Designing a Responsive Smart Home System

04/07/2024 Rayhan Al-Rabby

#iot #arduino #automation

A multi-sensor Arduino build that closes the loop on lighting, curtains, and safety with sub-second response times.

For a rapid innovation cycle at Maynooth University I spearheaded a smart-home automation prototype focused on reliability over gimmicks. We wanted something that would keep running when Wi-Fi dropped or when a sensor failed.

System overview

Implemented the control stack in C++/Arduino with PIR, LDR, and ultrasonic sensors feeding a bang-bang feedback loop.
Segmented every actuator (lighting, curtains, safety relay) into modules so a single fault could not cascade through the rest of the system.
Logged every state change and latency metric to Power BI, giving us real-time confidence that responses stayed under 1 s.

Outcomes

Faculty reviewers highlighted the robustness-first approach; we improved energy efficiency by ~20% in simulation compared to a baseline schedule.
The project laid the foundation for my later work on the Precision Wall-Tracking Robot, where localisation and repeatable motion depended on similarly disciplined feedback loops.