Arduino Based Smart Energy Saving System in Ugandan Public Universities: A Case Study of Muni University, Uganda

Abstract

1. I ntroduction Automation is a technique of contr olling a pr ocess by electr onic devices w ith r educing human involvement to a minimum. The fundamental of building an automation system for an office or home is incr easing day-by-day with numer ous benefits. Industr ialist and r esear cher s ar e wor king to build efficient and affor dability automatic systems to monitor and contr ol differ ent machines like lights, fans, air conditioner s based on the r equir ements (Pan, et al., 2015). The automation method makes effective use of electr ical ener gy that eventually r esults in saving costs w hile r educing ener gy w aste. This pr oject is based on the concept of inter net of things (IoT) that allow objects including people and other devices inter connected over the inter net anytime and anyw her e using any netw or k and ser vice to exchange data and infor mation. Automation is another impor tant application of IoT technologies. IoT can be applied in setting up smar t homes and offices (Pan, et al., 2015). It can be used for the monitor ing of ener gy consumption and contr olling the envir onment in buildings, schools, offices and museums by using differ ent types of sensor s and actuator s that contr ol lights, temper atur e, and humidity (Minoli, et al., 2017).In nest apar tments, they have been using WIFI home automation system to save ener gy and contr olling electr ical appliances. The tenants access a w eb-based platfor m w hich allow s them to contr ol the electr ical appliances in their r ooms. But this system can be hacked into. How ever , in Niger ia, United kingdoms, India and china they use GSM home automation system to save ener gy and contr ol electr ical appliances. The system is much safer and secur e than WIFI system because it cannot be hacked into. Cur r ently, Muni Univer sity contr ols electr ical appliances using thr ee differ ent modes: Manual system w hich is used in buildings, the timer automation system w hich is used for gar den lights.it tur ns on and off after ever y tw elve hour s, the light sensor system w hich is used on secur ity lights. With low levels of light intensity, it tur ns on the secur ity lights. The cur r ent does not suppor t r emote contr ol of the electr ical appliances via the phone. The pr oposed Ar dui no Smar t Ener gy Saving Systems offer s flexibility and r emote sensing capabilities. Abstr act: Abstr act: The application of inter net of things in the r eal wor ld offer s numer ous benefits including smar t homes and offices, a technology t hat does not only save ener gy but also saves money. Office automation is becoming popular due to its numer ous benefits as applied in the wor ld of inter net of things. The specific objectives of the st udy wer e: to assess the cur r ent ener gy usage, identify cur r ent ener gy saving measur es, and design and implement a smar t ener gy saving system for Muni Univer sity. System r equir ements wer e collected fr om the r espondents who wer e staff of Muni Univer sity. The study consider ed 2 r espondents fr om estates office, 2 fr om pr ocur ement, 1 fr om each of the thr ee depar tments of education, Computer and Infor mation Science, and Nur sing Sciences. User r equir ements wer e gather ed a qualitative pr otocol using focus gr oup discuss and thematic analysis technique was employed. Heter ogeneous home automation systems and technologies wer e consider ed in r eview with centr al contr oller-based Ar duino, sensor s, web based, email, Bluetooth, mobile, SMS, ZigBee, Dual Tone Mult i Fr equency, and cloud based. The st udy design ut ilized the Global system for mobile communication technology as a user inter face using SMS based communication wit h Ar duino as the centr al contr oller. The system suppor ts inter net of things concept that can be applied in saving electr ical ener gy usage in public places including public univer sit ies. The study fur ther r ecommends the Ugandan gover nment to advocate for Ar duino Based Smar t Ener gy Saving System that can r educe electr ical ener gy expenditur e in Ugandan public univer sities Muni Univer sity inclusive.