Automatic paper vending and direction control

Ajinkya Vilas Chavan1,Maithilee Prakash Kadam2, Pranit Pranay Girkar3, Adarsh Sugathan4
1,2,3,4
Final Year Engineering Students,
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India
1
[email protected] , [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract—This machine caters the needs of students and automation. It basically eliminates manual operation and the
professionals within an institution. It is difficult to purchase units involved are as follows:
paper during rush time and students have to stand in long
queues. Using this prototype student can automatically collect 1. Input Unit[1]
required number of papers by inserting coin. It will consume less
power than other vending machines. This mechanism makes use
2. Processing [1]and control unit
of sensors and microcontroller and various principles of 3. Output Unit[1]
mechatronics for both coin detection and vending system. The
machine makes use of modulo design wherein the blocks are  Input Unit: The unit deals with accepting a Rs.10
replaceable. This machine also has an inherent mechanism which coin and checking for its authenticity.
helps to find locations within the campus.
 Processing and control Unit: It consists of a
Keywords—vending,direction control,mechanism,coin,rollers microcontroller which upon receiving the genuine
coin sends a signal to the dispensing mechanical unit
I. INTRODUCTION to start vending the required quantity of papers.
Vending machines have been in use since 18th century.  Output Unit: It dispenses the required quantity of
They have been used for dispensing different products like paper using roller mechanism.
soda cans, cigarettes, bills, water, candy, toys etc. the common
example of vending machines which uses engineering The basic system consists of the following parts:
principle is the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). The idea 1. Mechanical Unit [1]: It consists of rollers, gears,
proposed in this project is to vend a specific or predefined shafts which form an integral part of the paper
quantity of papers on insertion of a Rs. 10 coin. The aim is to dispensing system. The basic framework for
reduce the burden of people working in stationeries as well as dispensing paper has been done using wood, metal.
customers. This machine also has an integrated mechanism
which directs people to their destination without any hassle. 2. Electronic Unit [1] and Programming IDE: It consists
of arduino microcontroller which will check for the
A. SIGNIFICANCE authenticity by comparing the speed calculations with
a specific fixed criterion and thereby send signals for
This machine mechanically vends the papers thereby reducing starting dispensing mechanism. We make use of basic
human efforts and time. concepts of Embedded C language clubbed with
B. SCOPE Arduino Instruction Set.
The basic working mechanism of normal vending machine 3. Electrical Unit [1]: The SMPS as well as electrical
is improvised by combining the operation of cash counting motors form the electrical components.
machines and navigation system. The main advantage of this
project is that it operates on low power. The coin sensing III. COMPARISON WITH THE EXISTING TECHNOLOGY
mechanism used here can also be used in other large scale
applications as per the requirement of the user. Further the
machine can also be modified so as to accept paper bills as Currently vending machines are in practice all over.
input money instead of coins. The no. of papers that are Although the basic coin insertion mechanism is similar, but
vended are accurate as per the user requirement. the use of modulo blocks and the concept of spring action
which helps in faster supply of papers is what makes the
system unique. Also a secondary system of direction provision
II. METHODOLOGY is something new implemented within the same system. This
The main aim of the vending machine is to provide a fixed machine is a dual purpose system which is being developed
quantity of white pages on insertion of a Rs.10 coin. The for the welfare of students, staff members etc. in a college or
project operates on basic principles of mechatronics [1] and an organization

1 PCE Electronics Journal

 IV. SENSORS AND CONTROLLER C. DC MOTOR [4]:
A DC motor is any of a class of electrical machines that
A. MICROCONTROLLER[2]: converts direct current electrical power into mechanical
The microcontroller used is Atmega 328.The Atmel 8- power. The most common types rely on the forces produced
bit AVR RISC-based microcontroller combines: by magnetic fields. Nearly all types of DC motors have some
32 kB ISP flash memory with read-while-write capabilities internal mechanism, either electromechanical or electronic; to
1 kB EEPROM, 2 kB SRAM,23 general purpose I/O lines, 32 periodically change the direction of current flow in part of the
general purpose working registers, 3 flexible, timer/counter motor. In this system, the DC Motor of operational voltage
with compare modes, internal and external interrupts, Serial and Most types produce rotary motion; a linear motor directly
programmable USART, A byte-oriented 2-wire serial interface produces force and motion in a straight line. Current: - 12V,
, SPI serial port, 6-channel 10-bit A/D converter (8-channels 5A is used. The speed is 500rpm.
in TQFP and QFN/MLF packages),programmable watchdog
timer with internal oscillator, Five software selectable power
saving modes, operating frequency of 20MHz. The device
operates between 1.8-5.5 volts. The device achieves
throughput approaching 1 MIPS per MHz

Figure 3 DC gear motor

D. LCD MONITOR (16*2) [5]:

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen is an electronic
display module and finds a wide range of applications. A 16 x
2 LCD display is very basic module and is very commonly
used in various devices and circuits. These modules are
Figure 1 Atmega328 Arduino Board preferred over other seven segments and other multi segment
LEDs. The reason being LCDs are economical, easily
B. THROUGH BEAM IR SENSOR MODULE[3]: programmable, have no limitation of displaying special and
Two sensor modules used basically determine the time even custom characters(unlike 7 segments),animation and so
required for the Rs.10 coin to pass between a fixed distances on.
which is considered as the standard for checking the
authenticity of the coin. The specifications for the same are as
follows: 1.Dimension: 32mm X 11mm X height 20mm width
2. The main chip: LM393, infrared on the radio head
3. The working voltage: DC 5 VHaving a signal output
instruction.
4. A single-channel signal output.
5. The output valid signal is low.The sensitivity is not
adjustable.
6. Can be used to count the work piece, the motor speed. The
circuit board output switch

Figure 4 16*2 LCD Display [5]

Figure 2 IR sensor module

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 V. WORKING interrupts matches the preset value then the coin is
The devices which are connected/interfaced with the validated.
microcontroller(Arduino)can be represented in a block  On validation arduino issues a signal to a gateway
diagram as shown below: motor on it’s on its output pin. Thereby coin is
accepted into the collection box else it is sent to the
A .BLOCK DIAGRAM rejection box
 After validity check the arduino issues a signal to
start the roller mechanism and thereby the vending
of preset value of papers begins.

2. DIRECTION CONTROL:

 Will not work on GPS rather it will be working on a

fixed and limited coordinated system within a given
campus where the machine is to be installed.
 Program for the direction machine will make use of a
3D array which will consider a building as a 3D array
with predefined number of active and passive blocks.
 These passive blocks will be reserved for future use
as if there is any change in the construction of
Figure 5 Block Diagram
building i.e. if any new structure or rooms are added
B.FLOW DIAGRAM to the initial structure.
 The input will be taken from the user for what
The basic working of the machine can be explained with the
location within the campus he/she wants to go. The
help of a flow diagram.
input which the user gives will be decoded into a set
of ASCII and Binary codes.
 The input will be essential to locate the particular
position to the 3D array which in turn will correspond
to one of the rooms or location within the building.
 Once the position is found by the program a
predefined set of output will be displayed on the LCD
panel.
 The idea behind this is to not use GPS but a fixed
coordinate positioning using 3D array for a specific
building and specific location only.

VI. ADVANTAGES
The machine reduces human efforts required for handing
out pages to customers. It also results faster delivery of white
sheets. Also the direction feature helps newcomers to locate
areas within a campus.

VI. DISADVANTAGES

. The machine only operates for an Rs.10 coin and not for
Figure 6 Flow Diagram other variety of coins as well as paper money.

1. PAPER VENDING MECHANISM: VII. APPLICATIONS

 A pair of magnets is used to slow down the coin on
insertion due to hysteresis effect.
This type of vending machine can be used in educational
 Coin passes through the optical gates and blocks institutions [1]. Offices, courts [1] and government [1]
continuity of light thereby generating interrupts to establishments can use this machine for both vending paper as
the arduino unit. If the time measured between these well as understanding directions within the organization.

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 IX. CONCLUSION

Although vending machines are being used widely

nowadays. Having paper dispensing machines is essential in
campuses, offices wherein students or employees need to wait
in long queues. This type of machine reduces human efforts
and also provides accurate results.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our HOD

Prof. R. H. Khade, our project guide Prof. Ravi. K. Biradar
and our project coordinator Prof. Ujwal Harode who have
significantly guided and encouraged us to proceed with this
newly proposed idea. We would also like to thank our
principal Dr. R. I. K. Moorthy for providing us with all the
facilities and environment to bring out the best of our
capabilities

REFERENCES

[1] IJSETR-VOL-4-ISSUE-4-634-639
[2]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATmega328
[3]http://www.dnatechindia.com/through-beam-ir-sensor-module.html
[4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor
[5] www.engineersgarage.com/electronic-components/16x2-lcd-module-
datasheet

4 PCE Electronics Journal

POWERLINE COMMUNICATION USING
X-10 PROTOCOL
Meera Kharat1,Ankita Gharat2,Trupti Raut3, Mithun Sawant4
1
Assistant Professor, 2,3,4 Final Year Engineering Students,
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India.

Abstract: Power lines carry energy to the appliances. The advantage which captivates the researchers to work on
aesthetics of PLC (Power Line Communication) is that the PLC. Anything which is connected to the sockets in
data transmission is carried out without inserting any more home using PLC is the part of the network and can be
cables, using a low-end but robust technology known as X- controlled to the desired level. One more upper head
10 protocol. Nowadays the idea of intelligent homes is
becoming an important feature. By making full use of X-10
of using this network is the availability of many
technology, sending and receiving data to the appliances access points in one room as there are many sockets in
which are under our control by interfacing with the 220V each room. However noise can occur in PLC.
power line and modulating our data on 120 KHz carrier According to power lines are connected to a
burst. In this research work, we added the dimension of transformer for supplying power however interference
controlling home with the help of PLC using serial port between signals can happen that can cause problem in
communication i.e. by sitting anywhere we can manage the communication [1]. It is discussed that narrowband
status of appliances along with attaining the temperature, noise fluctuates with day and night times [2].
light intensity, voltage and current control. According to asynchronous impulsive noise causes
fluctuation in amplitude, time and pulse width [2].
Keywords: PLC, X-10.
Frequency response of PLC is different in different
I. INTRODUCTION buildings because of difference in wiring, structure
and difference in machinery connected to the network.
Thus it needs monitoring and controlling. In data
Home automation is a step to digital housing. In attenuation can occur because of various elements
this paper the discussion take place on home connected to the circuit [3]. To retain signal strength
automation using power line communication (PLC). repeaters should be used which can increase the cost.
By means of PLC, data can be sent and received by Security of the network is not that much satisfactory
already existing power cables. For data transmission but research work is `under process to improve it. It is
we have used transreceiver. Framing is used for concluded that first generation PLC was able to
coding in which instruction is placed between start transfer 14Mbs theoretically and this rate decreases to
and stop bits. In Character oriented transmission data 10Mbs practically due to error correction and
is packed between start and stop bit. Start bit is always remittance caused by noise [2]. Now due to effective
low and is always one while stop bit can be two or technologies and reliable research current innovative
more bits and are always high. Zero crossing detector work shows that by using PLC that this speed can be
plays important role in the circuit as it detects the improved to 100Mbs theoretically and 60Mbs
point in AC signal where command signals are to be practically [4]. Time delay in current PLC systems is
sent. In buildings different types of wiring is present. very low almost up to 10 ms per next command.
Normally to avoid any problem we are using main
220V supply for transmission of our data. A personal II. BACKGROUND
computer is used in the network to control all the
instructions. To avoid complexity we have used Power Line Communication systems are also referred
simplex transmission and power line coupling circuit as demotic, Smart Home Systems or Ambient
is used for interfacing. FSK modulation is used by this Intelligence Systems [5]. These systems will permit
circuit to meet high frequency need for interfacing the controlling and monitoring of the appliances. From
with 220V AC signal. LDR and different other sensors the many past years there has been concentration on
are used for measuring temperature, voltage and this technology. Different techniques have been used
current. PLC can be used in buildings, hospitals, in for communication such as a ZigBee Remote control,
green houses and in places where monitoring is Remote Access Device, Wi-Fi Remote Control, SMS
needed. In PLC, there is no need of extra wiring rather Based Home Automation System and Home
preinstalled electric wires are used. This is the main automation system using PLC. One of the

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predominant applications of Bluetooth is home wiring as well as receives the signal. Digital data
automation. Bluetooth technology has the aptness of sends between X-10 devices by using household
transmitting the voice at half-duplex rates up to electrical wiring [12]. The digital data is encoded onto
1Mbps and data between the transportable and fixed a 120 kHz carrier that is transmitted like bursts during
electronic system with the non-appearance of cables the zero crossings of the 50 Hz AC alternating current
but the disadvantage is incurring a access delay [6]. waveform. At each zero crossing, one bit is
For the monitoring and controlling of the devices an transmitted. A controller sends a command and
economical and unchallenging system is to use a address in the form of digital data to a controlled
remote called zigbee remote control. Instructions from device and scrutinizes said devices. The status of
the remote are dispatched to the destination device. In advanced devices should simply exhibit voltage
this method, there is a requirement of mobile which dimming level, on/off and sensor status. The device is
have Wi-Fi and J2ME for help in accessing and more often plugged in the same place where home
controlling respectively [7]. In SMS based home appliances are inserted.
automation, GSM has many characteristics like it uses
mobile network and battery power so it is secured X-10 WORKING: The method used by X-10 is
from internet hackers which may muddle our home based on a simple data frame with eight data bits (one
automation, but the drawback includes system running byte) proceeded by a predetermined start code. The
cost [8]. X-10 is protocol which consign signal over complicated part of this technology was not the
120V AC wiring [9]. Digital information is system of binary data, but the method in which it was
represented by 120 kHz bursts timed with power line transmitted from one device (the transmitter) to
zero crossing. X-10 technology is used along with the another device (the receiver). The key was for every
microcontroller (PIC16F877A) for creating a home device to have an integral "zero crossing" detector so
automation environment. The use of this that all of them were synchronized together (figure 1).
microcontroller is because of its versatility, its flash A receiver opens its receive "window" twice each sine
program memory and data EEPROM. From the above wave (figure 2), that is 120 times each second or 7,200
different methods discussed, the proposed method times each minute.
meliorates in a way because home automation using
Power line communication is cost effective. Bluetooth
has an issue of delay, mobile is required for Wi-Fi
method along with the matter of signal distortion,
SMS based are extortionate. So we are manipulating
power line for our communication purpose. It will
reduce the system cost and can control the devices
with the assistance of personal computer by sending
data over power lines.

III. METHODOLOGY

X-10 home automation is also known as X-10

protocol. X-10 protocol is a technique for home
automation devices interaction. Power line is being
deployed for the purpose of signaling as well as
control. It is well known because it can be easily Figure 1 X-10 working
installed using preexisting cables rather configuring
new wiring system [10]. X-10 is the most promising Since these devices would not have any direct wiring
protocol system and it is budget friendly. It permits between them, it was necessary to devise a way of
the users to transfer (transmit) signals to homes and sending the data over the existing electrical wiring.
offices across power line wiring. X-10 is not a The actual binary data is transmitted by sending 1ms
complicated network. X-10 transmissions are bursts of 120 kHz just pass the zero crossing of the
harmonized to the zero crossing point of the AC 50Hz power. It was also obvious that complementary
power line. The design intent is to transmit alongside bit pairs were necessary. Therefore, a binary "1" was
to the zero crossing point but from [11] should be defined as the presence of a pulse, immediately
within range of 200 microseconds. The delay might be followed by the absence of a pulse. A binary "0" was
50 microseconds in between signal envelope input and defined as the absence of a pulse, immediately
120 KHz output bursts. X-10 communicates with followed by the presence of a pulse.
trans-receiver, sends signals over the power line

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 Figure 4 Letter and Number code

Figure 2: Presence and absence of a pulse Whenever the data changes from one address to
another address, from an address to a command, from
one command to another command or from one
While the transmitted pulses were to be a full 1ms
command to another command (figure 8), the data
in duration, the receivers were designed to open a
frames must be separated by at least 6 clear zero
receive window of only .6ms. That allowed for the
crossings (or "000000"). When teaching classes in this
loose tolerances of the 1978-era components to "slop"
stuff, I often say that this gap "gives the receivers a
plus/minus 200m sec. In order to provide a predictable
chance to catch their breath". In reality, of course, the
start point (figure 4), every data frame would always
sequence of six "zero’s" resets the shift registers. Once
begin with at least 6 leading clear zero crossings, then
a receiver has processed its address data, it is ready to
a start code of "pulse", "pulse", "pulse", "absence of a
receive a command. As before, all data frames must
pulse" (or 1110).Once the Start Code has been
begin with a start code. Then the following nibble
transmitted, the first nibble is sent. (If you are not
gives the letter code (figure 9). The next nibble is the
familiar with the term "nibble", that means 4 bits or
command. Since the last bit is the function bit (bf = 0
half a byte.) In order to make it easier for the
= address number, bf = 1 = command) all the
consumers to operate the devices, this first 4-bits were
commands end in a binary 1. This diagram (figure 10)
given "letter" code designations (figure 5). It was also
only shows the six most often used commands. A later
decided to randomly rearrange the patterns so that the
graphic will illustrate all the available commands. As
"A", "B", "C" codes, etc., did not fall in the predicable
before, all X-10 protocol transmitters send their data
binary pattern. It is easy to see that in reality, the "M"
frames twice. Figure shows that an example
code is first in the binary progression.
transmission of two data frames (A1 A1 A-On A-On,
for instance) would take 47 cycles of the 50Hz sine
wave. That would equate to 0.7833 seconds, or in
practical terms, just under 1 second. Of course, some
commands take less time. When sending an "All-
Lights-On" command, for example, no address needs
to be sent. Therefore the entire two frame sequence
takes only one third of a second (actually, 0.3666
seconds, but who’s quibbling). If your receivers react
on the first frame, it could take a mere two tenths of a
second (0.1833 seconds).

IV HARDWARE DESIGN
Figure 3: Start Code in data string
The home automation PLC system major
In one contiguous bit stream, the second nibble components are trans-receiver and power line module.
provides the second half of the address (figure 6). The Home owner can control the electrical load by
last bit appears to be a part of the "number" code but utilizing X- 10 protocol. This technology demands
in reality it is a function bit. Whenever this function PLC trans-receiver switch, where the transmitter must
bit is a "0", it designates the preceding nibble as a also be included into the system to control receiver
number code and therefore a part of the address. For [9]. Replace this hardware mechanical switches and
purposes of redundancy, reliability and to electrical outlet or receivers plug into main electrical
accommodate line repeaters, the X-10 protocol calls outlet. In local houses, X-10 protocol control system
for every frame of data to be transmitted twice. transports signals by utilizing the 220V power line in
order to provide remote control to a particular address.

7 PCE Electronics Journal

Generally a trans-receiver is set to send the common crossing. Use AC power lines so everything will be
address and the receiver aspires it to control. Devices discussed in terms of AC supply. The zero crossing
controlled by master slave or centralized unit is points are the points on the AC sinusoidal wave where
personal computer. This centralized unit sends the value of voltage is 0V. All the data that is
commands to serial port (MAX232) through software conveyed while using X- 10 is done with zero
which controls all on/off functionality of devices. crossing detector. The relay is actually
Serial communication utilization is based on UART electromechanical device that start working through
protocol (Universal asynchronous receiver- electrical current. Relay is like a remote control which
transmitter) for networking purpose on power line is using to control many applications. Here no. of
channel. Isolator is like a switching device which relays used to control the on/off function of the
produces break in the connection that will bear the different devices. For example by using software
voltage breakdown. It just acts like a circuit protector named as Hyper Terminal, house code from A to P is
to safe the whole circuitry from direct 220 V through sent which is shown on LCD then sends the device
1:1 adjustment. Overall system endorse RS232 serial code that actuate the relay of required
interface for maintenance and configuration. device.ULN2003 is high voltage & current Darlington
Microcontroller comes with only one serial interface array. It is use to operate the load through relays
[10]. So, it will be connected with user interface which are connected to IC ULN2003.Connection with
(laptop or pc linking with serial interface) for relay is shown in Figure 6.
communication [11]. The serial interface is pointed
blank linked with terminal PC serial port terminal
software Hyper Terminal to requisite for
communicating with the system. UART interface is
the basic source to connect the nodes with personal
computers by debugging the source codes and
checking the nodes continuously. Asynchronous
serial data communication is commonly used for
transmissions.
In asynchronous technique, data is placed between
start and stop bits called as framing. For asynchronous
communication in data framing, the data, like ASCII
characters, are bind between a start and stop bit. The
start bit always contain 1 bit and the stop bit can be
one or two bits. The start and stop bits are 0 and 1 (0-
low, 1-high) respectively. The signal is carried by high
frequency carrier because it cannot flow through Figure 6: Relays with Max232 controlling devices
power transformer across the multiphase system [16].
The zero crossing of voltage waveform is timed to The transceiver is the vital feature of this research
coincide by signal. Every node of X-10 system work. It has the ability of hearing all the incoming and
receives signal from zero crossing point which is then outgoing instructions coming and represents those
synchronized with X-10 transmission. To identify the instructions as an output. In fact, transreceiver is that
signals transmitted by controller, zero crossing portion of which sends and receive data and also
detector is utilized. The receiver searches the signal of displays our required outcome. . Discussing the
zero crossing during 0.6 microseconds. Transmission functionality of trans-receiver, a step down
synchronized with zero crossing is shown in Figure 5. transformer is used which step downs the coming
220V form power line to 12V, as it is imperative
because of the fact that our components cannot bear
such high voltage. Latterly this 12V is supplied to our
supply section; the supply section consists of DB107
which in its internal configuration is a bridge circuit
hence it produces a pulsating DC. The capacitors
remove all the spikes and perform the filtering action.
This output from capacitors flow into the voltage
regulator IC 7805 which is the heart of the supply
section, the circuitry discussed before was just to
Figure 5: Transmission synchronized with zero crossing support the voltage regulating function.
In Power line communication all the data
transmission takes place with the help of zero

8 PCE Electronics Journal

 all the data is send twice [12]. This all is applicable for
transmitting end. The trans-receiver starts receiving
V.SOFTWARE SECTION the incoming data after demodulation at the zero
crossing points of the sine wave. As soon as the bits
The idea of a smart home is always very are received, bits matching operation begins for the
fascinating for engineers though a lot of contributions verification. If the letter code matches exactly then the
have been made yet more has to come. However, X- comparison of number bits start and waits for a
10 technique is the most reliable technique because of function bit. As discussed earlier X-10 sends its code
its obvious advantages of controlling your home. The twice so that now the above procedure applies to the
data transmission is very simple utilizing the existing verification of replica of the transmitted code. After
power cables. The data is sent on synchronizing with this the receiver takes rest of three cycles of sine
every zero crossing points of a sinusoidal wave wave, in reality it is not in rest state at this time rathe
modulated on the 120 KHz high frequency signal of
50Hz of power line. The bits are sent in one by one
fashion. The data flows in two different circuitries; a VI. CONCLUSION
transmitter and a receiver. The whole process is
shown in Figure 7 This paper focuses on the novel X-10 protocol
controlled by PLC (power line communication) at
frequency 120 KHz with transmission range is about
300 m. It also controls 256 devices by more simple
commands unlike ZigBee and Wi-Fi because both
devices need local internet which have drawback of
signal attenuation. To lower such type of signal
attenuation we use X-10 protocol. This study has
some limitations like time delay in sending the signal
and the RS232 serial port disconnection but this is
inexpensive project as it incorporates less distortion
factor. For the exchange of data by means of power
lines, a favorable method is provided which will help
in controlling and monitoring called home automation
using PLCs [12]. Another prominent advantage of our
research work is the software Hyper-terminal that is
easily available and more convenient in use. In this
research paper, X-10 protocol communicates between
controller and appliances over power line. This
technique is used because it gives successful
reduction of extra cabling with active power factor
correction technique . Also X-10 protocol has been
devised in automation through this research work
which was not accurately used in previous researches
of PLC. Moreover, a module is inserted in the AC
outlet which will help in interaction and
communication purpose over power lines and PLC
module also performs the bit error removal
Figure 7: Flow of Software Section phenomena.
First half of address of 4 bits i.e. nibbles is sent. The REFERENCES
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9 PCE Electronics Journal

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Wireless Communications, Vol.9, pp. 104-111, December 2002
[11] Sheikh Izzal Azid, Sushil Kumar, “Analysis and Performance
of a Low Cost SMS Based Home Security System International
Journal of Smart Home Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 15, July, 2011
[12] Zhang Yuejun, Wu Mingguang, "The Study and Development
on Intelligent Lighting System Based on X-10 Protocol, “China
Illuminating Engineering Journal, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 22-26, March
2004.

10 PCE Electronics Journal

 SOLAR HARNESSING WI-FI
CONTROLLED ROBOT
Meera Kharat1, Mrinal Ramachandran2, Priyanka Mahadik3, Priyanka Patil4, Sadiq Qureshi5
1
Assistant Professor, 2,3,4,5 Final Year Engineering Students,
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India.

Abstract—Solar energy which is a renewable form of energy 40% increased efficiency results in more Earning compared to
can be used to offset the present sources of energy. This paper 20-35% in single axis. Solar electricity is almost always more
proposes a solar tracking system designed with microcontroller expensive than electricity generated by other sources. The
ATmega328 and ldr's that will actively track the sun and change price for the solar tracking system is very expensive for the
its position accordingly to maximize the energy output. Also, by family that use more power than usual because they need to
providing a wi-fi module in the robot, mobility has been added to install more than one solar panel to produce enough power.
the bot which can be controlled using a computer or a mobile Solar electricity is not available at night and is less available in
phone thus providing a wider range of applications cloudy weather Conditions. Therefore, a storage or
complementary power system is required. Solar cells produce
Keywords- LDR, solar tracking system, solar cell, ATmega328,
stepper, WI-FI DC which must be converted to AC (using a grid tie Inverter)
when used in currently existing distribution grids. This incurs
an energy loss of 4-12%.Tracking the sun from east in the
I. INTRODUCTION morning to the west in the evening will increases the
efficiency of the solar panel by 20-62% depending upon the
In years to come the need for energy will increase manifold
location [5]. Near the equator, you will have the highest
while the reserve of conventional energy will deplete in rapid
benefit of tracking the sun.The system designed does not
pace. To meet the growing demand of energy harnessing of
include a PLC (programmable logic controller). Hence, it is an
non-conventional /renewable energy is a must. Switching to a
economic solution. Solar tracker has been designed using the
natural voltage source like wind, rain, tides, sunlight and
new principle of using small solar cells to function as self-
geothermal heats is biggest industry in practice and research.
adjusting light sensors, providing a variable indication of their
In this advancing era of technology one of the most important
relative angle to the sun by detecting their voltage output
and sought after aim is to find alternative sources of energy.
[3],[4].
Energy costs, decreasing supplies of fossil fuels, emphasis on
protecting the environment and creating sustainable forms of
power have become vital, high priority projects for modern III. METHODOLOGY
society. Among all the available non-conventional sources,
solar energy is the most abundant and uniformly distributed. As mentioned earlier, the robot has got two phases. The
solar harnessing phase and the mobility phase. Firstly, rays
Though the technology of trapping the solar energy is studied
of light fall on the solar cells thus generating a potential. The
and developed, in existence the process can be improved to
LDRs underneath each solar cell varies its resistance with
increase efficiency and make it cost-effective. the sun moves
respect to the intensity of light falling on them the LDR is
across the sky during the day, it is advantageous to have the
solar panels track the location of the sun, such that the panels connected to the analog input pins of ATmega328 controller
are always perpendicular to the solar energy radiated by the which compares the two voltages and sends an output signal
to the stepper motor. This output signal makes the stepper
sun [1], [2]. This will tend to maximize the amount of power
motor turn in either right or left direction depending on
absorbed by PV systems. It is estimated that using a tracking
which solar cell, lesser intensity of light is incident. thus, by
system, over a fixed system, can increase the power output by
rotating the solar cell towards the sun we receive a higher
30% - 60%.
output potential.
II. BACKGROUND
The problem that we can see here is the solar panel that is use
is only in one way direction. Because of this problem, the
power that can be generated is low. In Dual axis system, 30-

11 PCE Electronics Journal

 Now let us see the hardware used in a little detail.

A solar cell is a sandwich of two different layers of silicon

that have been specially treated or doped so they will let
electricity flow through them in a way. The lower layer is
doped so it has slightly too few electrons. It's called p-type or
positive-type silicon (because electrons are negatively charged
and this layer has too few of them). The upper layer is doped
the opposite way to give it slightly too many electrons. It's
called n-type or negative-type silicon. It generates electricity
by using sunlight to make electrons hop across the junction
between the different flavours of silicon. When sunlight shines
on the cell, photons (light particles) bombard the upper
surface. The photons (yellow blobs) carry their energy down
through the cell. The photons give up their energy to electrons
(green blobs) in the lower, p-type layer. The electrons use this
energy to jump across the barrier into the upper, n-type layer
and escape out into the circuit. Flowing around the circuit, the
electrons provide an output voltage. To track the sunlight, it is
Figure 1: Block diagram for solar harnessing phase necessary to sense the position of the Sun and for that an
electro-optical sensor is needed. The proposed Sun tracker
Now coming to the mobility phase, a webpage and a uses the electro-optical sensor for self-calibration. A LDR or
mobile application has been created with IP address photoresistor is a variable resistor whose electrical resistance
192.168.10.2 with basic control commands i.e. right, left, up, depends on the intensity of the light falling on it. The LDR
down. The robot has a WI-FI module which when given a resistance decreases with incident light intensity increasing.
3.3v input, provides a Wi-Fi signal. When a computer or a
mobile device is connected to the host device it transmits the ATmega32 is has a 32K bytes of In-System Programmable
control commands to the Wi-Fi module which in turn sends Flash Program memory with Read- While-Write
it to the L293D Motor Driver IC which drives the motor asper capabilities. it is simply a device which compares two
the commands. voltages, and outputs a one bit binary. The comparator in the
ATmega and ATtiny MCU's is an analog component in that it
compares analog values, but it is used as a digital component
to trigger an interrupt when the state of the comparator output
changes.

Figure 3:ATmega32 comparator

Servos are controlled by sending them a pulse of variable

Figure 2: Block diagram for mobility phase width. The control wire is used to send this pulse. The

12 PCE Electronics Journal

parameters for this pulse are that it has a minimum pulse, a Another parameter that varies from servo to servo is the
maximum pulse, and a repetition rate. Given the rotation turn rate. This is the time it takes from the servo to change
constraints of the servo, neutral is defined to be the position from one position to another. The worst case turning time is
where the servo has the same amount of potential rotation in when the servo is holding at the minimum rotation and it is
the clockwise direction as it does in the counter clockwise commanded to go to maximum rotation. This can take several
direction. It is important to note that different servos will have seconds on very high torque servos.
different constraints on their rotation but they all have a
neutral position, and that position is always around 1.5
milliseconds (ms).

Figure 4 Min. and Max. pulse width

The angle is determined by the duration of a pulse that is

applied to the control wire. This is called Pulse Width
Modulation. The servo expects to see a pulse every 20 ms.
The length of the pulse will determine how far the motor
turns. For example, a 1.5 ms pulse will make the motor turn to
the 90-degree position (neutral position).When these servos
are commanded to move, they will move to the position and
hold that position. If an external force pushes against the servo
while the servo is holding a position, the servo will resist from
moving out of that position. The maximum amount of force
the servo can exert is the torque rating of the servo. Servos
will not hold their position forever though; the position pulse
must be repeated to instruct the servo to stay in position.

When a pulse is sent to a servo that is less than 1.5 ms the

servo rotates to a position and holds its output shaft some
number of degrees’counter clockwise from the neutral point.
When the pulse is wider than 1.5 ms the opposite occurs. The
minimal width and the maximum width of pulse that will Figure 6: Algorithm for servo motor
command the servo to turn to a valid position are functions of
The ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module is a self-contained SOC with
each servo. Different brands, and even different servos of the
integrated TCP/IP protocol stack that can give any
same brand, will have different maximum and minimums.
microcontroller access to your Wi-Fi network. The ESP8266
Generally, the minimum pulse will be about 1 ms wide and the
is capable of either hosting an application or offloading all
maximum pulse will be 2 ms wide.
Wi-Fi networking functions from another application
processor. Each ESP8266 module comes pre-programmed
with an AT command set firmware, meaning, you can simply
hook this up to your Arduino device and get about as much
Wi-Fi-ability as a Wi-Fi Shield offers (and that’s just out of
the box)! The ESP8266 module is an extremely cost effective
board with a huge, and ever growing, community. This
module has a powerful enough on-board processing and
storage capability that allows it to be integrated with the
sensors and other application specific devices through its
GPIOs with minimal development up-front and minimal
loading during runtime. Its high degree of on-chip integration
allows for minimal external circuitry, including the front-end
Figure 5 Various width of pulses
module, is designed to occupy minimal PCB area. The
ESP8266 supports APSD for VoIP applications and Bluetooth
13 PCE Electronics Journal
co-existence interfaces; it contains a self-calibrated RF
allowing it to work under all operating conditions, and
requires no external RF parts.

Figure 8: L293D motor driver

IV. CONCLUSION
The use of sensors provides a new dimension to the robot
and increases the scope of its application. The project can be
extended by using sensors which detects any leakage of LPG
gas, smoke or any fire and alerts the user through alarm. It can
be used for Warfield and monitoring applications in far off
areas. The solar tracking robot involves wired connections
which makes it water sensitive. It can be made more powerful
by more mechanical advancements. The results of this
Figure 7: Wi-Fi module
research indicate that the STR is capable to track the
L293D is a typical Motor driver or Motor Driver IC which movement of sun and perform a self-alignment once the robot
allows DC motor to drive on either direction. L293D is a 16- is out of position. By attaching a solar panel on the solar
pin IC which can control a set of two DC motors tracker robot, the efficiency of the solar panel can be
simultaneously in any direction. It means that you can control increased. The average power can be increased up to 19.72
two DC motor with a single L293D.It works on the concept of percent compare to static.
H-bridge. H-bridge is a circuit which allows the voltage to be
REFERENCES
flown in either direction. As you know voltage need to change
its direction for being able to rotate the motor in clockwise or
anticlockwise direction, hence H-bridge IC are ideal for [1] D.S. Chauhan, S.K. Srivastava, “Non-ConventionalEnergy Resources”,
New Age International, 3rd Edition, 2012.
driving a DC motor. In a single L293D chip there are two h-
[2] A.K.Saxena, V. Dutta, “A versatile microprocessorbasedcontroller for
Bridge circuit inside the IC which can rotate two dc motor
solar tracking,” in Proceedings of the 21st IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists
independently. Due its size it is very much used in robotic Conference, vol. 2, pp. 1105–1109, Kissimmee, Fla, USA, May 1990,
application for controlling DC motors. Given below is the pin 1990,pp. 1105 – 1109.
diagram of a L293D motor controller. There are two Enable [3] V.ShirishMurty, “Smart Grid Designs for The Improvement in Solar
pins on l293d. Pin 1 and pin 9, for being able to drive the Technology and its Development” International Journal of Advanced
motor, the pin 1 and 9 need to be high. For driving the motor Electrical and Electronics Engineering, (IJAEEE), ISSN:2278-8948, Vol.2,Jan
with left H-bridge you need to enable pin 1 to high. And for 2013.
right H-Bridge you need to make the pin 9 to high. If anyone [4] J. Rizk, and Y. Chaiko, “Solar Tracking System: More Efficient Use of
of the either pin1 or pin9 goes low, then the motor in the Solar Panels”, International ScienceIndex, Electrical and Computer
corresponding section will suspend working. Engineering Vol:2, No:5,2008
[5] Hossein Mousazadeh, AlirezaKeyhani, J Arzhang, Hossein Mobli,
• Pin 2 = Logic 1 and Pin 7 = Logic 0 | Clockwise Karen Abrinia, A Sharifi,“A review of principle and sun-tracking methods
for maximizing solar systems output”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Direction
Reviews 13 (2009) 1800–1818, 20 January 2009.
• Pin 2 = Logic 0 and Pin 7 = Logic 1 | Anticlockwise
Direction

14 PCE Electronics Journal

 UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT
DETECTION USING ARDUINO
Ravi Gupta1,Vijita Ramisetty2, Vinita Ramisetty3, Amrin Nevrekar4
1,2,3,4
Final Year Engineering Students,
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India

Abstract-This paper proposes underground fault location then it is difficult to locate fault.
model using ARDUINO. Underground distribution cables The aim of this project is to determine the distance of
faces with various technical difficulties regarding detecting underground cable fault from base station in kilometers.
and locating their faults. Different factors like remarkable Now the world is become digitalized so the project is
charging currents, cable construction and variations from intended to detect the location of fault in digital way. The
the variety of bonding and grounding methodologies.
underground cable system is more common practice
ARDUINO is basically an open source hardware used to
create interactive electronic objects consisting of various followed in many urban areas. In case if any fault occurs
analog and digital pins, serial communication interfaces, for any reason at that time the repairing process related to
including USB on some models, for loading programs (C++, that particular cable is difficult due to not knowing the
C, and java) from personal computers. The LCD (liquid exact location of cable fault[2]. The fault can be any
crystal display) used is of 16*2 displays. In this paper, defect, inconsistency, weakness, current diversion from
concept of ohm’s law is used. To detect a fault in the cable, its intended path caused by breaking of conductor and
the cable must first be tested for faults. When any fault like failure of insulation.
short-circuit occurs, voltage drop will vary depending on the
length of fault in cable, since the current varies. A set of SIGNIFICANCE
resistors are therefore used representing cable length in kilo The system provides way for finding out the location of
meters and fault creation is made by a set of switches at
damaged cable thereby reducing human efforts an
every known kilo meters (km’s) to cross-check the accuracy .
The fault occurring at what distance and which phase is
displayed on a lcd interfaced with the ARDUINO. The II. METHODOLOGY
underground cable system is especially used for distribution
in metropolitan cities, airports and defense service, because The Project detects the location of fault in
underground cables are not affected by any adverse weather underground cable lines from the base station in
conditions. kilometers using an ARDUINO board. It uses the
Keywords: Underground cable, fault location, ARDUINO, standard concept of ohms
LCD, USB. law i.e., when a low dc voltage is applied at the feeder
I. INTRODUCTION end through a series resistor to the cable lines, then
current would vary depending upon the location of fault
Concerns about the reliability of overhead lines, in the short circuited cable. When there is a short circuit ,
increases in their maintenance and operating costs, and the voltage across series resistors changes accordingly
issues of public safety and quality-of-life are leading and fed to an ADC to develop precise digital data which
more and more utilities and municipalities to the the programmed ARDUINO would display using lcd in
realization that converting overhead distribution lines to kilometers[4]. The project consists of series of resistors
underground is the best way to provide high-quality representing cable length in kilometers and fault creation
service to their customers, under-grounding provides is made by a set of switches at every known km.
potential benefits through reduced operations and
maintenance costs, reduced tree trimming costs, less
storm damage and reduced loss of day-to-day electricity III. COMPARING WITH EXISTING
sales when customers lose power after storms[1]. The TECHNOLOGY
underground cable system is very important for
distribution especially in metropolitan cities, airports and The existing technology is not fast as compared to
defense service, because underground cables are not using controller in the system. It is much convenient way
affected by any adverse weather condition such as storm, to locate a fault with efficient way.
snow, heavy rainfall. But when any fault occur in cable,

15 PCE Electronics Journal

 IV.SENSORS AND CONTROLLER:
LCD MONITOR (16*2) :-Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
MICROCONTROLLER (ARDUINO UNO):- screen is an electronic display module and finds a wide
It is a powerful single board computer, an open source range of applications. A 16x2 LCD display is very basic
module and is very commonly used in various devices and
hardware platform allowing creating interactive electronic
circuits. These modules are preferred over other seven
objects. It consists of ARDUINO board, set of various
segments and other multi segment LEDs.The reason being
analog and digital I/O pins, serial communication LCDs are economical, easily programmable, have no
interfaces, including USB on some models, for loading limitation of displaying special and even custom
programs from personal computers. Its platform provides characters(unlike 7 segments),animation and so on.
an integrated development environment (IDE) based on
the processing project, which includes support for C, C++
and Java programming languages. This method features
an Atmel Atmega328 operating at 5v with 2Kb RAM,
32kb of flash memory for storing programs and 1kb of
EEPROM for storing parameters. The clock speed is 16
MHz which translates to executing about of 300,000 lines
of C source code per second.
The microcontroller used is Atmega 328.The Atmel 8- Figure 3 16*2 LCD
bit AVR RISC-based microcontroller combines:
32 kB ISP flash memory with read-while-write
capabilities. 1 KB EEPROM, 2 kB SRAM,23 general V.WORKING
purpose I/O lines, 32 general purpose working registers, 3 The project uses the simple concept of OHMs law
flexible, timer/counter with compare modes, internal and where a low DC voltage is applied at the feeder end
external interrupts, Serial programmable USART, A byte- through a series resistor. The current would vary
oriented 2-wire serial interface, SPI serial port,6-channel depending upon the length of fault of the cable in case
10-bit A/D converter (8-channels in TQFP and QFN/MLF there is a short circuit of LL or 3L or LG etc. The series
packages), programmable watchdog timer with internal resistor voltage drop changes accordingly which is then
oscillator, five software selectable power saving modes, fed to an ADC to develop precise digital data which the
operating frequency of 20MHz.The device operates programmed microcontroller would display the same in
between 1.8-5.5 volts. The device achieves throughput Kilo meters. The project is assembled with a set of
approaching 1 MIPS per MHz. resistors representing cable length in KMs and fault
creation is made by a set of Switches at every known KM
to cross check the accuracy of the same.
The devices which are connected/interfaced with the
microcontroller (ARDUINO) can be represented in a
block diagram as shown below:

Figure 1Atmega328 ARDUINO Board

Relay and Relay Driver ULN2003:-

A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays
use an electromagnet to mechanically operate a switch,
but other operating principles are also used, such as solid-
state relays
It is a monolithic high voltage and high current Darlington
transistor arrays. It consists of seven NPN Darlington
pairs that feature high voltage outputs with common
cathode clamp for switching inductive loads [5]. It has
high current carrying capability of about 500mA.

Figure 4 Block Diagram

Figure 2 RELAY

16 PCE Electronics Journal

ALGORITHM AND FLOWCHART:- 3) Less fault occur in underground cable
Algorithm of programming used in underground able 4) Underground cable fault location model are applicable
fault detection- to all types of cable ranging from 1kv to 500kv&other
1. Step: Initialize the ports, declare timer, ADC, types of cable fault such as-Short circuit fault, cable cuts,
LCD functions. Resistive fault, Sheath
2. Step: Begin an infinite loop; turn on relay 1 by Faults, Water trees, Partial discharges.
making pin high.
5) Improved public safety.
3. Step: Display ―R:NF Y:NF B:NF at the starting
of first line in lcd.(NC=NO FAULT) Application:-
4. Step: Call ADC Function, This type of system can be used in industrial as well as
5. Step: check for any fault commercial areas
6. Step: depending upon ADC output, displays the
fault position.
7. Step: give input for led and alarm, GSM module VII.CONCLUSION
and send an alert message to authorized person
and technician.
8. Step: if fault is cleared then switch back the relay In this paper we detect the exact location of short
position. circuit fault in the underground cable from feeder end in
9. Steep: Repeat step 3 to 8. km by using ARDUINO. For this we use simple concept
of OHM’s law so fault can be easily detected and
repaired.
FLOWCHART:-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We express our deep sense of gratitude to Mrs. Swati

patil for encouraging us to work on this project and
providing her support and guidance throughout the
implementation of the project.

REFERENCES
[1] Densley, J, ―Ageing mechanisms and diagnostics for power
cables—an overview,‖ IEEE Electr.
Insul. Mag., vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 14–22, Jan./Feb. 2001.
[2] Tarlochan, Sidhu, S., Xu, Zhihan, ―Detection of Incipient Faults
in Distribution Underground Cables‖, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery,
Vol. 25, NO. 3, JULY 2010
[3] Fakhrul Islam, Md. Amanullah M T Oo, Salahuddin Azadl, .
A.―Locating Underground
Cable Faults: A Review and Guideline for New
Development‖ , 2013 IEEE
[4] Kuan, K.K.,and Prof. Warwick, K. ― Real-time expert system for
fault location on high voltage underground distribution cables‖,
IEEE
PROCEEDINGS-C, Vol. 139, No. 3, MAY 1992.
[5] E.C.Bascom,―Computerized underground cable fault location
expertise, ‖in Proc. IEEE Power Eng. Soc.General Meeting, Apr.
10–15,1994, pp. 376–382.J. Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise on
Electricity and Magnetism, 3rded., vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon,
Figure 5 Flowchart 1892, pp.68–73.
[6] Abhishek Pandey, Nicolas H. Younan,―Underground Cable
VI. ADVANTAGES AND APPLICATION Fault Detection and Identification via Fourier Analysis‖, 2010 IEEE.
1) Less maintenance.
2) It has higher efficiency

17 PCE Electronics Journal

 Raspberry Pi And Wifi Based Home Automation
System
Dipti Nair1, Mishra Satyanarayan2, Saurabh Chowkidar3, Sweta Sharma4, Ayushi Sharma5
1
Assistant Professor, 2,3,4,5 Final Year Engineering Students,
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India
2
[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected]

Abstract—In current years, the complete home environment using Android targeting its vast market which will be
has seen a rapid need of network(in this wi-fi) enabled digital beneficial for the masses. The home automation refers to
technology. Automation of the surrounding environment of a domestic environment that improves the quality of the
modern human being allows increasing his work efficiency and resident’s life by facilitating a flexible, comfortable, healthy,
comfort. In the present times, we can find most of the people
and safe environment. Internet based home automation systems
using their mobile phones and smart devices throughout the day.
Hence with the help of his companion – a mobile phone, some become the most popular home automation system in
daily household tasks can be accomplished by personifying the international markets . The remote controlling and monitoring
use of the mobile phone. Analyzing the current smart phone of a house using internet requires android phone, which is large
market, novice mobile users are opting for Android based in size and heavy to carry around. The most available home
phones. . Home Automation System (HAS) has been designed for automation systems use different wireless communication
mobile phones having Android platform to automate an standard to exchange data and signaling between their
Raspberry pi which controls a number of home appliances like components, like Bluetooth, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, and finally the
lights, fans, bulbs and many more using on/off relay. This paper Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). Wireless
presents the automated approach of controlling the devices in a
based home automation systems decrease installation cost and
household that could ease the tasks of using the traditional
method of the switch. The most famous and efficient technology effort, we are using raspberry pi a credit card size complete
for long range wireless communication- Wi-Fi is used here to computer and enhance system flexibility and scalability.
automate the system. The HAS system for Android users is a step In Home automation systems there are collections of
towards the ease of the tasks by controlling one to many different interconnected devices for controlling various functions within
appliances in any home environment. a house. Mobile devices are ideal in providing a user interface
in a home automation system, due to their portability and their
Keywords: Home Automation system, Raspberry Pi, Relays, wide range of capabilities. . Within the house, the user might
Android, Python. not want to go to a central control panel, or not even to the
laptop, but use the phone that is usually placed in closer
I. INTRODUCTION proximity to the user. When far from the house, the user might
want to check its current status or even schedule actions for his
return. In concept of android based home automation system
Today’s homes require sophistication control in its different we can provide end users with simple secure and easily
gadgets which are basically electronic appliances [1]. This has configurable home automation system .Also the concept can
revolutionized the area of home automation with respect to an overcome the barriers facing home automation systems and
increased level of affordability and simplicity through the will enable a home technology ecosystem that allows people to
integration of home appliances with smart phone and tablet easily adopt the subset of home automation technology that
connectivity. Smart phones are already feature-perfect and can appeals to their household.
be made to communicate to any other devices in an ad hoc Automation systems are available in a number of varieties.
network with a connectivity options like Wifi [2]. With the A few have been discussed here. Java-Based Home
advent of mobile phones, Mobile applications development has Automation System. Home Automation using GSM. Zigbee
seen a major outbreak. Utilizing the opportunity of automating based Home automation. SMS based Home automation. Even
tasks for a smart home, mobile phone commonly found in if many varieties of home automation systems are
normal household can be joined in a temporary network inside available,Home Automation is becoming an inevitable thing in
a home with the electronic equipments. Android, by our fast developing environment and current life style. New
Google.provides the platform for the development of the trends in lifestyle have enhanced the installation of automated
mobile applications for the Android devices VNC viewer [1]. home appliances in many places. Home automation not only
Home automation system is a mobile application developed refers to the automation of appliances in a house but also the

18 PCE Electronics Journal

automation of things that we use in our daily life such as cars, The user will communicate to raspberry-pi through wifi
telephones etc. Automation of appliances was firstly introduced network. The system is flexible and scalable, allowing
in offices for ease of use and also for reduction in time and cost additional home appliances designed by multiple vendors, to be
consumption. Nowadays, home auto current system has got a securely and safely added to the home network with the
number of limitations. Currently home automation systems are minimum amount of effort. The wifi network should be having
implemented with a large amount of hardware. The installation adequate strength also. we can use a wifi-modem for steeping a
and maintenance of the current system is a difficult task. It also wifi. the user can have a nice android interface for using the
imposes a huge installation cost on the user or consumer. system. The serial data coming from wifi unit is connected to
Current home automation systems are inefficient in security. raspberry-pi circuit. The core of the home automation system
They are also very poor in bandwidth utilization. They may consists of raspberry-pi board. it can be viewed as a mini
either leave a large amount of bandwidth or it will be very less. computer capable of doing many functions.
In case of Zigbee the bandwidth is too low and in case of GSM
it is too high. The java based home automation is very poor in
security as the uses web pages to access and control the
appliances. SMS based and GSM based home automation is
costly for the consumer as it becomes expensive to
communicate via SMS. The varieties of home automation
system improves the quality of the resident‟s life by facilitating
a flexible, comfortable, healthy safe environment.

II. BLOCK DIAGRAM

The new system we have used will provide the following
features which will ease the use of this system
 It allows more flexibility through android device.
 It allows a good range of scalability.
 It provides security and authentication.
 Additional vendors can be easily added.
Home appliance network (home automation) is required to
be without new wiring and to be very easy installation. Field of Figure 1 Block diagram
home appliance network is still young, many initiatives and
standardization efforts have already been made. the new kind
of system brought android and raspberry-pi into home
automation implementation.
Typical Hardware You Will Need
While the RPi can be used without any additional hardware
(except perhaps a power supply of some charger 5V), it won't
be much use as a general computer. As with any normal PC, it
is likely you will need some additional hardware.
The following are more or less essential:
1. Raspberry Pi board
2. Prepared Operating System SD Card
3. USB keyboard
4. Display (with HDMI, DVI, Composite or SCART input )
5. Power Supply Figure 2 Required things for system
The proposed system architectures generally
incorporate a raspberry-pi computer [3] for the purposes of
i. Cables
network management and provision of remote access
.raspberry-pi can be configured according to our home system. ii. Highly suggested extras include:

19 PCE Electronics Journal

iii. USB mouse sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces for configuring wifi with
raspberry-pi.
iv. Internet connectivity- a USB WiFi adaptor (Model A/B) or
a LAN cable (Model B)
v. Powered USB Hub C. Raspberry Pi
vi. Case (optional) The Raspberry Pi is a low cost single-board computer
which is controlled by a modified version of Debian Linux
The Raspberry Pi allows peripherals and expansion boards optimized for the ARM architecture. the core of the home
to access the CPU by exposing the input and outputs. The automation system is this mini computer. Here we are using
production board which has a 26-pin (2.54mm) expansion modelB ,700 MHz ARM processor with 512 MB RAM. The
header, arranged in a 2x13 strip. This will provide 8 GPIO pins setting up of raspi consists of selecting raspbian OS from noobs
and access to I2C, SPI, UART, as well as +5V ,+3V3 Pin one package. The noobs package consists of raspbian, arclinux,
is column 0 on the bottom row., and GND supply lines. pidora, open ELEC, risc OS operating system. After the os
Voltage levels are 3v3. There is no over-voltage protection on selection we need to configure raspberry-pi using Raspi-config
the board -the intention is that people interested in serious command. We can enter into raspi desktop using startx
interfacing will use an external board with buffers, level command.
conversion and analog I/O rather than soldering directly onto
the main board.
The raspberry-pi board is so configured for each home
appliances, that according to user intervention the matched out
will make high and the corresponding relay will switch on and
device start function. The system is scalable and allows multi
vendor appliances to be added with no major changes to its
core. This project mainly consist of five modules as follows.
Five modules needed are:
 User Interface
 Wifi Router Configuration
 Raspberry Pi
Figure 3 Noobs OS installation window
 Relay circuit
 Appliances

III. SYSTEM REQUIREMENT

A. User Interface
User interface is everything that the user can see and interact
with. In this module the android enabled phone makes control
of the home automation system. Android provides a variety of
pre-build UI components such as structured layout objects and
UI controls that allow you to build the graphical user interface
for your app. Android also provides other UI modules for
special interfaces such as dialogs, notifications, and menus. the Figure 4 Raspberry-pi configuration using Raspi-config command.
interface should allow user to view device status and to control
device. We can use WebIOPi [4] to interface raspberry-pi with
external world. A WebIOPi (web application) that allows user
B. Wifi Router Configuration to control Raspberry Pi’s GPIO. It Support’s REST API over
The wifi unit provides the medium for communication. it HTTP and Co-AP .It can also handle more than 30 devices
can be also configured to make security services. The wifi including ADC, sensors, DAC. The webIoPi interface allows
should be configured with a certain address and user better control of raspi. and makes raspi control more efficient,
commands will be directing through wifi unit. you may use The webIoPi Extensible and highly customizable as shown in
Fig.5.

20 PCE Electronics Journal

 Any application must be user-friendly. To make user-
friendly application, start with wire-frame. Assume that you are
going to use your own application and find out the main
objectives and how to integrate them in such way that they will
be most easy to end-user.
In this application's scenario, our main objectives are:
a. Room Management
b. Device Management and
c. External Services like GSM Communication, Internet
Figure 5 webIoPi supported features
Communication, etc.

D. Relay Circuit TABLE I: Status of Appliances

A relay [5] is an electro-mechanical switch operated as

mechanical switch. Relays are used where it is necessary to Status of devices connected with the system
control a circuit by a low-power signal (with complete Relay
Name of device Status
electrical isolation between control and controlled circuits), or number
where several circuits must be controlled by one signal. In our
LED (light) 1 On
system the output from rapi is directly giveb to relay circuit.
According to the out of raspi , curresponding relay will turn on Fan 2 Off
and makes it‟s device working.we are using a NPN transistor
in relay and it works based on concept of emf. The relay can be Speaker 3 On
selected according to our application purpose as shown in
Fig.7. TV 4 On

IV. CONCLUSION

The system as the name indicates, „Android based home

automation‟ makes the system more flexible and provides
attractive user interface compared to other home automation
systems. In this system we integrate mobile devices into home
automation systems. A novel architecture for a home
automation system is proposed using the relatively new
communication technologies. The system consists of mainly
three components is a wifi module, raspberry pi board and
relay circuits. Wifi is used as the communication channel
between android phone and the raspberry pi board. We hide the
Figure 6 Relay connected with bulb. complexity of notions involved in the home automation system
by including them into a simple, but comprehensive set of
related concepts. This simplification is needed to fit as much of
The home automation system [6] ends up with the working the functionality on the limited space offered by a mobile
of relay circuit. In this home automation system we can add device‟s display.
devices very easily into system. Also it can be configured with
more security and functional services. The raspi mini computer
can be make use more better to incorporate variety of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
applications to our home automation system. Since our system We have taken a lot of effort in presenting this idea.
makes running in low power compared to other system, it is However, it would not have been possible without the kind
having a tremendous application view. The webIoPi Extensible support and help of many individuals. We find immense
and highly customizable and makes raspi control more pleasure in expressing my sincere thanks towards all those who
efficient. helped me in presenting this work. We are highly indebted to
our professor Mr.Ravi Biradar for his guidance and constant

21 PCE Electronics Journal

supervision as well as providing necessary information
regarding the project and also for his support in completing this
paper.
I would like to express my gratitude towards my project
partner for his kind cooperation and encouragement which
helped us in completing this work. We would like to express
our special gratitude and thanks to our teacher guide for giving
us his attention and time. Lastly we would thank and appreciate
our friends and people who have willingly helped us with their
abilities.

REFERENCES

[1] http://mitchtech.net/vnc-setup-on-raspberry-pi-from-android/
[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258884207_Home_Automatio
n_System_HAS_using_Android_for_Mobile_Phone
[3] diyhacking.com/raspberry-pi-home-automation
[4] K. Bromley, M. Perry, and G. Webb. "Trends in Smart Home Systems,
Connectivity and Services", www.nextwave. org.uk, 2003..
[5] http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/LM35HigherResolution.
[6] M. Young, The Technical Writer’s Handbook. Mill Valley, CA:
University Science, 1989

22 PCE Electronics Journal

 Fire Fighting Robot Using RF
Technology
Sneha Chikodi1,Nehaal Tawade2,Shawn Jose3, Ameya Gadekar4, Vijaykumar Sidanboina5
1
Assistant Professor, 2,3,4,5 Final Year Engineering Students,
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India

closed spaces. In such cases, a robot can be used for

firefighting with least risky human intervention. A robot
Abstract: Firefighting is the act of extinguishing fire. A comes in handy for such remote operations. Building the
firefighter suppresses and extinguishes fires to protect lives and to robot requires both software and hardware modules. It
prevent the destruction of property and of the environment. involves integration of various systems and devices like
Firefighters are often the first responders to people in critical motors, sensors, controllers or processors, etc. in order to
conditions which may be hazardous to their lives as well. One of serve specific purposes. This project bases itself on
the major hazards associated with firefighting operations is the microcontrollers for both transmitter and receiver module
toxic environment created by combustive materials. Toxic to which other devices are connected. The control of a
combustion products including carbon monoxide, hydrogen basic robot involves three distinct phases: perception,
cyanide, nitrogen dioxide, benzene, and polycyclic aromatic processing and action. Although the appearance and
hydrocarbons. The four major hazards associated with these capabilities of robots vary vastly depending upon the
situations are smoke, oxygen deficient atmosphere, elevated designer and its applications, all the robots share the basic
temperatures and toxic atmospheres. Additional risks of fire feature of a mechanical structure under some form of
include falls and structural collapse. To combat some of these control.
risks, firefighters carry self- contained breathing apparatus. In an This project uses RF technology for communicating
attempt to reduce the intensity of the risks that they undertake on a with the robot remotely. The transmitter processes
daily basis, a robot can be designed to reach places which prove to information received from the fire sensor via the
be dangerous for direct human intervention. Such a robot becomes microcontroller on the transmitter side and sends
very useful for remote operation in risk-prone areas thereby commands to the receiver accordingly. The microcontroller
minimizing casualties. The project is aimed at developing such a on the receiver side interprets the commands and performs
robot that senses any fire-outbreak through use of fire sensors and the necessary actions. The microcontrollers are
extinguishes fire with the help of remote human control. There are programmed using a suitable programming language. The
a number of subsystems that must be designed to fit together into
project will use motor drivers to give sufficient torque to
the wheels for clean movement. A sensor is incorporated
an appropriate package suitable for carrying out robot tasks. A
for detecting the fire and a buzzer for notifying about the
firefighter robot is one that has a small fire extinguishing
same. On detection of fire, the user directs the robot to the
mechanism added to it. The fire detection scheme to be deployed
fire by remote operation using RF technology for
in the robot includes a variety of options – water source,
extinguishing the same.
extinguishing cylinder, blower, etc. This project uses a water
source driven by a motor as a fire extinguishing mechanism. II. IMPLEMENTATION
Keywords: RF Technology, Microcontrollers, Sensors, Fire RF transmitter and receiver
Extinguishing. Signals through RF can travel through large distances
making it suitable for long range applications. This RF
I. INTRODUCTION module comprises of an RF transmitter and an RF receiver.
The transmitter/receiver pair operates at a frequency of
434MHz. an RF transmitter receives serial data and
Firefighting is the act of extinguishing fire. The
transmits it wirelessly through RF through its antenna
firefighting robot designed in this project is an amateur
connected at pin 4. The transmission occurs at the rate of
attempt at creating a moving machine to aid the rescue
1Kbps-10Kbps. The transmitted data is received by an RF
team in fighting the emergency of fire. When fire occurs in
receiver operating at the same frequency as that of the
buildings, factories or any other closed spaces, fighting it is
transmitter. The RF module is often used along with a pair
quite risky as one may get trapped in such
encoder/decoder.

23 PCE Electronics Journal

 I

encoder/decoder pair used in this project is HT12E-

HT12D.

Figure 1Transmitter – Receiver pair

Microcontroller
A microcontroller has been used on both sides of the
project, i.e. the transmitter and the receiver module.
The AT89C2051 which is a 20 pin IC is used on the
transmitting side. It is a low voltage high performance
CMOS 8-bit microcomputer with 2K bytes of flash
programmable and erasable read only memory. The
AT89C2051 provides the following standard features: 2K
bytes of flash, 128 bytes of RAM, 15 I/O lines, two 16-bit
timer/counters, a five vector two-level interrupt architecture, Figure 3 Pin diagram of AT89C51
a full duplex serial port, a precision analog comparator, on-
chip oscillator and clock circuitry.
Fire sensor
The fire sensor used in this project is LM393.
This module is sensitive to the flame and radiation.
It can also detect ordinary light source in the range
of a wavelength 760nm-1100nm. The detection
distance is up to 100cm. The flame sensor can
output digital or analog signal. It has an adjustable
detection range and its operating voltage is 3.3V-5V.

Encoder-decoder
The 212 decoders are a series of CMOS LSIs for
remote control system applications. They are paired
with 212 series of encoders. For proper operation, a
pair of encoder/decoder with the same number of
Figure 2 Pin diagram of AT89C2051 addresses and data format should be chosen. The
decoders receive serial addresses and data from a
The AT89C51 is a 40 pin IC used on the receiving programmed 212 series of encoders that are
side. It is a low power, high performance CMOS 8-bit transmitted by a carrier using an RF or an RF
microcomputer with 4K bytes of flash programmable and transmission medium. They compare the serial input
erasable read only memory. The device is manufactured data three times continuously with their local
using Atmels high density nonvolatile memory address. If no error or unmatched codes are found.
technology and is compatible with the industry standard The input data codes are decoded and then
MCS-51 instruction set point. The on-chip flash allows transferred to the output pins. The VT pin also goes
the program memory to be reprogrammed in system or high to indicate a valid transmission. The 212 series
by a conventional nonvolatile memory programmer. By of decoders are capable of decoding information that
combining a versatile 8-bit CPU with flash on a consist of N bits of address and 12-N bits of data. Of
monolithic chip, the Atmel AT89C51 is a powerful this series, the HT12E is arranged to provide 8
microcomputer which provides a highly flexible and cost address bits and 4 data bits and HT12D is used to
effective solution to many embedded control decode 12 bits of address information.
applications.

24 PCE Electronics Journal

 III. FUTURE SCOPE

The motto of this project was to design a robot that

could detect fire and notify about the same upon which
one can instruct it to move towards the fire in order to
extinguish it. However, the same can be fully automated.
Efforts may be put to design an autonomous robot. This
means that it will be capable of guiding itself towards the
fire without human intervention. This is necessary
because RF technology can be used only where explicit
human control is difficult to achieve. Also considering the
number of lives lost regularly in firefighting, the
automation provides us the opportunity to pass on to
robots tasks that traditionally humans had to do but were
inherently life threatening.

IV. CONCLUSION

The need for a device that can detect and extinguish a

fire on its own is long past due. Many house fire-
outbreaks originate when someone is either sleeping or
not home. With the implementation of such a device,
people and property can be saved at a much higher rate
with relatively minimal damage caused by fire. The
challenge of creating a fire extinguishing robot to operate
in lighting conditions that are not fixed is a difficult one.
These systems provide us greater efficiency to detect the
same and it can be extinguished before it becomes
uncontrollable and a threat
to life. This project is aimed at serving as a base for
further improvement of the design so as to make the
process of firefighting more reliable and systematic

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This paper is an efficient contribution of its authors to

the field of surveillance system. The work done here is
expected to bring a change in the current trend of the
system by switching to this system.

REFERENCES

[1] Visual basic for electronics engineering applications by Vincent

Himps.
[2] Wireless Communication technologies: new multimedia systems by
Norihiko Morinaga.
[3] www.wikipedia.com, Firefighter robot, its benefits and recent
development.
[4] www.ece.okstate.edu/old/abet/Assessment../Fire fighting robot.pdf.
[5]-Encyclopedia of fire fighter surveillance robot.

25 PCE Electronics Journal

 Wireless Gesture Controlled Animatronics
Robotic Hand
Amey N. Rawool1, Siddhesh D. Rane2, Karan K. Raina3, Akshay S. Salunkhe4
1,2,3,4
Final Year Engineering Students
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India

Abstract—Animatronics refers to a robotic device that paper intends to implement an affordable electronic product
emulates a human or an animal which seems animate rather than known as wireless animatronic hand based on wireless
robotic. It is a multi-disciplinary field which integrates anatomy, technology based on XBee-S2 as well as Arduino-UNO
robots, mechatronics, and puppetry resulting in lifelike board. Arduino-UNO is a microcontroller board which has on-
animation [1]. This paper discusses the use of XBEE wireless
board microcontroller ATmega-328. It has total 14 pins
technology and its implementations in the field of Animatronics.
In this project a wireless gesture controlled robotic hand is including analog and digital pins. There are 6 PWM(Pulse
designed using Arduino Uno and XBEE S2 modules. Motion of Width Modulation) output pins on this board. Also, it has 6
this robotic hand is controlled using a control glove which analog inputs, a USB connection, a power jack, a 16 MHz
measures the amount of bending of human fingers using flex ceramic capacitor, an ICSP header and a reset button [2]. The
sensors and uses these readings to control the movement of Arduino-UNO differs from all preceding boards in that it does
robotic fingers using servo motors. As the whole body of the not use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it features
robot would have been of much cost, we decided to make a the Atmega16U2 (Atmega8U2 up to version R2) programmed
shadow hand instead. Approximating the kinematics of the as a USB-to-serial converter [3]; so that this board is used to
human hand was our top priority when developing this
make this robotic hand. Basically there are two main parts of
animatronics hand. Each joint of this hand has a movement
range again the same as or very close to that of a human hand, this project i.e. transmitter (Control glove) and receiver
including the thumb and even the flex of the palm for the little (mechanical-electronic robotic hand). Control glove mainly
finger. consists of flex sensors. There are total five flex sensors
placed separately on each finger on the glove. Human hand
Keywords—XBEE S2, Arduino Uno, XBEE shield, flex will control another robotic hand; so that it is called as a
sensors, servo motors. control glove. Future efforts would be to make this hand to fly
as well as to move from one place to another.

I. INTRODUCTION
In this section literature survey and problem definition of the B. Problem Statement
project is defined. In industries, where the production is out of phase of the
demand and when the gap is widening with time, there is a
A. Literature Survey necessity of more efficient devices for production. The robots
Wireless animatronics hand is basically a robotic hand are cost efficient and do their job precisely. Instead of using
which is implemented by using XBEE wireless technology. costly human labor the companies are preferring robots. So
Intension of this project is to obviate human involvement there is need for making robots more and more like humans.
where human hand is must to perform certain task but it is too To fulfill this requirement the animatronics was introduced as
dangerous for human skin and bones. Here, instead of using a solution. The animatronics robots are based on human parts
actual human hand, we can replace it by this wireless robotic such as hands. The main purpose of animatronics is to provide
hand. We may allow this robotic hand to complete the same a vital replacement to humans. The animatronics robots are
task so that the risk will be avoided and obviously, required more advanced than any other robots used in industries
task can be achieved. For example, consider a chemical
industry where highly hazardous chemicals are to be handled
every day. In this case, to handle extremely hazardous
substances, if we will allow this wireless animatronic hand, it II. METHODOLOGY
will be safer for everyone. During bomb diffusing operation in
defence field, this Animatronic hand can be mounted on a In this section basics of 3D printing, Arduino UNO, XBEE
moving platform along with a camera to diffuse the bomb wireless module, Servo Motor and flex sensor is discussed.
from a safer distance without any harm to human life. Also A. 3D Printing
this hand can help paralysis patients who can’t move their
Ultimaker2 3D printer as shown in Fig.1 is used to 3D
hand by proving a electronic hand which can work on voice
print mechanical parts of the robot hand. This printer utilizes a
commands of the bearer and enables the user perform various
technology called Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), which
tasks like grab something, switch on something etc. This

26 PCE Electronics Journal

involves the construction of parts in layers using high-grade D. Servo Motor
thermoplastics [4]. To print a 3D model, an STL file of the To handle the finger movements and rotations, micro servo
design must be exported into the printer software. The motors are being used in this project. A rotary actuator that
Ultimaker then creates g-codes that determine a pathway for allows for a precise control of velocity, acceleration as well as
the extruder. The extruder is the mobile head of the printer an angular position is known as a servomotor [12].
that first melts the filament and then deposits the molten Servomotor is a motor suitable for use in a closed loop control
thermoplastic into thin layers until the model is fully printed system. It includes suitable motor coupled to a sensor to get a
[5]. As needed, the 3D printer will provide scaffolds for the position feedback. It needs a relatively sophisticated
design that act as supports. These are easily removed at the controller, often a dedicated module which is designed
end [6]. The most commonly used filaments in consumer specifically for use with servomotors. Servomotors can be
printing are acrylonitrile but a diene styrene (ABS) and used in various applications such as robotics, CNC machinery
polylactic acid (PLA) thermoplastics. Each filament has its or automated manufacturing. Servo motor gives different
own unique characteristics, lending to different usages. While angles for different duty cycles [13]. In this project, at the
ABS is tougher and more flexible than PLA, due to the nature receiver side, these five motors are connected so that, we can
of the plastic, ABS requires a heated bed to prevent the outer achieve a smooth movement of a finger of a robotic hand.
layers from curling in or warping; this guarantees an even
distribution of heat to both the outer and inner layers. PLA,
however, does not require a heated bed and is more resistant E. Flex Sensor
to substances such as acetone, which dissolves ABS filament The Flex Sensor patented technology is based on resistive
[7]. carbon elements. As a variable printed resistor, the Flex
Sensor achieves great form-factor on a thin flexible substrate.
When the substrate is bent, the sensor produces a resistance
output correlated to the bend radius—the smaller the radius,
the higher the resistance value [14]. In this project flex sensors
are used in control glove to measure the bending in the finger
by change in the resistance. As the bending angle increases,
the resistance increases and this variable resistance is
converted into voltage by a voltage divider network and given
to analog input of Arduino for digital conversion.
Figure 1 Ultimaker2 3D printer [8]

B. Arduino UNO
Arduino is a brand of open-source microcontrollers
frequently used in at-home, do-it-yourself electronics projects.
It can be programmed using open source Arduino IDE [9].
Arduino UNO is Atmega-328 based microcontroller board. It Figure 2 Flex Sensor
is very simple and powerful board with ISP mode. It has total
14 pins including analog and digital pins. There are 6 PWM III. IMPLEMENTATION
(Pulse Width Modulation) output pins on this board. Also, it This section deals with hardware and mechanical design,
has 6 analog inputs, a USB connection, a power jack, a 16 hand and forearm assembly.
MHz ceramic capacitor, an ICSP header and a reset button 3.1 Hardware and Mechanical Design
[10]. In this project 5 PWM pins are used to control positions
of 5 servo motors and 5 Analog pins are used to take the A. Design
readings from 5 flex sensors.

C. XBEE Wireless Module

XBEE is a wireless communication module that Digi built
to the 802.15.4/Zigbee standards. These modules use the IEEE
802.15.4 networking protocol for fast point-to-multipoint or
peer-to-peer networking. They are designed for high-
throughput applications requiring low latency and predictable
communicating timing. XBee-S2 stands for series-2 ZigBee
protocol. It has a small wired antenna placed on it. Before
using this XBee-S2, it is mandatory to first configure it and
then use for a wireless communication; so that you may allow
your XBee to update the firmware on the radios [11]. This
Figure 3 Block diagram of Wireless Animatronics Hand
configuration can be done easily by using X-CTU software.

27 PCE Electronics Journal

 B. Arduino IDE
Programs for this project were written and compiled using
As shown in the Fig.3, there are basically two parts of a
wireless animatronic hand i.e. Transmitter and another is a Arduino IDE. The open-source Arduino Software (IDE)
Receiver. In the first block, there are two boards Arduino- makes it easy to write code and upload it to the board. It runs
UNO and XBee-S2 respectively. This part is known as a on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The environment is
control glove which contains flex sensors. These flex sensors written in Java and based on Processing and other open-source
are connected to the analog input pins of the Arduino board. software. This software can be used with any Arduino board.
This voltage value was serially sent to the XBee transmitter Programs written using Arduino Software (IDE) are called
pin. This data is then wirelessly sent to the another XBee-S2 sketches. These sketches are written in the text editor and are
(which is there in the receiver part). XBee at the receiver side saved with the file extension .ino. The editor has features for
received the voltage value and this value was sent serially to cutting/pasting and for searching/replacing text. The message
the second Arduino board. So that, the motors connected to area gives feedback while saving and exporting and also
the second Arduino will start rotating. displays errors. The console displays text output by the
Arduino Software (IDE), including complete error messages
B. Hand Assembly and other information [15].
The hand used in the prototype was a 3D printed version
of the hand model which we designed using Solid Works. The C. XCTU Software
STL file was exported into the Ultimaker platform and
directly printed without any scaling or modification. Taking XBEE is not a plug and play device. Hence we have to
into account the separate parts of the hand, printing took about configure XBEE devices to make them communicate with
15 hours. The completed hand was strung with nylon thread each other by creating a personal area network (PAN). XCTU
and a stretched disposable pipette. The pipette was used to software is used for this purpose. It is a free multi-platform
break up any excess material from the 3D printing that would application designed to enable developers to interact with RF
hinder the fishing line’s path through the interior of the hand modules through a simple-to-use graphical interface. It
and fingers, and to help thread the line through the palm of the includes new tools that make it easy to set-up, configure and
hand. Each finger was strung with about two feet of fishing test XBee RF modules. XCTU includes all of the tools a
line to ensure that there would be enough material to reach developer needs to quickly get up and running with XBEE.
down the length of the arm and attach to the servos. Unique features like graphical network view, which
graphically represents the XEE network along with the signal
C. Forearm Assembly strength of each connection, and the XBEE API frame builder,
Forearm was also designed using Solid Works and 3D which intuitively helps to build and interpret API frames for
printed using Ultimaker2 3D printer. A servo bed was designed XBEEs being used in API mode, combine to make
for housing of 5 servo motors. Circular pulleys were designed development on the XBEE platform easier than ever [16].
and used with the servos in the forearm to tie the nylon
threads to. Pulley uses the full 180 degrees from a servo. With
a 180 degrees turn it will move the finger Up and Down. This
gives a higher resolution and a better torque. IV. OUTPUT MEASUREMENT

3.2 Software Design For measuring the bending of flex sensors, each flex
A. Algorithm sensor is connected to a separate voltage divider as shown in
Fig.4 Output voltage is measured by using a mathematical
formula. This formula is a voltage divider formula using
which, corresponding variable voltage will be measured which
will be given as an input to the Arduino-UNO.
Following tables show the output voltage readings of all five
flex sensors.
1. Flex Sensor 1
TABLE 1. Resistance and Voltage Readings of Sensor 1
Flat Resistance: 8.54KOhm
Bend Resistance: 20KOhm
R2 Flat Voltage Bend Voltage

22KOhm 1.398V 2.38V

Figure 4 Flowchart of working of Robotic hand

28 PCE Electronics Journal

2. Flex Sensor 2
TABLE 2. Resistance and Voltage Readings of Sensor 2 V. RESULTS
Flat Resistance: 10KOhm
A wireless animatronic hand was first tested with a single
Bend Resistance: 18.5KOhm
finger. It was observed that after bending the single flex
R2 Flat Voltage Bend Voltage sensor at the transmitter side, the corresponding robotic finger
22KOhm 1.56V 2.31V moved in the same manner and same angle. Servo motor
causes the movement of a robotic finger. With reference to
this, all five servo motors moved (or controlled) by five flex
3. Flex Sensor 3 sensors on a single control glove. In this way, a wireless
communication has been achieved successfully. So, now it is
TABLE 3. Resistance and Voltage Readings of Sensor 3
possible that a man can control a robotic hand from a distance
Flat Resistance: 9.8KOhm wirelessly.
Bend Resistance: 23KOhm
R2 Flat Voltage Bend Voltage
VI. CONCLUSION
22KOhm 1.54V 2.65V
This project presents a wireless animatronic hand
which is implemented by using a latest wireless technology. It
4. Flex Sensor 4 can be widely used where there are restrictions or a hazard to
TABLE 4. Resistance and Voltage Readings of Sensor 4
a human hand. It is basically a futuristic project which will be
used to make Humanoid (Human like robots). Future efforts
Flat Resistance: 10.7KOhm will be made to make this hand movable (from one place to
Bend Resistance: 22KOhm another), more flexible and more precise if possible.
R2 Flat Voltage Bend Voltage
Further efforts will be made to make this hand more advanced
and movable by using accelerometer sensor.
22KOhm 1.63V 2.61V
VII. APPLICATIONS

5. Flex Sensor 5 1. In industries, animatronics robotic hand can be used

TABLE 5. Resistance and Voltage Readings of Sensor 5 where human hand is must to complete required task in a
Flat Resistance: 7.3KOhm harmful environment.
2. As a part of humanoid robot to perform various tasks.
Bend Resistance: 18.2KOhm
3. In laboratories, where harmful chemicals are to be handed
R2 Flat Voltage Bend Voltage delicately without causing any injuries.
22KOhm 1.25V 2.38V 4. In entertainment industries, animatronics are used in
situations where a creature does not exist, the action is too
risky or costly to use real actors or animals.
5. For military use in bomb diffusing.
6. In medical applications, it can be used as prosthetic limbs
for physically disabled people

REFERENCES

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animatronics
[2] https://www.arduino.cc/en/reference/board
[3] https://learn.adafruit.com/arduino-tips-tricks-and-techniques/arduino-
uno-faq
[4] FDM Thermoplastics,” Stratasys
<http://www.stratasys.com/materials/fdm>
[5] Robotic Hand in Motion Final Paper - Rutgers Engineering
[6] Annelise, MakerBotting 101 - How Does It Work, MakerBot, January
10, 2012, <http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/01/1 0/makerbotting-
101-how-does-it-work/>
[7] http://www.makergeeks.com/pla-vs-abs4.html
Figure 5 Voltage divider circuit for flex resistance R1 [17]
[8] http://www.themakersworkbench.com/articles/dynamism-unveils-new-
ultimaker-2-3d-printer

29 PCE Electronics Journal

[9] Arduino Uno-R3,” Sparkfun,
<https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11021
[10] https://www.arduino.cc/en/reference/board
[11]https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Wireless/Zigbee/XBee-
XBEE Datasheet.pdf
[12]http://www.baldor.com/pdf/manuals/1205-394.pdf
[13] http://www.electronicshub.org/servo-motors/
[14]https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/Flex/FlexSensor.pdf
[15] https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/software
[16]X-CTU, Configuration and test utility software by Digi:
http://www.digi.com/products/wireless-wired-embedded-
solutions/zigbee-rf-modules/xctu
[17]https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/Flex/FlexSensor.pdf

30 PCE Electronics Journal

 Automated drunk and driving disabling with SMS
alert using Raspberry Pi and GSM module

2 4
Vinay Ramnath1, Ramanuj Singh , Vrushali Dukrepatil3, Sanjita Shetti
1,2,3,4
Final Year Engineering Students,
Electronics Department, PCE, New Panvel, University of Mumbai, India
1
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract— This system provides a unique method to curb

drunken people. The system has an alcohol sensor embedded on II. BLOCK DIAGRAM
the steering of the car. Whenever the driver starts ignition, the
sensor measures the content of the alcohol in his breath and
automatically switches off the car if he is drunken. In this system
the sensor delivers a current with a linear relationship to the
alcohol molecules from zero to very high concentration. The
output of the sensor is fed to the Raspberry Pi 3 for comparison.
If the measured value reaches the threshold, relay cut off
automatically and the buzzer generates sound. Once the buzzer
produces sound the system communicates with configured
telecom device unique number using the GSM Module.

Keywords—Raspberry Pi 3, MQ-3 gas sensor, GSM Sim 900

module, L293D IC and Max 232 IC

I. INTRODUCTION
This system is one of the emerging technologies that can
be used to curb the accidents related to drunk and driving. The
existing systems in the market includes Breathalyzer and
Smart helmet which is not sufficient to curb the tragic reality.
Hence, we introduce to you our system Automated drunk and
driving system with SMS Alert [ADDA]. Automated drunk
and driving system with SMS Alert [ADDA] consists of one
Raspberry Pi, one GSM Sim 900 module and one Interface
circuitry to communicate. The main idea behind using
Raspberry Pi instead of cheaper alternatives like Arduino is
that for future development we need higher processing power
and better device management.
For demonstrative purpose, we have used a 500 RPM DC
motor in place of car engine and push button switch in place
of Car ignition. In practical implementation, we will directly
connect the system to the ABS of the car. We believe our
system will curb the tragic reality and make a positive impact Figure 1 Block diagram of the system
in the world. Let us now understand the system in detail.
Figure 1 shows the basic block diagram of the system. It
consists of Raspberry Pi 3, GSM Module, Power supply
section, Alcohol Sensor, Display device, Motor driver IC,
Motor and a Buzzer.

31 PCE Electronics Journal

 III. SCHEMATIC DESIGN

Figure 2 Schematic design of the proposed ADDA System

it is used as part of the Breathalyzer or breath testers for the

IV. SCHEMATIC DESIGN DESCRIPTION detection of ethanol in human breath.
Basically it has 6 pins, the cover and the body. Even
A.Gas Sensor though it has 6 pins, we can use only 4 of them. 2 of them are
for heating system and other 2 are for connecting power and
This is an alcohol sensor, which detects ethanol in the air. ground. A little tube is placed inside the sensor. This tube is a
It is one of the straight forward gas sensors so it works almost heating system that is made of aluminum oxide and tin dioxide
the same way with other gas sensors. It costs Rs.38. Typically, and inside of it there are heater coils, which practically
produce the heat. Two pins are connected to the heater coils

32 PCE Electronics Journal

and others are connected to the tube. The core system is the initialization will not be performed. In this case, the controller
cube. Basically, it is an Alumina tube cover by SnO2, which is should be initialized by the MPU according to “initializing by
tin dioxide. And between them there is an Aurum electrode. instruction”.
Basically, the alumina tube and the coils are the heating
system. If the coil is heated up, SnO2 ceramics will become C. Power Supply
the semi - conductor, so there are more movable electrons,
which means that it is ready to make more current flow. Then, The circuit diagram of the power supply unit is shown
when the alcohol molecules in the air meet the electrode that is above. It mainly consists of a voltage regulator (here it is
between alumina and tin dioxide, ethanol burns into acetic 7805). The voltage regulator plays an important role in a
acid then more current is produced. So the more alcohol power supply unit. Output of the power supply unit is always
molecules there are the more current we will get. Because of dc which is given to the controller. The primary purpose of the
this current change, we get the different values from the regulator is to aid the rectifier and filter circuit in providing a
sensor. constant dc voltage to the device. Power supplies without
regulators have an inherent problem of changing of dc voltage
B. Display Unit values due to variations in the load or due to fluctuations in
the input voltage. With regulator connected to the dc output,
Liquid Crystal Display LCD display is used for displaying the voltage can be maintained with a close tolerant region of
the message that sent from the remote location. The LCD desired output.
module is a dot- matrix liquid crystal display that displays
alphanumeric, kana (Japanese characters) and symbols. The D. Working chart
CMOS technology makes the device ideal for applications in
hand-held portable and other battery-powered instruments
with low power applications. Most LCDs with 1 controller has
14 Pins and LCDs with 2 controller has 16 Pins (two pins are
extra in both for backlight LED connections). Above is the Install the system
quite simple schematic. It consists of 16 pins (8 data lines, 3
control lines, 2 power lines, 1 contrast line and 2 pins for back
light LED connection). Data line and control line are
connected to the microcontroller. The LCD panel's Enable and
Register Select is connected to the Control Port.

The Control Port is an open collector / open drain output.

When connecting LCD module to a parallel I/O device, the
burden of ensuring proper operation falls on the software.
While most Parallel Ports have internal pull-up resistors, there
is a few which don't. Therefore by incorporating the two 10K Vehicle runs till the condition is in
external pull up resistors, the circuit is more portable for a limit.
wider range of computers, some of which may have no
internal pull up resistors. At the interface of LCD module,
there are three power supply terminals- Vdd, GND, Vo. The
LCD is driven by a voltage which is determined by Vdd-Vo.
The data bus lines are DB7-DB0.When the enable signal is at
the low level, this data bus terminals will remain in a high
impedance state. When the data bus is open it produces a high
output voltage. When the busy flag is at a high level, it
indicates that the controller is in the internal operation mode
and the next instruction will not be accepted. The next
instruction must be written after the busy flag goes low. The Once the limit is crossed, the system
delay should be suitable for most machines. If the LCD panel connected to ABS will gradually stop
is not initializing properly, you can try increasing the delays. the car and the message will be sent

The LCD module is automatically initialized or reset when

the power is turned on using the internal reset circuit. The
busy flag holds 1 and does not accept instructions until Figure 3 Working Flow
initialization ends. The busy state lasts for 15 minutes after
Vdd rises to 4.5 volts. When power supply restrictions are not
met, the internal reset circuit will not operate normally and the

33 PCE Electronics Journal

 REFERENCE
V. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
[1] Martin Jawitz,Printed circuit board materials hand book.
The circuit has an alcohol sensor. This sensor measures [2] www.alldatasheets.com
the content of alcohol from the breath of drunken people. [3] https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/
The sensor delivers a current with linear relationship to the [4] Wong, George (24 October 2011). "Build your own prototype
alcohol molecules from zero to very high concentrations. Raspberry Pi minicomputer". ubergizmo.
Output of the sensor is directly proportional to the alcohol [5] Raspberry Pi For Dummies; Sean McManus and Mike Cook; 432
content. When the alcohol molecules in the air meet the pages; 2013; ISBN 978-1118554210.
electrode that is between alumina and tin dioxide in the [6] Raspberry Pi User Guide; Eben Upton and Gareth Halfacree; 312
pages; 2014; ISBN 978-1118921661.
sensor, ethanol burns into acetic acid then more current is
[7] Getting Started with Raspberry Pi; Matt Richardson and Shawn
produced. So the more alcohol molecules more will be the Wallace; 176 pages; 2013; ISBN 978-1449344214.
current produced. Because of this current change, we get the [8] Hello Raspberry Pi!; Ryan Heitz; 320 pages; 2016; ISBN 978-
different values from the sensor. Output of the sensor is then 1617292453.
fed to the microcontroller for comparison. The output of the
sensor is in the analog nature which should be converted
into digital format. This is done by the Raspberry Pi unit.
The Raspberry Pi controls the entire circuit. When the
measured value reaches the threshold (here it is 255) the
microcontroller switches the ignition ON. Then relay cuts
off automatically and buzzer produces sound. Once the
buzzer produces the sound, the text message will be sent to
configured devices. The LCD displays the message that sent
from the Raspberry Pi unit. The working conditions and
various constraints were properly studied before carrying
out further steps. The components were purchased and the
circuit was initially set on the breadboard. The PCB was
fabricated as per the requirement and was soldered with
components, taking proper care to avoid shorting between
various connections. Milling method was used for PCB
Fabrication. The output was verified on the PCB. The circuit
worked successfully.

VI. FUTURE SCOPE

The project can be extended to an improved version for
preventing drunk drivers from getting on the road with new
concept car filled with alcohol- detection sensors. These
new sensors check a person’s odors, sweat, and driver
awareness to see if they are capable of driving their car. If
they’re not quite sober, the car locks up the ignition system
thereby preventing the driver from getting on the road. In
this project we embedded the sensor on the steering of the
car. In addition to the Breathalyzer, skin sensors can also be
provided for more safety. We can also introduce Camera
and GPRS system for more effective tracking.
Our project ADDA was implemented successfully. This
device provides much advanced facilities in now a day’s life
as it can be easily implemented in vehicles. Thus we can
reduce alcohol related road accidents and hence these kinds
of detectors have a great relevance. It can also be used in
schools, colleges, offices and some public places such as
hospitals, libraries etc.

ACKNOWLEDGEMNET
We thank our guide Prof. R.H. Khade, Head of the
department, Electronics Engineering for the guidance and
support we needed to successfully complete the project and
thus contributing to the society.

34 PCE Electronics Journal

 Nanowire: Fabrication Technique and Electrical
Application
Aboli. K
ME (Electronics Engineering)
PCE, Mumbai University
New Panvel, India
[email protected]

Abstract— Nanowires are rod-like materials which are solid in II. FABRICATION TECHNIQUE
nature, with the diameters in the range 5-100 nm, and are most Table: Selected syntheses of nanowires by material
often made from metals or semiconductor metal oxides.
Nanowires are diverse from molecular wires (also sometimes
referred to as molecular nanowires); those are molecular bodies
with diameters typically less than 3 nm and repeating subunits.
One-dimensional nanowires possess unique properties of
electrical, electronic, thermoelectrical, optical, magnetic and
chemical, which are different from that of their parent matching
part. The physical properties of nanowires are influenced by the
morphology of the nanowires, diameter dependent band gap,
carrier density of states etc.

Keywords-

I. INTRODUCTION
Nanowires are drawing much interest from those seeking to
apply nanotechnology and (especially) those investigating
Nano-science. Nanowires, are different from other low-
dimensional systems, have two quantum-confined directions
but one unconstrained direction which is available for
electrical conduction. This allows nanowires to be used in
applications where electrical conduction, not the tunnelling
a Template synthesis
transport, is required. Because of their unique density of b Electrochemical deposition (ECD)
electronic states, in the limit of small diameters nanowires are c Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
expected to exhibit expressively different optical, electrical d Vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth
and magnetic properties to their bulk of 3-D crystalline e Organometallic chemical vapor deposition (OMCVD)
counterparts. Increased surface area, very high density of f Liquid phase synthesis
g Self-assembly of nanocrystals (in liquid phase)
electronic states and joint density of states near the energies of
their van Hove peculiarities, enhanced exciton binding energy,
A. Template Synthesis
diameter-dependent bandgap, and enlarged surface scattering
for electrons and phonons are just some of the ways in which In template synthesis of nanostructures, the chemical
nanowires differ from their corresponding bulk materials. Yet stability and mechanical properties of the template, also the
the size of nanowire are usually largeenough (>1 nm in the diameter, regularity and density of the pores are important
quantum-confined direction) as compared to local crystal characteristics. Templates frequently used for nanowire
structures that are closely related to their parent materials, fabrication includes anodic alumina (Al2O3), nanochannel
allowing theoretical guesses about their properties to be made glass, ion track-etched polymers and mica films. Anodizing
based on knowledge of their bulk properties. pure Al films in selected acids is used for production of
porous anodic alumina templates. Under carefully chosen

35 PCE Electronics Journal

anodization conditions, the resulted oxide film possesses an proposed growth technique (Fig. 2) involves the absorption of
even hexagonal array of parallel and nearly cylindrical source material from the gas phase into a liquid droplet of
channels, as shown in Fig. 1a. The self-organization of the catalyst. Upon super saturation of the liquid alloy, a
pore structure in an anodic alumina template involves two nucleation event generates a solid precipitate of the source
coupled processes: pore ordering and pore formation with material. This drop serves as a preferred site for further
uniform diameters. The pores form with uniform diameters deposition of material at the interface of the liquid droplet,
because of delicate balance between electric field which promoting the elongation of the liquid drop into a nanowire or
determines the growth rate of the alumina, and dissolution of a whisker, and suppressing further nucleation actions on the
the alumina into an acidic electrolyte. The pores are believed same catalyst. Since the liquid droplet catalyzes the
to self-order due to mechanical stress at the aluminium– incorporation of material from the gas source to the growing
alumina interface due to expansion during the anodization. A crystal, the deposit produces anisotropically asa whisker
repulsive force produced between the pores due to stress, whose diameter is dictated by the diameter of the liquid alloy
causing them to arrange in a hexagonal lattice. Depending on droplet. The nanowires thus acquired are of high purity,
the anodization conditions, pore diameter can be except for the end containing the solidified catalyst as an alloy
systematically varied from ≤ 10 up to 200 nm with a pore particle.
density in the range of 109–1011 pores/cm2. The pore size
distribution and the pore ordering of the anodic alumina Reduction of the average wire diameter to the nanometer
templates can be significantly upgraded by two-step scale requires the generation of nano sized catalyst droplets.
anodization technique, where the aluminium oxide layer is However, due to the balance between the liquid-vapor surface
melted after the anodization in an acidic solution followed by free energy of condensation, the size of a liquid droplet, in
a next anodization under the same conditions. equilibrium with its vapour, is usually limited to the
micrometer range. This obstacle has been overwhelmed in
Another type of porous template used for nanowire recent years by several new methodologies:
fabrication is the template type fabricated by chemically
etching particle tracks originating from ion bombardment, 1. Alternatively, metal islands of nanoscale sizes can self-form
such as track-etched polycarbonate membranes (Fig. 1b), and when a strained thin layer is grownup or heat-treated on a
also mica films. Other porous materials also be used as host nonepitaxial substrate.
templates for nanowires growth. Nanochannel glass (NCG), 2. Laser-assisted catalytic VLS is a method used to fabricate
contains a regular hexagonal array of capillaries similar to the nanowires under non equilibrium conditions. Single crystal
pore structure in anodic alumina with a packing density as nanowires grow as long as the particle remains liquid etc.
high as 3 × 1010 pores/cm2. Mesoporous molecular sieves, A wide variety of elemental, binary and compound
termed MCM-41, possess hexagonally packed pores with semiconductor nanowires has been synthesized via the VLS
small channel diameters which can be varied between 2 & 10 method, and achieved relatively good control over the
nm. Conducting organic filaments have been fabricated in the nanowire diameter and diameter distribution has been
nanochannels of MCM-41. achieved.

Figure 1 (a) SEM images of the top surfaces of porous anodic alumina
templates anodized with an average pore diameter of 44 nm.
(b) SEM image of the particle track etched polycarbonate membrane, with a
Figure 2 Schematic diagram illustrating the growth of silicon nanowires by
pore diameter of 1μm. the VLS mechanism.

B. VLS Method for Nanowire Synthesis III. ELECTRICAL CONNECTION

This technique was first proposed for the growth of single The microelectronics industry's always faces the challenges
crystal silicon whiskers 100 nm to 100μm in diameter. The that are technological and an economical as the device feature

36 PCE Electronics Journal

size is decreased, especially below 100 nm. Devices made
from nanowires have several advantages over those made by
photolithography. A variety of methods have been devised to
organize nanowires via self-assembly, thus eliminating the
need for the expensive lithographic techniques.
Transistors made from nanowires could also hold
advantages due to their unique morphology. For example,
field effect transistors (FETs), the depletion layer formed
below the source and drain region results in a source–drain
capacitance limits the operation speed. However, the
conductor in nanowires is surrounded by an oxide and thus the
depletion layer is not formed. Thus, depending on the device Figure 4 a–d Nanowire logic gates: (a) Schematic of logic OR gate
design, the source–drain capacitance in nanowires that could constructed from a 2 (p-Si) by 1 (n-GaN) crossed nanowire junction. The
inset shows the SEM image (scale bar: 1μm) of an assembled OR gate and the
be minimized to more extent and possibly eliminated.
symbolic electronic circuit. (b) The output voltage of the circuit in (a) versus
Several approaches have been investigated to fabricate the four possible logic address level inputs: (0,0); (0,1); (1,0); (1,1), where
nanowire diodes. For example, Schottky diodes can be formed logic 0 input is 0V and logic 1 is 5V. (c) Schematic of logic AND gate
by contacting a GaN nanowire with Al electrodes. constructed from a 1 (p-Si) by 3 (n-GaN) crossed nanowire junction. The
inset shows the SEM image (scale bar: 1μm) of an assembled AND gate and
Furthermore, p-n junction diodes can be formed by crossing
the symbolic electronic circuit. (d) The output voltage of the circuit in (c)
the two nanowires, such as the crossing of n- and p-type InP versus the four possible logic address level inputs.
nanowires doped by Te and Zn, respectively, or Si nanowires
doped into phosphorus (n-type) and boron (p-type). In IV. CONCLUSION
addition to the crossing of two different nanowires,
heterogeneous junctions have also been constructed inside a This paper reviewed the fabrication synthesis and
single wire, either along the wire axis in the form of a application of nanowires used in electrical field. It is
nanowire super lattice, or perpendicular to the wire axis by concluded that (i) Nanowire possess unique physical,
forming a core–shell structure of Si and Ge. These various chemical and mechanical properties. (ii)Nanowires diameter is
nanowire junctions not only possess the current rectifying dependent on diameter of pores which can be less than 10nm.
properties expected of bulk semiconductor devices, but they (iii) Using VLS technique of synthesis the NWs obtained are
exhibit electroluminescence (EL) that may be interesting for of diameter 100nm. (iv) Application of NWs in
optoelectronic applications, as shown in Fig.3 for the Microelectronics helps to satisfy the Moore’s law in IC
electroluminescence of a crossed junction of n- and p-type InP fabrication and the cost can be reduced to lot of extent.
nanowires.
Various logic devices performing basic logic functions has
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37 PCE Electronics Journal

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38 PCE Electronics Journal