Smart City

Smart City
Dashboard - Admin Panel
Smart Lights - Admin Panel
Smart Lights Temperature View - Admin Panel
Smart Light Detail Information - Admin Panel
Smart Dumpster - Admin Panel
Smart Parking - Admin Panel
Smart Nature - Admin Panel
Smart Dumpster
Smart Dumpster - opened
Smart Dumpster and sensors
Smart Nature device
Smart Nature device and Smart Dumpster
Smart Parking
LoRa Hat for Raspberry pi
LoRa Hat for Raspberry pi
Smart Light prototype

Inspiration

The main idea of our project was to improve the environmental aspect of polluted cities worldwide, by inventing new technologies to help distinguish the causes of pollution. One of the first ideas was technology provided by Smart Light device, which is able to help cities with environmental issues such as light pollution created by overusing the electricity. Our second idea was a device called Smart Dumpster, which is able to help with overfilling with garbage and insufficient exportation. Following these ideas, Smart Parking was another option to improve the state of environment. To avoid wasting the water supplies, we invented smart devices concerning nature, which would be located around the local parks.

What it does

Smart Light is a device which can recognize the weather, especially if it is currently raining or snowing. It also has sensors to measure the temperature, the humidity, the atmospheric pressure, and the air pollution in the close distance. On top of this, it also detects whether the lightbulb is working or not. According to this, if the lightbulb is malfunctioning, Smart Light sends a notification to the administrator.

Smart Dumpster is able to determine the weight of the disposed material, as well as the fullness of the container. This information can get us a better understanding of what is in the dumpster. Sometimes large but light disposed materials do not trigger the weight sensor, but the container is already full due to the volume. The Smart Dumpster has also a sensor to measure the level of CO2 in the dumpster container. This helps to prevent the Smart Dumpster to catch on fire. Unusual thing to measure can be the state when the dumpster starts to smell. Thanks to this, we are able to empty the container before the bacteria strikes due to biodegradable material inside.

Smart Parking, yet another smart idea, which can also assist in solving global environmental issues. This device notifies the user of free parking places on the provided map, helping with constant driving in circles, being unable to find any available spots thus it lowers the fumes released in the atmosphere. Additionally, it offers information about the capacity of the entire parking place, and whether it is fully or partially occupied.

Smart Nature, devices located around city parks are efficient in dealing with the issue of wasting stored sacred water supplies. This is accomplished by placing the smart nature devices in the park lawn to measure the moisture in the soil, so it is not overwatered or underwatered. On top of this, these devices have a temperature sensor, which helps with adjusting the care of the flora.

How we built it

All of the prototypes were created using 3D printing technology. We designed those parts ourself, using 3D modelling software. Prototyping then was fast and easy, we could easily add small modifications, like change a size or add a compartment for storing more sensors. Sensors and devices were first tested on breadboard and appropriatelly tuned for usage created prototypes.

Smart Light

For executing this idea we used sensor DHT22, for gathering the temperature and moisture information, sensor BMP280 for gathering the measurements of atmospheric pressure, MQ135 for gathering the information about the air pollution and also a sensor for rain. The mechanism of time intervals measures and sends the data through secured MQTT protocol. The mechanism to save the maximum battery uses the feature deep sleep. That means the device repeatedly wakes up after a specific amount of time, measures the value and goes back to sleeping state. The device also detects lamp malfunction. If the lamp is supposed to be turned on and is not, the problem is displayed in the administration panel. The Smart Light was programmed in MicroPython and runs on device ESP32.

Smart Dumpster

This device consists of sensor MQ-2, by which the presence of CO2 is measured, which signalizes whether the container is on fire or not. To calculate the weight of the waste inside, we use a weight distinguishing sensor. However, the thrown-out material does not have to be heavy to fill up the space in the container. That is why we use a distance sensor to avoid this problem. We also used an additional sensor distinguishing unwanted smell. This device also communicates through MQTT protocol. Running in the ESP8266 device, this mechanism has been programmed using programming language Wiring, which is a superstructure to the C programming language.

Smart Parking

Smart parking system is functioning on a three-layer architecture, meaning we are using a sensor located on an end device, so that it transfers the signal to the device located on a layer above. Higher devices process these signals and calculate not only the number of available parking places, but also where they are located. Afterwards the device sends this information about free parking places to the Smart Panel, which later on shows such informations on screen.

Smart Nature

For smart nature ideology, we decided to create an actual real device. This device measures the moisture of the soil as well as the temperature in its surroundings. The mechanism to save the maximum battery uses the feature deep sleep. That means the device repeatedly wakes up after a specific amount of time, measures the value and goes back to sleeping state. The device was created using the ESP8266 technology.

Smart Panel

For this project we also decided to create Smart Panel. It should represent easier way for users to search for information from our Smart City Devices. Smart Panel was created using Node.js. For communication with devices we decided to use a secured MQTT protocol. All of the data are stored in InfluxDB and MySQL databases.