was
integrated with the main code of the Android application and TABLE II. RESPONSE OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS
the Arduino. User RC1 RC2 RC3 RC4 RC5
Figures 8 and 9 depict the plots of the average time
1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
responses of the switches to ON and OFF signals. Each
switch was individually turned on four times, and then 2 Partially Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes
turned off four times. The x-axes of the plots represent the

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 3 Yes Yes Partially Yes Yes 2. A Wi-Fi module which facilitated the connection and
Yes
communication between the mobile application and the
4 Maybe Partially Yes Partially Partially actual device.
Yes Yes Yes
5 Yes Yes Partially Partially Partially
3. A programmable board/microcontroller which acted as
Yes Yes Yes the brain of the system and executed key functions.
6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 4. An internal security system which protected the device
from unauthorized users.
It was noted that, the users understood how the SSCS Finally, a survey was conducted on users of the system
works and that most users rated „yes‟ for ease of use and who were generally satisfied with its performance and
overall performance of the system. indicated that they will recommend it to other users.
The proposed SSCS may be improved by incorporating a
system that can intelligently respond to demand response
signals without jeopardizing customer satisfaction.
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