Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7. Build Your Own Home
Automation System
So far in this topic, we have used only already-assembled Arduino boards and interfaced
them with different sensors and modules to build home automation projects. In the previous
chapter, we changed things a bit and hacked a commercial device using Arduino.
However, in this last chapter of the topic, we are going to take things further and build our
own system for home automation. As an example, I will take the design and fabrication of
a very simple low-power Arduino board. This board can then be used for home automation
projects such as battery-powered motion sensors.
Note that the goal of this last chapter of the topic is really to give you a step-by-step meth-
od to build your own home automation systems. Therefore, you should not focus on the
specific example that is developed in this chapter, but more on the overall methodology to
design your own systems.
The following will be the major takeaways from this chapter:
• First, we will choose the required hardware components for the project and install
a library dedicated to low-power applications.
• Then, we are going to build a prototype of our custom home automation system on
a breadboard to make sure it works correctly. We are also going to test the low-
power Arduino library to make sure the board will be power efficient.
• In the next part of the chapter, we will move from the prototyping stage to actually
making our own boards. We'll see how to use PCB design software so that you can
make your own PCB and then send it to a manufacturer to be built.
• Finally, we are going to see how to make a 3D-printed case for your home automa-
tion system and fabricate it.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search