Abstract:
An interface was designed such that mControl[1] could be connected to the iPhone. The mControl is the software for digital home developed by Embedded Automation. It allows us to control all aspects of our home from Media Center PC, locally or remotely via Internet Explorer or from a Windows Mobile Device. The main objective behind this was to control the various house hold devices like lights, fan, dimmers etc through iPhone via mControl. In a fully automated solar powered house we can use iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control the appliances. This gives us an alternate and better method in addition to LCD Panels for the control of devices. Also it is more convenient as the interfacing does not require any extra hardware support in the iPhone or the system on which the mControl server is running other than the Smart Linc router. My work here has been to design and code the interface application. This javascript code (Appendix II) enables the client running at the iPhone to contact the server at Windows Home Server and both issue commands to change the status of an Insteon device or to monitor it. In addition to coding the interface, I have also documented the steps of installation (Appendix I) of both the mControl Server and Smart Linc Router so that anyone starting from scratch can make changes in the code. The code as of now can control and monitor the lights, dimmers and the fan in the solar powered house. Progressively, the irrigation module, security module, thermostat and can also be added to it without much effort.
Full report (pdf)