My Research Project

My Most Remarkable Research Project
Project Tile: The Design and Implementation of GPS controlled Environment

Monitoring Robotic System based on IoT and ARM
Supervised By: Associate Professor Wang Jun
College of Communications and Information Engineering, NJUPT
Introduction
Environmental monitoring systems are often designed to measure and log the current status of an
environment or to establish trends in environmental parameters. In this writing, an autonomous
robotic system has been proposed that is designed and implemented to monitor environmental
parameters such as temperature, humidity, air quality, and harmful gas concentration. The robotic
system uses GPS coordinates to track its location, move according to the user’s given GPS location
points and it can store data on an IoT platform called ThingSpeak. The mobile robot is controlled
by a smartphone which runs an app built on the Android platform. The whole system is realized using
a cost-effective ARM-based embedded system called Arduino and Raspberry Pi which
communicates through a wireless network or cellular network to the IoT platform, where data are
stored, processed and can be accessed using a computer or any smart device from anywhere. The
system can update sensor data to IoT server in every 15 seconds. The stored data can be used for
further analysis of the reduction of pollution, save energy and provide an overall living environment
enhancement. The robotic system is designed for cost-effective remote monitoring
environmental parameters without any human intervention to avoid health risk efficiently. A
proof-of-concept prototype has been developed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed system.
System Overview
The proposed robotic system is designed by incorporating the embedded hardware, software, and IoT
components. The block diagram of proposed system design is given figure 1.
The whole system of the robot can be divided into two parts:
1. Environment Monitoring System: This system is responsible to collect data from sensor and
upload collecting data to the IoT platform.
2. Navigation and Control System: The main function of this system is to navigate and control the
movement of the robotic system according to instruction from the app.
The environment monitoring system utilizes the Raspberry Pi 3B to communicate with three sensors
such as the DHT11, the MQ135, and MQ7 Gas sensor. The Raspberry Pi collects sensor data from
targeted locations and uploads data into the IoT platform. Real-time data visualization can be
accessed directly from the IoT platform by the user. The robot is part of the Internet of Things,
because it requires a network connectivity through a GPRS module which is connected with raspberry
pi, it uses sensors to collect environmental parameters data so the system need minimum human
intervention.
The robot navigation and control system consists of an Arduino mega 2360 microcontroller, GPS
and Compass module, DC motor and robot chassis. Arduino motor shield with L293D motor driver
has been used with Arduino to control the DC motor. The navigation system utilizes the Arduino
Mega to communicate with GPS module and the compass to navigate and move in a fixed path from
initial location to destination. For accurate navigation, an ultrasonic distance sensor has been added
so that it can avoid obstacles. A smartphone App has been developed to give instruction about its
destination GPS location. The app communicates with the robot through Bluetooth connection.
Fig. 1. The block diagram of proposed system design.
Core Functions
The key advantages and functions of the robotic system are:
1. To measure harmful gas concentration remotely.
2. To monitor environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity and air quality remotely.
3. Autonomous robotic movement after getting instruction from the user.
4. Compass and GPS module ensures accurate navigation.
5. The intuitive user interface in Android App, which can used in any smart smartphone.
6. The system is cost-effective and costs are less than 80 USD.
7. The system updates sensor data to IoT server in every 15 seconds.
8. Secured data in IOT platform and can be accessed from anywhere of the world.
9. An appropriate structure for uneven surface.
Algorithm and Programming

The algorithm and programming part is realized with 2 part :
1. Embedding Code in Raspberry Pi
2. Embedding Code in Arduino mega
1. Embedding Code in Raspberry Pi
In order to accessing network, getting sensor data, and upload data on IoT platform and finally to
realize the system algorithm, Python has been used in our system.
To realize the function of the environment monitoring system in software, the python code is written
according to the program flow of figure 2. The main function of the code is to collect sensor data and
upload the data to the IoT platform using API keys. In figure 3, the program flow of the python code
is given. At first, the system initializes libraries and modules of that is needed to run some built-in
function. At the same time, we stored API key as a variable. Then I2C communication has been
enabled so that it can communicate with ADC pins to get analog value from the sensor. After that we
have defined one function to read ADC value, The ADC pin will read sensor data and store that value
in a variable. Another function has been defined to upload sensor data using the API key variable to
the IoT platform. Finally, both functions are called in a loop which repeats calling the function if the
internet is available.
Fig 2. Program flow of the sensors data collection and storage to the IoT platform.
2. For Embedding Code in Arduino Mega 2560:

The Arduino mega 2560 microcontroller is programmed with embedded C language in an integrated
development environment (IDE).
Fig 3. Algorithm for the embedded C code .
The robot navigation and control system is realized according to algorithm shown in figure 3.The
algorithm is written in embedded C programming language and has been used in Arduino Mega,
Publication for International Conference:

Salman H., Wang J. et al., “The Design and Implementation of GPS controlled Environment Monitoring
Robotic System based on IoT and ARM,” 2018 IEEE International Conference on Automation, Electronics
and Electrical Engineering (AUTEEE 2018), Shenyang, China, November 2018, accepted for publication.
Result and Implementation:
Fig 4. The complete prototype of IoT and ARM-based GPS controlled Environment Monitoring Robot (right and front
views) and Navigation and Control app for the robot (from right side).
Fig 5. Real-time graphical visualization of harmfull gas, Carbon Dioxide detection and concentrations and Air quality
index of the environment.
Details Contribution of mine in this project

In this project, I contributed myself as a Team leader and active software algorithm developer. The
contributions are given below:
1. Proposed the project idea.
2. Developed the main algorithm for realizing the whole system in python and C programming.
3. Act as a Leader to accumulate teamwork in both software and hardware design and
implementation.
4. Realized the algorithm using python in Raspberry and C programming in Arduino mega.
5. Work distribution among teammates according to their skills and ability.
6. Team motivation
7. Project management.
Future Works
From my point of this project is highly potential for further development .However, The Future
works include :
1. The addition of several features including solar power, advanced communication solutions for
rural areas. More importantly, the updated system will be focused on integrating the current on a
larger scale to form an advanced intelligent environment monitoring system.
2. The onboard camera may be installed on the robot to capture images which could be submitted
to the cloud for real-time processing.
3. proposed robotic system can be modified to detect radiation and even other kinds of harmful gas
autonomously to avoid human health risks.
4. In addition, the design method can also be used in drone technology to make it even more
dynamic.

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My Most Remarkable Research Project

Project Tile: The Design and Implementation of GPS controlled Environment

Algorithm and Programming

2. For Embedding Code in Arduino Mega 2560:

Fig 3. Algorithm for the embedded C code .

Publication for International Conference:

Details Contribution of mine in this project

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