Smart Light

About me

I am a student from Poland. I study Computer Science at Warsaw University of Technology at the Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science. This year I completed my first degree studies and now I continue my education on the Master studies.

I am particularly interested in IoT and embedded development on the software side. I am planning to work on these subjects in my Master thesis, which I will be writing during the upcoming academic year (in Poland it starts in October). Therefore, I started a project of an IoT device, which I intend to use for the purpose of my thesis.

Project descript_ion

The device will be a smart lamp. It will be controlled via MQTT protocol over WiFi and also utilize BLE for setup purposes (setting WiFi and MQTT passes). It will be possible to remotely turn the light on and off, change its color and intensity and make it fade out during the specified period. Moreover, it will be possible to schedule each of these actions to happen in the future.

The usage of MQTT protocol enables lots of possibilities. The device can be controlled by the client via a mobile app (which I also plan to implement). It will be possible to organize the devices into several groups and control the whole group with a single command (e.g. all lamps in one room). However, what is much bigger interest for me, it will also be possible to integrate the lamp with other devices. One simple possible usage is to use it together with a device equipped with a move sensor (e.g. a Raspberry Pi). When the movement is detected, the sensor device can publish an MQTT message and make the specified lamps turn on or react in any other possible way.

The lamp will have ESP-WROOM-32E MCU and will be powered via USB type C. As a light source, it will use an RGB LED ring. It will also have a few signal LEDs to show its state. For development purposes I made the prototype using ESP32 dev board and connecting the components on a breadboard. Below I present a video showing how it can be controlled remotely via a Python script_.

Words to PCBWay

I would really like to turn my prototype into a proper PCB. That would allow me to use comfortably multiple devices, and of course, it would look much more professional. I could even make a cool case using 3D printer. As I stated at the beginning, I am rather a software developer and not really into electronics. However, I have managed to prepare the prototype and to design a PCB, which turned out to be quite exciting and also very educational. Nevertheless, I will not be able to solder the components myself and I would like to have my PCBs assembled by professionals. Unfortunately, my budget is rather low and I can't afford ordering the service for a full price. I am sure that with your help I can make this project truly amazing.

Thanks in advance,

Bartosz