Home Automation for devices and sensors with web server interface in erlang
The 433MHz network is maintained by an Arduino UNO using the https://github.com/epkboan/txrx project. It listens for sensors and power outlet commands from other sources (like remote controls) to keep the state of the devices. It sends commands to the power outlets (programmable timers or user controlled). The UNO is connected via serial (USB) interface to a raspberry PI. The UNO is just a dumb bitbanging slave and the PI has the control logic and device states. The rasberry PI is connected to my home router. I'm using wired connection based on previous experiences with rasberry PI wifi dongle hassle.
The txrx sensor data is pushed to an mysql database every 15min (runnning on an external Servage web server in my case, but it can just as well be running on the raspberry PI. And even better run a mnesia database rather than mysql).
The web server is using the nitrogen web framework running cowboy (erlang web server). The web pages (as seen on the screenshots below) are dynamically created every time the user do a request (or refresh). The current state of devices, sensor data, (in the weather station case) external mysql query is collected and displayed on the page.
You can now access your devices both internally on your LAN and if you want to access it from anywhere then do port forwarding in your router. Remember to at least select some other port than the standard 8080, 8000... when doing the port forwarding (you can also selct another port in the etc/cowboy.config file) to avoid most port scanning. But there should of course be some login or other security measures in the future.
On the LAN i have a 7" tablet that updates every minute with the latest wethear statsistics
- Prepare the raspberry pi with basic needs. Your favorite editor etc
- Install erlang (on the rasberry pi): Follow the instructions to download erlang-mini http://www.erlang-embedded.com/ and you also need:
sudo apt-get install erlang-dev erlang-edoc erlang-eunit
- Install the ino build system http://inotool.org/#installation
Clone this project and then navigate into the project and to "make". This will first download the other projects that homeautomation is depending on (web server, nitrogen webframework etc).
git clone https://github.com/epkboan/homeautomation.git
cd homeautomation
make
Next you need to install the firmware for the arduino UNO
cd homeautomation/deps/txrx/arduino/
ino build
If all went well
ino upload
Update your ./homeautomation/etc/homeautomation.config with your personal settings. Navigate back to the ./homeautomation directory and hit 'make run'. This will start the txrx, homeautomation, webserver etc.
cd /path/to/your/homeautomation/location/
make run
If you want the application to be executed automatically at startup then edit your /etc/rc.local
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
and add the lines
cd /path/to/your/homeautomation/location/
erl -pa ebin/ deps/*/ebin/ -config etc/cowboy.config -config etc/homeautomation.config -config etc/app.config -eval "application:start(sasl)" -eval "application:start(txrx)" -eval "application:start(homeautomation)" -eval "nitrogen_sup:start_link()" -sname boan -setcookie hej -detached
Open a webbrowser and navigate to the ip address of your rasberry PI (check with ifconfig)
- 192.168.1.34:8080/weather - This will open the weather station page (as below)
- 192.168.1.34:8080/mobile - This will open the device control page (as below)
A simple 7" tablet (i use an Asus Memo Pad) is always on and displays the current weather data (just like any other weather station). Once every minute a new query is made to the homautomation webserver (raspberry pi), the webpage is assembled dynamically with the latest info. The top part is from the local txrx device and the google chart diagram is from a mysql query (of past txrx data)
I use a mixture of standard power outlets and own built to control garden sprinklers etc. The devices are controlled either manually via the web interface as seen below or as programmable timers (see etc/homeautomation.config for a sample, but it is just a list of on/off times of any length).
At the bottom of the page the current sensor values are displayed
