Home Automation System with Built-In Disaster Mitigation

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Submitted by wangrh on Thu, 09/28/2017 - 10:00

Topic:

Idea source:

Problem Statement and Background

   

Images: Aftermath of San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, 1906

Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters known to man, and fires in their aftermath can be especially deadly due to the ignition of gas leaks resulting from earthquake damage. A well-known example is the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the massive fires following it, which collectively killed 3,000 people and burned down large portions of the city. FM Global, a multinational mutual insurance company, estimates that electrical ignitions are responsible for at least 40 percent of post-earthquake fires in the United States.1

One possible solution to minimize the risk of fire hazards in a quake’s aftermath is to design a home automation system with the ability to monitor a live seismic feed from the U.S. Geological Survey. When an earthquake is detected within a certain radius of the user, a Raspberry Pi sends a signal to a mobile application on the user's phone. In turn, the application transmits the signal to a smart plug, which turns off as a result. In normal circumstances, the smart plug and mobile application would simply allow remote switching and energy monitoring.

Project Video

System Block Diagram

Mobile Application Screenshots

   

Smart Plug Board Design (Complete)

Team Name

Code Red

Team Members

1. Ruthannah Wang (EE)

2. Zachery Bloom (EE)

3. Dallas Johnson (CSE)

4. Jose Soriano (CpE)

Mentor

Prof. Michael Green (EECS)

Resources

GeoJSON Live Data from U.S. Geological Survey: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/feed/v1.0/geojson.php

Reading JSON Data Using Raspberry Pi: http://www.instructables.com/id/Reading-JSON-With-Raspberry-Pi/

Calculating the distance between two points on Earth using only latitude and longitude coordinates: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html (useful for determining if the user is within a certain radius of the quake’s location)

Sending Push Notifications to a Phone App Using Raspberry Pi: https://videos.cctvcamerapros.com/digital-io-alarm-in-out/send-push-notifications-from-raspberry-pi.html

Footnotes

1 “Fire Following Earthquake – FM Global” https://www.fmglobal.com/~/media/Files/FMGlobal/UTHs/P0181.pdf?la=en