nathan.chantrell.net

This is from 2005 so is rather dated now, I might get round to updating it one day!

The Intelligent Home

I’ve been building my Home Automation system up for several years and it is now at a point where it is very functional.

I have control of lights, appliances and fans etc. from either a web interface or RF controllers (wall mounted and handheld) and the Perl based Misterhouse package allows me to build up macros and base events on various inputs such as whether I am at home or not. It even sends a text message to my mobile phone if someone presses the doorbell when I am out! Temperature sensors allow the home automation system to turn the fan and soon the heating on and off depending on the environment. CCTV, CallerID, voicemail, whole house audio and MP3 playback and much more also play a hand in making the automated home, read on for a more detailed explanation.

X10 Automation

X10 is a powerline carrier technology that allows devices throughout the home to communicate with each other via the existing mains wiring in the house. Using X10 it is possible to control lights and virtually any other electrical device from anywhere in the house with no additional wiring.

I have an increasing number of X10 modules installed around the house plus several wireless wall controllers and hand held remote controls, a mini controller by my bed, motion sensors on the stairs and a CM12U computer interface which is controlled by a Linux box running Misterhouse.

Misterhouse – Perl based house control software

The Misterhouse web interface offers easy point & click operation of X10 controlled appliances & lights but Misterhouse is more than just an X10 control system and has support for a huge array of automation, communications and security equipment. Being Perl based you can easily code your own events, macros and integrate it with other systems etc.

I have several macros set up so that on arriving home I can, for example, press the ‘home’ button on the entry/exit wall controller (an SS13E) which causes the computer to turn on the audio amplifier and welcome me and announce if I have new email. On leaving the house I press the ‘away’ button and all X10 devices are turned off.
This also allows Misterhouse to base events on whether the house is occupied or not. Other macros include a ‘going to bed mode’ which turns all the ground floor lights and the amplifier off and turns on the stairs and main bedroom lights.

Controlling the system

Next to my arm chair in the lounge I have a 12″ Touch Screen PC which gives me control of the Misterhouse web interface. Elsewhere in the house a 18 button X10 RF remote control or one of the 3 button wall switches allow remote control of various functions. I can also pick up any phone extension and dial certain extensions to turn lights & appliances
on and off.

In the hall and at the top of the stairs are RF motion sensors with built in light sensors that turn the landing/stairs light on for one minute if it is dark when it detects movement. These units also have several other possible uses in the future including detecting somebody approaching the front door and warning me audibly so I can view the front door camera.

I also have web access to a Bittorrent download manager, Uninterruptable Power Supplies Status, Wireless Access Point config, Firewall config, Xbox Media Center, Website Stats and Bandwidth Stats.

Out of the House Control

If I am out of the house I can log in to Misterhouse using my O2 XDA IIi PocketPC Phone or from any other internet connected computer using http, https or ssh. When I dial home from my mobile I get a menu which allows me to listen to my voicemail and to turn lights & appliances off by dialling extension numbers just as I can internally.

X10 Wireless Door Bell

I modified a KR19 RF keyfob to operate as an X10 wireless door bell by locating two traces on the pcb that operated button 2 ‘on’ and soldering the two wires from the door bell push button to these traces, hey presto: wireless X10 door bell. I used button 2 for the door bell because button 1 can be used to program the codes the remote control works on if held down. The remote control is then located in the old door bell housing for one of my few neat installations.

When someone presses the door bell misterhouse announces through the speakers that there is someone at the door and logs it to a file. If I am out (known from the entry/exit status) then it also sends a sms text message to my mobile phone (using vgsmail).

1-Wire Network: Temperature Sensing

I use a DS9097U-009 Active serial port adapter and two DS1920 temperature sensor iButtons (one indoors, one outdoors) to log the temperature. This information is then available through the misterhouse web interface as a log and a graph (courtesy of gnuplot) and is also used to turn the fan in my computer area on and off depending on the temperature. The plan is to connect an X10 module to the central heating thermostat input so that misterhouse can also control the heating based on the temperature information.

Dalsemi have some Guidelines for Reliable 1-Wire Networks online and there are several iButton related discussion groups

CCTV System

The CCTV system consists of a cheap TE104 / Pico 2000 4 channel Digital Video Recorder card and four cameras. Camera one is a wireless colour camera with nightvision, it faces down the front path from above the front door. Camera 2 is a mono camera mounted inside the front window giving additional coverage of the front door. Cameras 3 and 4 are both wired colour cameras with night vision, one giving a view of the rear yard and back door and the other an internal view of the computer area.

The software I’m using is the Linux based Motion package which has motion detection, live streaming, mpeg recording and much more. The cameras are only recorded when there is motion which is very handy and saves a lot of disk space. I’ve also set up a web interface which is accessible from within MisterHouse and allows viewing of single live cameras, quad view or recorded events. You can have up to 4 of these cards in one PC for a total of 16 cameras so there is plenty of room for expansion.

Telephone System

I used an external Pace Voice modem and VOCP running on Linux as my voicemail system for some years but have now switched to Asterisk, the open source VoIP PBX.

I have a Digium FXO card for the connection to my PSTN line, phones are a Grandstream IP phone and pair of DECT cordless phones connected via a Grandstream Handytone FXS gateway and a Sipura 3000 FXO/FXS Gateway. I also connect from work using the iaxComm IAX client, which allows me to answer incoming calls from work using a handset connected to a sound card.

Asterisk is very powerfull and has huge potential for home automation, features include music on hold, call parking, speaking clock, alarm calls and so on (Asterisk features). I’ve also got a load of extensions set up which allow me to control X10 devices from any extension, for example dialing 21 would turn the lounge lights on, dialling 20 would turn them off.

I can also dial out through FWD, IAXTel, VOIP to PSTN services like Telappliant’s VoIPTalk or PSTN from any phone. I also have a free 0844 local rate number diverted to my FWD account courtesy of VoIPuser.

When a caller leaves a voicemail message it is encoded as a wav file and along with the caller ID is then emailed to me at home or work depending on the time of day. A text message is sent to my mobile phone containing the caller ID and the length of the message and if I ring home from my mobile I get a different menu than normal callers get from where I can listen to the voicemail. Voicemail messages are also available via any IP phone.

Caller ID

Caller ID is handled by Asterisk and by a TV Messenger Caller Display unit (right) which overlays the caller ID onto your TV screen and can also store up to 40 names. The latest firmware for my Grandstream IP Phone has also added a new ring tone which reads out the callers number.

Note for any UK users, there is now a patch available for asterisk & zaptel to allow the Digium cards to do UK caller ID. As the web page says, it “just works”.

TV & Audio Distribution

The main audio amplifier is located in the living room next to the main TV and can be powered on or off via X10. This feeds sound to four sets of speakers covering the ground floor, currently there is a separate amplifier upstairs but I plan on connecting the upstairs speakers to the main amplifier at some point. All audio goes via my main PC before reaching the audio amp so that system sounds, email announcements etc can be mixed in over the TV or music sound. This also means that I can control the volume and mute inputs etc from the misterhouse web interface or via the X10 remotes.

I have a four output TV distribution amplifier which feeds video from either the terrestrial TV antenna, a TiVo box, a Sky Digital box, a freeview box, a video recorder, a DVD player or an Xbox running XBMC. This then outputs to the main TV in the lounge, the TV tuner in my main workstation PC, the Silicon Graphics Indy alongside my main workstation which I watch most of my TV from and the bedroom TV.

Music playback is in the form of MP3, using XMMS on my main PC with control also available via Misterhouse or X10 remote.

Barcode Reader

I have a Datalogic DLC7070-M1 barcode reader with the keyboard wedge interface. I’ve put together a database to keep an inventory of food & drink so I can do automated shopping lists a la icepick.com, simply scan items before throwing away the used packet and you have a computer generated shopping list. This was one of those things that was fun to set up but doesn’t actually get much use in reality.

Computer Network

This runs throughout the house and consists of 10-Base2 (coax), 10-BaseT (cat 5) & 802.11b (wireless) networks. The home automation server itself is a lowly Pentium 200 running Debian GNU/Linux and also serves as the mail, news and backup server. Misterhouse monitors several important services running on several machines and will send a sms text message to my phone if anything goes down.

Security

I have a stand alone professionally fitted hardwired security system with communications, however I won’t be going into any more detail here for obvious reasons but needless to say as I work for a security company I don’t have any worries on this score!

The Future

Some of the projects I have planned for the future are:

• Heating Control - I already have some iButtons to detect temperature so the next step is X10 control of the combi boiler via the thermostat connection. This will give much better control of the heating than the built in timer and will allow features like a ‘boost’ button on a remote control to tell the heating system to stay on for an extra hour if I’m staying up late.
• TiVo Web – Install TiVo Web and ideally a TiVoNet card to give web control of the TiVo.
• LCD Displays I’ve bought a HD44780 based 4×20 blue lcd display from Milford Instruments, I plan to use this with LCDproc which is a client/server LCD program for Linux. As well as some built in functions there are also many other clients available and misterhouse also has LCDproc support.
  Any of the many LCDproc clients can be used at the same time and the LCDproc server will swap between the displays.I’ve also found another source for some less useful smaller (but much cheaper) displays here.
• Electricity Consumption Monitor I stumbled across this page which describes a simple method to monitor your electricity consumption if you have one of those electricity meters with a flashing LED.
• Washing Machine Monitor I frequently put a load of clothes in the washing machine and then forget about them. It would be usefull if I could have an announcement from Misterhouse when it has finished its cycle. Two methods spring to mind, a current sensor or a light sensor to detect when the power light goes off.
• 1-Wire Addressable Switches As I already have the 1-wire network it makes sense to use some of the Dallas 1-Wire Addressable Switches such as the DS2405 or DS2406. These devices can be used as an input or can drive a relay for control purposes. Many possible uses for this.
  If more input/output options are required there are other possibilities are the Weeder I/O Boards, the Velleman K8000 Board or something simpler.
• IR Control An infra red sender would allow the home automation system to have control of any infra red remote controlled devices. One option is RedRat or maybe something home made
• 7″ Touchscreen – A Mini-ITX PC connected to a 7″ TFT Touchscreen with VGA input would make a nice compact, quiet controller.