Capstone Project: Integrating Smoke Detection and Infra-Red Occupancy Detection into the Smart Classroom System

As part of the Smart Classroom project, we have developed prototypes of a smart access control system using RFID, a smart airconditioning control system and a smart light control system. These prototypes are working in our lab in Nightowl right now. The system is expandable, making use of MQTT and NodeRED to control the business logic. This allows for easy expansion with extra sensors and devices.

For your capstone you will add two devices to the system. The first is a PIR sensor that is able to see if a room is occupied by detecting the presence of people in the room. When people have not been detected for a certain amount of time, we could turn the lights and air-conditioning off automatically, reducing our carbon footprint and energy bill. Another device that would add safety functionality to the system is a smoke detector which would allow us to remotely detect fires and alarm the appropriate authorities.

More information about the product can be found on the Smart Classroom project page.

Tasks

  • Human detection
    • Test the currently available PIR sensors for range and sensitivity of detection of people.
    • Design a setup with these sensors that reliably detects people throughout the classroom
    • Notify NodeRED using MQTT messages when people are detected
    • Configure NodeRED to turn off the lights and airconditioning when people are not detected for more than 30 minutes
    • Report your final product and make recommendations
  • Smoke detection
    • Investigate the possibilities of modifying a smoke detector to wirelessly send smoke detection events to NodeRED
    • Design and build the system to connect to the Smart Classroom System
    • Test the prototype in various setups around Foundation University
    • Report your final product and make recommendations

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