Revista Científica Interdisciplinaria Investigación y Saberes
2022, Vol. 13, No. 1 e-ISSN: 1390-8146
Published by: Universidad Técnica Luis Vargas Torres
How to cite this article (APA):
Ortiz, N., Trujillo, X., Naula, E. (2023) Implementation of a real-time control
and monitoring prototype for a classroom of the Industrial Engineering Faculty using Zigbee technology.
Revista Científica Interdisciplinaria Investigación y Saberes, 13(1) 116-132
Implementation of a real-time control and monitoring prototype for a
classroom of the Industrial Engineering Faculty using Zigbee technology
Implementación de un prototipo de control y monitoreo en tiempo real para un aula
de la Facultad Ingeniería Industrial con tecnología Zigbee
Neiser Ortiz Mosquera
Telecommunications Electronics Engineer, Master in Network and Telecommunications Management,
Tenured Professor, Universidad de Guayaquil, neiser.ortizm@ug.edu.ec, ID ORCID 0000-0002-1051-
6102
Ximena Trujillo Borja
Electronic Engineer in Telecommunications, Master in Network and Telecommunications Management,
Universidad de Guayaquil, ximena.trujillob@ug.edu.ec, ID ORCID 0000-0003-2093-5906
Erick Rodrigo Naula Moreira
Teleinformatics Engineer, University of Guayaquil, erick.naulam@ug.edu.ec, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
2055-8568
The implementation proposal to create an RFID control prototype to
optimize the entry of teachers and monitoring that measures the
temperature and brightness levels in the classroom in the Industrial
Engineering Faculty of the University of Guayaquil to achieve a Smart
Campus. In this project, the Xbee wireless communication system was
used to communicate the sensors with the central unit. In addition,
this project proposes the resolution to the existing problems that
burden the university community to improve the work environment
and increase student motivation and optimizing the entry of teachers
to the classrooms. Three research methods were used: bibliographic,
descriptive and experimental. Reliability results of 95% of the
temperature sensors were obtained. In addition, the brightness
sensor nodes were verified to have an effectiveness rate of 99%.
Finally, it was verified that the sensor nodes transmitted the data to
the central node without any loss of data and the transmission times
were efficient. Finally, it is concluded that the field tests carried out
Abstract
Received 2022-06-12
Revised 2022-06-14
Accepted 2022-11-30
Published 2023-01-11
Corresponding Author
Neiser Ortiz Mosquera
neiser.ortizm@ug.edu.ec
Pages: 116-132
https://creativecommons.org/lice
nses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Distributed under
Copyright: © The Author(s)
Implementation of a real-time control and monitoring prototype for a classroom of the Industrial Engineering Faculty using
Zigbee technology
Revista Científica Interdisciplinaria Investigación y Saberes , / 2023/ , Vol. 13, No. 1
117
determined that it is a low cost, low energy consumption and easy to
install system.
Keywords:
Smart Campus, sensor, Xbee, RFID
Resumen
La propuesta de implementación para crear un prototipo de control
RFID para optimizar el ingreso de los docentes y monitoreo que mida
los niveles de temperatura y luminosidad en el aula de clases en la
Facultad Ingeniería Industrial de la Universidad de Guayaquil para
lograr constituir un Smart Campus. En este proyecto se utilizó el
sistema de comunicación inalámbrico Xbee para la comunicación de
los sensores con la unidad central. Además, este proyecto plantea la
resolución a la problemática existente que agobia a la comunidad
universitaria para mejor el ambiente de trabajo y aumentar la
motivación del alumno y optimizando el ingreso de los docentes a las
aulas. Se va utilizó 3 métodos de investigación que son el
bibliográfico, descriptivo y el experimental. Se obtuvieron resultados
de confiabilidad del 95% de los sensores de temperatura. Además,
los nodos sensores de luminosidad se verificó un índice del 99% de
efectividad. Por último, se verificó que los nodos sensores transmitían
los datos al nodo central sin ninguna pérdida de dato y los tiempos
de transmisión fueron eficientes. Finalmente se concluye mediante las
pruebas de campo realizadas se determinó que es un sistema de bajo
coste, bajo consumo energético y de fácil instalación.
Keywords:
Smart Campus, sensor, Xbee, RFID
Introduction
Education is currently leaning toward a trend that is on the rise thanks
to the technological boom (Sánchez-Bayón, 2015)The
implementation of smart classrooms, whether in basic or higher
education institutions, and thus achieve the creation of a Smart
Campus (Vidal Ledo, Morales Suárez, & Rodríguez Dopico, 2014).,
(Pacheco González, Flores Avila, Cano Fuentes , & Tena Chávez,
Implementation of a real-time control and monitoring prototype for a classroom of the Industrial Engineering Faculty using
Zigbee technology
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2018), since that space is fundamental for the student's educational
process. (Sánchez Perales & Campos Guevara, 2014)which allows
them to develop skills and assimilate knowledge that contribute to
their professional progress (Navarro, 2003). (Navarro , 2003), (López,
2017).
In Ecuador in the city of Guayaquil, the Faculty of Industrial
Engineering proposed to develop a project with a view to a smart
faculty. (Zapata-Rios, 2018), (Bauman, 2016) with the implementation
of a control and monitoring prototype. (Rodriguez Gámez, 2015),
(Campoverde Ganchala & Arias Tapia, 2008)that measures
temperature and luminosity levels in the classroom. (Aldean Pacalla &
García Ramos, 2019), (Benítez Silva, Ríos Franco, & Estrada Atemiz,
2017), (Arana Cofre & Satán Cevallos, 2019)complementary to that
within the same prototype was added an access control by RFID
optimizing the entry of teachers to the course. (Piedra Arias &
Santacruz Bernabé, 2019)..
With the implementation of this proposed project we propose the
resolution of the existing problems that burden the university
community of the faculty, improving the work environment and
increasing student motivation. (Carranza Mora, Cedeño Calero,
Cedeño Zambrano, & Zevallos Bravo, 2013)and optimizing the entry
of teachers to the classroom.
The present project has an added value which aims to implement this
prototype through Zigbee technology. (Jácome Espinosa & Castillo
Imbaquingo, 2013), (Zambrano Rodríguez, Ruiz Villa, Herrera
González, Gómez Poveda , & Bustamante Alzate , 2015), generating
low energy consumption and the use of wireless communication
devices such as Xbee as last mile devices. (Parra Balda & Torres
Sánchez, 2019), (Fortuño, 2012).
The development of the case study requires the application of
electronic knowledge, in order to design the printed circuit of the
sensors and their connection to the Arduino with the objective of
transferring the data collected from the Arduino to the Xbee. In the
formulation of the practical case it is proposed to send the
temperature, luminosity and access control data collected by the
sensors to the Arduino, these data will be sent to the Xbee which for
the purpose of this project will work as a transmitter node.
Implementation of a real-time control and monitoring prototype for a classroom of the Industrial Engineering Faculty using
Zigbee technology
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Methodology
Three research methods will be used: bibliographic, descriptive and
experimental. The bibliographic method (Prado, 2009) was used to
choose the equipment, materials and software to be used and also to
analyze research works similar to the present study. In addition, the
descriptive method was used (OKDIARIO, 2018) was used to describe
the operation of all the selected equipment to be used . Finally, the
experimental method was used (Babbie, 1999) to perform the tests
and create the prototype, including the programming language in
which the measurement and access control devices will be
configured.
This project is based on the implementation of a prototype of control
and monitoring in real time, which can measure the temperature
levels in the environment and in turn an access control system using
RFID to provide teachers with greater ease of access to classrooms.
The RFID module will be placed in the classroom door, therefore, the
temperature and luminosity modules will be strategically placed in
each corner of the classroom to perform their respective functions and
finally the data collected from the temperature sensor, luminosity and
RFID are sent to a central node located in the same classroom. The
general scheme of the prototype is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1.
General schematic of the prototype
Implementation of a real-time control and monitoring prototype for a classroom of the Industrial Engineering Faculty using
Zigbee technology
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As can be seen in Figure 1, it was proposed to locate the temperature
sensor nodes at 45° inclination in each corner of the classroom at a
distance of 4m, separated between them approximately 5m to extend
the radius of action to a distance of 16m, so that each node would
cover a part of the classroom. In the case of the luminosity sensor, the
location is central since the classroom has 4 fluorescent bases,
dividing 2 bases for the front part and 2 bases for the back part of the
classroom. Therefore, the brightness sensors will be placed on the
central pillars at a height of approximately 3m so that it can fulfill its
function of measuring the brightness levels needed by the students
to have a good visibility. The prototype is adapted to the dimensions
of the classrooms that are present in the Industrial Engineering Faculty
of the University of Guayaquil with an average size of 6m wide by 10m
long, which has capacity for approximately 40 students, where in the
morning hours daily circulate about 160 people between students,
teachers and cleaning staff.
Based on tests carried out inside the classrooms to determine the
placement of the sensors, it was determined that 7 sensor nodes and
1 central node should be placed. The sensor nodes are divided into
4 nodes consisting of sensors that are monitoring temperature levels,
2 sensor nodes that check the brightness of the classroom and 1 node
for access control that will be for the exclusive use of teachers.
Access control will be implemented at the main entrance door of the
classroom. It should be noted that the courses of the School of
Industrial Engineering have a single door that is used for the entrance
and exit of students and teachers.
For access, a TAG will have to be placed which will contain an ID
assigned to each teacher, so that the availability of each course and
the teacher who is in it at that moment can be known. Finally, the
central node will be located next to the projector base which is in the
central part of the classroom approximately 5m from the floor, one of
the factors taken into account for the location of the central node was
the maximum distance so that the data transmission is effective and
there is no loss of information, and in turn will avoid the constant
manipulation of the device.
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Zigbee technology
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The prototype will measure the ambient temperature and the existing
light levels, complementary to that an RFID access control that will
work with a TAG that works at the same frequency. By means of the
flowchart shown in Figure 2, the general operation of the prototype
can be clarified.
Figure 2.
Flow diagram
The respective selection of the devices to be implemented was made
based on their technical specifications, observing which of all the
options is suitable for the operation of the prototype.
A varied amount of Arduino boards were analyzed. (Sacoto Peralta,
2019) for which it was decided to use the Arduino Uno board. An
important factor in the choice of this board was its cost, since of all
the other options it was the least expensive and most accessible in
the market. In turn, it was found that despite being one of the
cheapest on the market, it meets the necessary requirements for the
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operation of the prototype in terms of processing speed, data
transmission rate and compatibility with a wide variety of protocols
and sensors.
Figure 3.
Arduino Uno.
Working with the DHT22 sensor was also analyzed (Llamas, 2016).
(Llamas, 2016) despite belonging to the same family as the DHT11,
the DHT22 has better features to implement it in real monitoring
projects that require medium accuracy. There are not going to be
problems sending collected data to the central node because the
DHT22 sensor is compatible with the Arduino platform. In addition,
the measurement range of this sensor is acceptable, ranging from -
40°C to 125°C with an accuracy of 0.5°C, capable of measuring
humidity as it uses a capacitive humidity sensor to measure the
surrounding air with an accuracy of 2 to 5%. Its field of action is
approximately 4 meters around and it has a sampling frequency of
2Hz.
Figure 4.
Temperature Sensor DHT22.
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Zigbee technology
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In addition, it was chosen to work with the KY-018 sensor. (Goplani,
2017) due to the ease of acquiring it in the local market and its cost.
This is a device capable of generating a voltage (0V to 5V)
proportional to the light incident on it. This is based on the properties
of a photo dependent resistor.
Figure 5.
KY-018 Luminosity Sensor.
Finally, the RFID-RC522 RF module was chosen (Alcon Baltzar, 2016).
(Alcon Baltzar, 2016)with a reading distance from 0 to 60 mm, the
communication protocol is SPI compatible with Arduino.
Figure 6.
RFID-RC522 Module Kit.
Through this methodology, tests will be performed and the prototype
will be created, including the programming language in which the
measurement and access control devices will be configured.
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Prototype implementation
For the implementation of this project we will use the Arduino Uno,
an Xbee series 2 module, a DHT22 temperature sensor, a KY-018
brightness sensor and the RC522 RFID module. Initially, the design of
the simulation in Proteus of the working scenario for the operation of
the prototype will be carried out. Within the program an analysis of
the current and voltage consumption of each device was performed,
where it was concluded to energize all sensors through the Arduino
board, which can supply the prototype without any complications,
after checking the proper functioning of the prototype through
simulations, physical tests are performed by implementing the
sensors in a real scenario. For which a small-scale prototype was
assembled with the devices on a breadboard where the connection
was made based on the simulation in Proteus.
In order for the prototype to perform the proposed measurements,
the sensors had to be programmed in the Arduino programming
environment (Arduino IDE), for which a specific function was assigned
to each sensor.
Once the sensors correctly send the data to the Arduino, the same
data is sent to the Xbee which will work as a transmitter and will be in
charge of transmitting the information to the Xbee Router complying
with the requirements of the Zigbee protocol.
The final result is the general diagram of the node connections as
shown in figure 6.