Group project home management system

Student Names: Sean Ahearne
Isam Brahim
Stephen Higgins
Brian Hennessy
Module: Group Project - SOFT7003
Assignment: Documentation
Class: Software Development & Computer Networking-DNET3
Submission Date: 08/05/2016
Supervisor: Meabh O Connor

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Contents
Introduction
Abstract. .................................................................................................................................3
Application Architecture Diagram..........................................................................................3
Brief Reviewof Technologies Used..........................................................................................4
Changes Since Research Phase................................................................................................4
Design
Selected Design Pattern...........................................................................................................5
Class Diagrams .......................................................................................................................6
ER Diagrams...........................................................................................................................6
Sequencing Diagrams..............................................................................................................7
Implementation
App. .......................................................................................................................................8
Website ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.4
Pi................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.5
Testing
Website Testing....................................................................................................................20
App Testing...........................................................................................................................26
Conclusion
Changes Since Research Phase.............................................................................................32
Changes Since Implementation Phase...................................................................................32
Skills Acquired......................................................................................................................32
Requirements Not Implemented............................................................................................32
Were Our goals Achieved?....................................................................................................33
Future Changes.....................................................................................................................33
Appendix
Project Diary........................................................................................................................34

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Introduction
Abstract
 With the rise of the availability of the Internet and low-cost computing, a trend has emerged
towards connecting everything and anything to the Internet.
 This trend has been given the name the Internet of Things (IoT), and is a growing segment of
the computing Industry.
 As such, a decision was made to develop a system capable of managing devices within the
home from the internet with a low cost computing solution.
 This low cost solution took the form of a Raspberry Pi, which can monitor and control
devices when given commands, even from the Internet.
 This system was developed into a home management system, with the Pi being able to
perform multiple functions such as power control, an alarm system, and heating control.
 The system was designed to be controlled from a mobile application, and from the website as
a backup and for administration.
 Auser can control a Pi (that is registered to them) from this app no matter where they are as
long as they have an Internet connection.
 This is achieved through use of IBM BlueMix, a cloud service that facilitates managing IoT
devices.
 The app talks to BlueMix, which talks to the Pi and vice-versa an in-depth explanations
follows.
Application Architecture Diagram

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Brief Review of TechnologiesUsed
 IBM BlueMix
o Acloud service capable of creating and managing many different services in one
cloud based environment.
o Services used in this project provided by BlueMix include: A phpMyAdmin MySQL
Server,A web server,and Node-Red, a service used to communicate with the
Raspberry Pi using JSON, built on Node.js.
 IBM Watson
o Aservice provided by BlueMix specifically tailored for IoT style devices.
o Can be easily installed as a Linux service, and once configured, it communicates with
BlueMix using REST.
 Node-Red
o Afork of node.js specifically designed for IoT devices, and in particular Watson and
BlueMix.
o Also installed a Linux service, can be configured using its web-based GUI.
o Works on the principle of flows, an event is triggered which performs some action
(execute a script, connect to database etc.) and then flows onwards to another event
until the end of the chain.
o Uses JSON notation (REST) to communicate with BlueMix services using Watson.
o Functions can be performed on JSON objects during flows with JavaScript.
 phpMyAdmin MySQL
o Acloud-based implementation of a MySQL server.
 IBM Web Server
o The website was built using BlueMix’s web server service.
o Development for it took place using DevOps, an extension of GitHub.
Changes since ResearchPhase
During the research and requirements analysis phase we chose 5 features we wanted to implement,
those were:
 Power Control
 Heating Control
 Alarm System
 Live Streaming
 IR Controller
We managed to implement four out of five of those features,the feature we chose to not implement as
the IR controller this was for the following reasons:
 Not enough GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi
 Time consuming to develop
 Too difficult for a user to configure
Other changes made were the layout of our database tables,this was due to storing some variables we
didn’t need, and not storing other variables we found we did need.

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SelectedDesignPattern
REST (Representational State Transfer) was the design pattern that was followed throughout this
project. REST API’s are created using HTTP requests,which in our case was packaged in JSON
format. By using Node-RED,we were able to create a REST connection with a MySQL node which
connected to our database. These requests were SQLstatements packaged in JSON, sent via HTTP to
our database; which was hosted by Phpmyadmin on our Bluemix web server.
For REST, each action is based on HTTP methods already available. GET is used to get the state of
the resource,or a representation. To update a value in a database,REST uses PUT.And to display
values, REST uses POST.
Class Diagram

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Use Case Diagram
Entity Relationship Diagram

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Implementation – Mobile Application
GitHub was used in order to back up the code for the android app. The repository name is
“InSecurity”, and can be found at https://github.com/Higgins113/InSecurity. The android code was
also stored in a zip file on Dropbox.
The PHP files for the project were stored on BlueMix.
Arrangement ofAndroid Code
The android app consisted of 13 java files and 9 xml (layout) files. Some java files (such as MyDB
Handler) do not have a related layout file, as they will not be seen by the user of the app.

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Arrangement of PHP Code

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48 PHP files were used on this project, all of which were stored and accessed on BlueMix

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Difficult Coding
There was difficulty in connecting the android app to our online database,as well as connecting our
online website to the database. The connection from the android application to the online database
was more difficult than anticipated, as there seemed to be no easy way to do this through BlueMix.
Asolution was found by which the android app connects to our database using PHP files which were
stored on Bluemix.
On the Android side of the code, once the user has inputted their data and clicked the register button,
the reg() method is called.
This method takes the values entered into the EditText field and converts them to a String format.A
local User is created and added to the local MySQLite database.Anew BackgroundTask is then
created,and is then executed,passing in the registration values.
The BackgroundTask method contains a String add_info_url, pointing to our php file. The registration
information we passed when we executed BackgroundTask is then stored in local Strings. A
HttpURLConnection is then created,with the url being add_info_url. The RequestMethod is POST,as
we are sending data to the database.An OutputStream is then created,and a new BufferedWrite
created,with the character encoding set as UTF-8.

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All of the registration details are then encoded as a String, using the URLEncoder and UTF-8 as the
character encoder. The bufferedWriter then writes this string, and all Writers,Steams and connections
are closed. After this is completed, a Toast is created,showing the user that registration was
completed.
This is an example of a php connection to our database. This example is add_info.php. This file takes
the registration information inserted by the user on the android app and inserts it into our online
database. The details of our database such as the host address,the authentication details and the
database name are all declared at the top of the file. The details “fname,lname,mobile,username,pass”
are all taken using $_POST,which takes information that has been passed using the HTTP POST
method in our android app. A connection is then established to the database using “msqli_connect”.
An sql insert query is then created and executed,inserting the relevant data sent from the android app
into the database. The connection is then closed.
An example of a php connection to our database is the json_get_pi.php file.

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This file establishes a connection to our database in the same manner in which our other php file did.
However, this file is for getting the data about the raspberry pi from the database.ASelect statement
is used to retrieve the data about the Pi. This data is then push out as an array,displaying the data in a
JSON format.

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Website
The website details such as the php files were stored using the Bluemix DevOps service. The function
of the website was to act as a location where an administrator could control user details as well as
control the functions of their Pi’s. From the website, the administrator can control aspects of the Pi
such as alarm status,power status,heating and Temperature.
The main difficulty faced when establishing the website was the same as the android app – the
connection to our database. However,once the php script for connecting to the database was
established, the process was similar for both the app and the website.
This example of code shows the php script for connecting the website to the online database
in order to register a user. The details for the database connection are stored in
connections.php and are called. Once the submit button is clicked, the data fields needed to
register a user (such as username, password and phone number) are parsed out and stored as
local variables ($uname, $passName and $user_phone) . A new sql INSERT statement
($new_query) is used for inserting a new row of user data. This query is then executed,
connecting to the online database. If the insert is successful, the welcome page is displayed.
Chosen Framework / API
Bluemix was the online service used in conjunction with our app. It was not easy to use, with
relevant documentation for our application being scarce and difficult to locate. Bluemix was
also not a stable platform to develop on, with the service going down for maintenance and
errors occurring frequently. There was very little information regarding what the
errors/maintenance was for and how long it would last. Bluemix went down with an error at
the end of the project demonstration. There was also no easy way to connect the android app
to the database, instead PHP files had to be used to connect. It was also our first experience
with a cloud based application, which contributed to our difficulty in working with Bluemix.
Representational state transfer (REST) was also used in this project. This aspect of the project
was easier to understand and work with, as there was relevant documentation available
widely on the internet. Once connectivity between all aspects of the project was established,
it was clear to appreciate what having REST accomplished.

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Raspberry Pi
On the Raspberry Pi, 2 packages were installed in order to send and receive data from Bluemix. These
were IBM Watson’s IoT framework package and Node-Red. IBM Watson is installed in a similar
fashion to a traditional Linux service, it is installed as a packages and configured from its
configuration file, in this case,all that was need was the Organization ID of our BlueMix application
and the Pi’s MACAddress.
Node-Red is installed in a similar fashion, it installed as a package, but only after being downloaded
from GitHub and unzipped. Once installed it is configured from its web-based GUI, the service must
be running in order to do this. This is demonstrated in the image below. In practice,a shell script can
be used to start the service on start-up (init.d).
Node-Red used JSON (REST) to communicate (i.e. send & receive data) with BlueMix. It performs
tasks and functions using a system called flows. An example of a flow is seen below. This flow is used
to control the smart plug socket that is connected to the Pi. It starts by creating an SQL statement to
query the value of the power cell in the database (for its own ID only). This statement is sent as a
msg.topic in JSON format to BlueMix, Once BlueMix receives it, it parses it back to SQL and sends it
to the phpMyAdmin database,the database responds and the data it returns to BlueMix is put into
msg.payload by it and sent back to Node-Red on the Pi. The Pi then runs a JavaScript function to
examine the payload of the JSON object to determine if the power is on or off (and act accordingly).
The process is set to repeat once a second, so it appears seamless to an end user.

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Acomparison between two ofthe flows used.

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Since Node-Red is built on Node.js it uses JavaScript to perform functions. The function to examine
the payload of the power query is below, it should be noted that for some reason querying the object
in the payload didn’t work (i.e. msg.payload.power), which meant the JSON object had to be parsed
into a string in order to read the value. In this case,since they payload will always be power:on or
power:off, it is still fairly simple to figure out what is in the payload and act accordingly.

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The function will send the payload to one output or the other depending on what it found. The payload
at this point becomes meaningless, it is just used to signal an exec command, which means run a
python script that controls something on the Pi, as seen in the image above, which in this case,is to
turn the power on.
The python scripts are used to perform tasks related to GPIO input/output, in this case,the script for
turning a plug socket on is shown below. This is achieved by sending a binary transmission over radio
frequencies using a modulator on the same frequency as the socket.
The streaming service was provided by MJPEGstreamer. It was downloaded and compiled for the
Raspberry Pi. It provides a built in web service for viewing the stream online. Once installed, it can be
set to run on start-up from a shell script. Ademonstration is shown below.
Problems encountered
We had multiple problems getting the Pi’s to connect to BlueMix, a lot of them seems to be related to
working on eduroam within CIT as the BlueMix service either kept getting blocked, or BlueMix itself
went down.
As stated previously, for some reason sub-categories in JSON objects could be accessed using
msg.payload.(data), instead it had to be parsed into a string value.
Unfortunately our sensor board failed during development which slowed our development.
The Camera failed to work correctly on one of the Pi’s, even when making sure the Camera
was enabled.

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Testing - Website
Test description Result expected Pass
/Fail
1 Does the website run?
Web Address:
https://webisam.eu-
gb.mybluemix.net/index.
php
Pass
2
Can a user login? Does
the post-login page
display correctly?
(Username : brian
Password: brian)
Pass
3 Can a user switch the
power on or off? Does
the value update
correctly in the database?
Pass
alarm on or off? Does the
value update correctly in
the database?
Pass
5 Can a user change the
temperature value for the
thermostat? Does the
value update correctly in
the database?
Pass

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heating on or off? Does
the value update
correctly in the database?
Pass
7 Can a user log out? It should redirect to home page Pass
8 Can an Administrator log
in? Does the Admin page
display correctly?
(Username: test
Password: test)
An admin can see all of the tables: Users, Admins,
Raspberry Pi’s.
Pass
9 Can new users be added? Pass

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9 Does the new user appear
in the database?
Pass
10 Can users be removed?
Remove user page with users id Display.
Pass
10 Is the user removed from
the Database?
Pass

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11 Can new administartors
be added?
Pass
11
Admin user added to database admin users table.
Pass
12 Can administrators be
removed?
Pass

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12
Admin user (72) removed from the database.
Pass
13 Can an administrator
control a user’s Pi?
Pass
14 Can an administrator
control any value on any
pi?
Pass

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15 What happens if a user
tries to login with an
incorrect
Username/Password?
User can’t progress past login page.
Pass
16 What happens when a
registered user that
doesn’t have a Pi
associated with them logs
in?
No pi is shown. Controls do not work.
Pass

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Test No Test
Descriptio
n
Result
Expected
Result
1 Does the
login page
display?
Login Page
shown on
startup
Pass
2 If
incorrect
details are
entered,
the user
cannot
login
Rejected
login
Pass

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3 Can the
user get to
the
register
page?
Register
page shown
once button
“Register”
is clicked.
Pass
4 If the user
enters
their
details,
can they
register?
Confirmatio
n screen of
registration
Pass
5 If
registratio
n is
confirmed
, useris
sent to
login page
Login page
displayed.
Pass

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6 Are user
details
stored on
online
database?
User details
stored in
database.
Pass
7 Can the
user now
login with
registered
details?
User logs in
successfully
.
Pass
8 Can the
user
control
details
such as
Power,
heating
and alarm
User can
control
power,
heating and
alarm after
pressing the
control
button
Pass

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9 Can the
user turn
the alarm
on/off?
User can
turn alarm
on/off
through the
alarm on/off
buttons,
changing
database
value from
1(on) to
off(0).
Pass

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10 Can the
user turn
the power
on/off?
User can
turn power
on/off
through the
power
on/off
buttons,
changing
database
value from
1(on) to
off(0).
Pass
11 Can the
user turn
the
heating
on/off?
User can
turn heating
on/off
through the
heating
on/off
buttons,
changing
database
value from
1(on) to
off(0).
Pass

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12 Can the
user
stream the
camera to
the app?
User can
stream the
camera to
the app
using the
stream
button.
Pass

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Conclusions
Significant changes since research phase:
 As previously stated,support for an IR controller was not implemented, for various reasons
including time and difficulty
 Database tables were altered significantly, one table was dropped and the others were changed
with columns added and removed based the information we needed changing over time.
Significant changes since implementation phase:
 As previously stated the database tables changed significantly throughout development.
 We were originally going to use a single Pi to perform all of the functions, it became apparent
this wouldn’t be possible as there was not enough GPIO pins on a single Pi for all of the
sensors and equipment used.
 This means we used two pi’s to perform all the functions required. This made significant
changes to the database,as we went from previously having one Piper user, to multiple Pi’s
per user.
Skills Acquired:
Development of this project required learning many new skills:
 Python scripts (Pi)
 Shell scripts (Pi)
 JavaScript functions (Node-Red)
 Using REST/JSON
 Android/Java development (app)
 PHP development(app)
 Using GitHub with eclipse and Android (app)
 HTML development(website)
 PHP development(website)
 Using DevOps & BlueMix’s web server service (website)
 Learning how to use a cloud services framework (BlueMix)
 Maintaining a database (BlueMix)
Requirements Not Implemented:
Our requirement of the IR controller was not implemented. The reasons for this have already been
stated, hardware issues,time, and difficulty. In order to have implemented this feature we would have
had to put in more time and even money than we had for the project.
If we had the extra time to program an IR controller and purchased a GPIO extender in order to power
and communicate with it, it may have been possible to implement.
There would still have been an issue with configuring it for a user however.As the job of an IR
controller is to communicate with a set-top box, or DVD player, or something that uses an IR remote
control, it’s up to the user to configure the IR controller for the device that they want to use, which
may have been too confusing and difficult to expect a regular user to do.
Were Our Goals Achieved?
Considering four out of five of the originally required features were implemented, we would consider

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the goals of our project achieved.
The original specification of this project was to design and implement a home management system.
Since the features that we did implement all contribute to managing a user’s home our project stays
true to the original requirements also.
Future Enhancements
With such a limited development timeframe there were only so many features we could implement.
There were some features we thought of implementing in future revisions, if we had the time to
develop them:
 The ability to save and replay streams from the camera.
 The ability to play music from the cloud from speakers connected to the Pi.
 The ability to print documents from the cloud from a printer connected to the Pi.
 The ability to send out a tweet/ post a Facebook message in the event of temperature
exceeding a value.
 The ability to take a snapshot of the livestream from the phone stream.

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Appendix
Project Diary
12/02/2016
What work has been completed?
 Group meet up to discuss the project
 Meeting with Meabh to discuss the project
What work is being done now?
 Discussing the Application Architecture Diagram
What work will be done in the future?
 Start work on implementing cloud framework.
Explanation
We met up with Meabh this week to discuss the implementation of the project. She gave us
an Application architecture diagram to describe how to implement the project. We have to
implement a cloud services framework of some sort to communicate from the pi to the app
and vice versa using REST, she recommended IBM BlueMix, which we’ll probably use.
There are alternatives such as AWS and Microsoft Azure though.
26/02/2016
 Group meet up to work the project
 Completed requirements document
 Setting up IBM BlueMix
 Start work on connecting the Pi to BlueMix
Explanation
We met up with Meabh this week and gave her our requirements specification document. We
also started work on our implementation, Brian is setting up the BlueMix services, Sean is
setting up the Pi, Stephen is setting up the app and Isam is setting up the website.
11/03/2016

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 Meeting with Meabh to discuss the project
 All sections of the project have some basic implementation done
 Connecting the Pi to BlueMix
 Sending useful data to and from BlueMix
Explanation
We met up with Meabh this week to assist us in implementing BlueMix. We are having
trouble getting the pi to connect to BlueMix, we know we have to use REST but we’re still
unsure how to use it.
22/03/2016
 Establishing the website on Bluemix
 Login/ Register functions on the android app
Explanation
We worked together during the week, creating our website on bluemix and working on
implementing functionality on the website. The android app now has a login/register page,
with data being stored on a MySQLite database.
30/03/2016
 Connecting the android app to BlueMix
 Connecting the website to the BlueMix

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 Sending data from the android app to database
 Sending data from the website to database
Explanation
We met up and worked on establishing a connection from all our devices to Bluemix. This is
proving more difficult than we anticipated, mainly due to our unfamiliarity with Bluemix.
4/04/2016
 Meeting with Meabh to discuss the project on the 5th
 Connecting the android app to database
 Connecting the website to the database
 Changing database values using the app and website
Explanation
We met up to work on establishing a connection between the android app to our online
database as well as establishing a connection between our website to our database. We were
unable to find any easy way to do this through bluemix and are considering using php files.
15/04/2016
 Data sent from the Pi to database
 Data sent from android app to database
 Data sent from website to database
 Retrieving data from the database to website
 Retrieving data from the database to android app
 Streaming camera to website and application.
Explanation
We met up during the week and sent live data from the raspberry Pi to the online database. A
connection was established from the android app to the database and from the website to the
database using php files stored on Bluemix. User registration data is now stored on the online

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database. Database values such as power can now be changed from the website and app. We
must now work on sending database data to the app and website.
22/4/2016
 Data retrieved from database to website
 Data retrieved from database to app
 Demonstration preparation
Explanation
We met up during the week and retrieved data from the website and application. We are also
working on streaming the camera footage to the website and application.
27/4/2016
 Demonstration preparation
 Project Documentation
Explanation
We met up during the week to practice for our project demonstration. We went through a
mock demonstration in the week, going through the presentation slides in a lab, and practiced
demoing our project.

Group project home management system

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