CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
Has technology transformed humankind into omniscient being? Years back, communication was done through difficult means like travelling to the destination of the second party, posting letters est. Today people can communicate easily through various means like e-mailing, face booking, GSM etc. The new age of technology has redefined communication, most people nowadays have access to mobile phones and thus the world indeed has become a global village. At any given moment, any particular individual can be contacted with the mobile phone. But application of mobile phones cannot be restricted to sending SMS or starting conversation. New innovation and ideas can be generated from it that can further enhance its capabilities. Technologies such as infra-red, Bluetooth etc which has developed in recent years goes to show the very fact that improvement are infact possible and those improvement have eased our life and the way we live. Remote management of several home and offices appliances is a subject of growing interest and in recent years we have seen many systems providing such controls.
These days, apart from supporting voice calls, a mobile phone can be used to send text message as well as multimedia message (that may contain pictures, graphics, animation, etc). Sending written text messages is very popular among mobile phone users. Instant messaging as it is known, allows an individual to share ideas, opinions and other relevant information. I have used this to design a system that allows a platform to receive calls which infact are commands sent to control different appliances and device connected to the platform. The design of this control system system is based on the GSM technology that effectively allows control from a remote area to the desired location. The application of the suggested system is immense in the ever changing technological world. It allows a greater degree of freedom to an individual whether it is controlling the household appliances or office equipments. The need to be physically presenting order to control appliances of a certain location eliminated with the use of this system.
The research is borne out of the need for man to control electrical devices that are remotely located to him. Anything from home devices such as alarms, heaters, air conditioner and so on, IT equipment such as routers and servers can be controlled.
The desire for man to control an object that is remotely located to him has been for many ages. However, the technology that meets the perfect desire in this respect has not been obtained, though there is increasing improvement in technology that struggles to meet this need in terms of accuracy, speed, ease of operation and limitless operation point. The introduction of the global system for mobile communication (GSM) and particularly the use of hand-held mobile phones brought the innovation of distance communication at remote location. Based on this, research utilizes this facility for remote control of systems and appliances, take for instance, a man on a journey inside his car suddenly remembers that he left the air conditioner (AC) ON when it was supposed to be OFF. The normal condition is to drive back and switch OFF. But with the GSM mobile phone in the hand, one looks on how the same could be used to effect control at any point and time.