1. I. Introduction:
THE CHRONOLOGY: November 2010-April 2011
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: CHENNAI, INDIA.
NAME OF THE ORGANISATION: ST.JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
POSITION: STUDENT
TITLE: Low power embedded surveillance system with GSM module.
[CE 2.1]
I was involved in this mini project to acquire good credits and develop vital skills with a fellow
team members during the fifth and the sixth semester in my bachelor degree of Electronics and
Instrumentation engineering. I was fortunate to have the good guidance of Mrs. Gyanakowsaliya
Selvi, Professor, Head of Department (LABORATORY), Electronics and Instrumentation
department, ST.JOSPEH’S COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI. I worked on this project
with my team member to achieve the desired result and learn in the span of six months.
II. Background Research
[CE 2.2]
Since my schooling days, I have always had enormous desire to work with electronics,
understand its operations and develop innovative applications. I recollect my involvement in
several projects during my school exhibitions where I choose to demonstrate simple concepts such
as magnetism or a light bulb turning on due to motion detection. I was inclined to learn and analysis
the world of electronics which motivated me to take up electronics as my major in my
undergraduate degree. This deep passion towards electronics and the power it possess to develop
life changing systems motivated me to attend numerous seminars and symposium to gather
knowledge and keep me up to date in the ever changing world of electronics.
For this mini project, firstly I discussed with my team member to establish the abstract of the mini
project. To achieve this, I had to refer various library books, papers, journals and publications.
With the abstract established, I discussed with my guide regarding the serval methodologies being
used and the different existing systems. Expert guidance was provided and suggestions and

2. methodologies to be considered to develop my system which consumed low power was discussed
and was finalized. Then I did an in-depth study from online articles and blogs to develop my project
in the real time bases.
[CE 2.3]
 The main objective of the project is to develop an intelligent system using microcontrollers
which is capable of effectively managing the operation of surveillance CCTV cameras
assisted by sensors inputs.
 To develop a GSM module capable of alerting the user.
 To implement a working module for our proposed system.
 To submit a detailed report of my mini project for assessment.
[CE 2.4]
I propelled this mini project with a team member who supported me throughout the project and
helped me accomplish this project in the desired time. Couple of initial discussions were conducted
with my fellow team member regarding the project which we would be interested to work in and
the project which will give us an opportunity to learn modern technology and implement the skills
we learned during our electronic engineering course. After a week of intense online research, I
choose the concept we would like to work on. This idea was further discussed with my guide who
provided me with expert guidance and provided valuable suggestions regarding the necessary
hardware and software equipment’s and knowledge to implement my system in real time. My
supervisor nominated me as the lead for this project, therefore I divide the project work with my
team member and maintained a weekly assessment sheet which helped me develop and monitor
our progress through the course of the project and made it easier to write my mini project report. I
forwarded my weekly progress report to my guide who analyzed and proposed changes which had
to be considered during the implementation.
[CE 2.5]
I undertook the project with the help of my team member and expert technical assistance from my
supervisor, Mrs. Gyanakowsaliya Selvi, Professor, Head of Department (LABORATORY),
Electronics and Instrumentation department, ST.JOSPEH’S COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,

3. CHENNAI. My supervisor helped me and my team member in each step of this project and
provided access to all the required equipment’s.
[CE Fig 2.1] Work structure
III. Personal Engineering Activity:
[CE 2.6]
This mini project task was part of my undergraduate course and we had limited time to work on
this project and develop an innovative system, I was highly motivated by this challenge and
Electronics and
Instrumentaion
Engineering Department
ST.jospeh’s college of
engineering
Professor
Mrs. Gyanakowsaliya
Selvi
Project member: Arjun
shiva
(Student)
Electronics and
Instrumentation
Engineering

4. decided to work on a subject which I was and still am highly interested in. I choose to work in the
field of electronic embedded systems and use the knowledge I obtained through my numerous
course subjects such as embedded systems, microprocessor and microcontroller, electronic devices
and circuits and similar classes and laboratory sessions. To design any advance system, primary
knowledge of basic electronics and their operations are essential. I was fortunate to receive this
knowledge through various subjects in my course such as linear integrated circuits, digital logic
circuits and its laboratory sections. I then indulged myself in deep research in my library and
refereed several journals and IEEE papers to find a suitable idea. Due to this effort I stumbled upon
several problems our modern surveillance systems faced and how inefficiency was a major
problem in this field. I later researched on the existing systems which were continuously
operational and consumed power which was a major issue on several levels. Apart from
consumption of enormous amount of energy, I learned that the continuously operated systems also
faced the problem of consuming high amount of data storage and mainly were not intelligent. I
also understood that the system I would like to work on are highly suitable and efficient for
residential usage and places where continuous monitoring is not required.
[CE 2.7]
Firstly, I completely had to envision and develop an innovative solution for this problem in
surveillance, I discussed with my team member and arranged meetings with my supervisor to
develop a solution. After I conducted in-depth research, I came up with a model which used sensors
and a controller to control the CCTV which will reduce the energy consumption quite significantly.
My simple idea was to use low powered PIR sensors which require only 4V to 5V to operate which
are to be placed near the doors and windows, this sensor will be integrated with a controller and
GSM module to make this an intelligent system. I firstly had to come up with a basic flow chart
which will help us plan a methodologies and flow of tasks to be completed to achieve the necessary
output.

5. [CE Fig 2.2] FLOW CHART
[CE 2.8]
Once I and my team member finalized on the system design, I divided my task into three
phase. In my first phase I decided to work on hardware units used in my project, the second phase
I concentrated on programming and interfacing the microcontroller with a high level RAID
language which is a form of Embedded ‘C’ language and in my final stage I interfaced the
controller with the hardware equipment’s and indulged myself in several testing rounds. Finally I
presented my project to my supervisor and submitted my report.
In my hardware phase, I had to study in detail the various equipment’s used. I started with the
pyroelectric infrared sensor (PIR). I learned in detail the operation of this sensor by understanding
its circuit which contained fresnel lens and motion detection circuit. I learned its PIN configuration
and its triggering 5V LOW state. I mainly had to understand its operation range and its
disadvantages to design a robust system. Later I learned about the CCTV operation and power
requirements. I also learned how to code a 2*16 line LCD display for this mini project. My biggest
challenge apart from the controller section was the power supply management for the induvial
loads with different power requirement. I used a transformer and converted the output to a DC
linear multi voltage output using rectifier, 7085, 7812 and 7912 regulators to power different
equipment’s such as the CCTV, MAX 232, microcontroller and GSM module. Finally I learned in
detailed the operation of the GSM module and its interfacing procedure with my microcontroller.
In my mini project I used SPAR electronics limited GSM board level module which was capable
of interfacing with serial microcontroller. Once I learned and implemented my knowledge of all
these equipment’s, it was time to move to the microcontroller coding and interfacing stage.

6. [CE 2.9]
In this phase, I faced my biggest challenge of programming my microcontroller and
interfacing methods to my PC. I used an 89C51 microcontroller which is the family of the 8051
and a derivative. Specifically I used the P89C51RD2BN/01 controller to code. I had to learn in
detail the PIN configuration, memories, clock operations and the programming itself. I initially
made note of all the hardware equipment’s to be interfaced and their PIN configurations. I then
linked it with the microcontroller program and managed the memory allocation.
In the programming stage I first had to connect the microcontroller to a MAX232 to connect to the
USART via the RS232. The USART is the interfacing method to code in a PC. I learned that the
MAX232 helped me convert TTL/CMOS logic levels (0-5V0 to RS232 logic levels. The MAX232
contained the capacitive voltage generator to supply the RS232. Once I established this link I was
able to code in RAID embedded ‘C’ language. I designed an effective and efficient program and
stimulated it for errors and with this setup I loaded it to the microcontroller.
[CE Fig 2.2] CIRCUIT DIAGARAM
[CE 2.10]
Once this microcontroller is loaded with the program, I moved to the final stage of testing.
I made sure all the connections are given and intact and turned on the system. I tested the system
with several types of movement’s in front of the PIR sensor. I learned that the PIR sensor required
a few minutes to settle in to the environment. Once the detection was made the sensor turned low

7. and triggered the CCTV to ON state and the GSM module used the network to alert the user via a
text message to the phone. I faced few difficulties with the sensor as it was highly sensitive to
direct external sunlight and heated room space. I placed these sensors in a closed or roofed space
and the system worked efficiently. Also the CCTV which was operated by the power from my
power supply turns off if the power supply is cut off. I altered it by introducing a UPS for
uninterrupted power supply to the CCTV. Once I successfully completed executing my real time
system, I proceeded to finish my report and presented the system and report for my supervisor’s
evaluation.
IV. [CE 2.12] Summary:
 I successfully executed the low power intelligent embedded surveillance system.
 I demonstrated the advantages and effectives of installation of this model.
 I had the pleasure of understanding basic electronic devices such as transistors or amplifiers
to imagine an advance system. This basics formed the base.
 I tremendously improved my knowledge in electronic hardware components and controller.
 I learned in detail microcontroller coding and put my knowledge to real time experience.
 I had the opportunity to learn to work as a team and learned to develop a professional
academic report.