Design and Development of an Open-Source and Affordable LoT System for Developing and Least Developed Countries

Abstract The Internet of Things (IoT) has improved the quality of our lives through various interconnected gadgets and devices. Despite having great potential, IoT systemsstill have not made it into the mainstream industries orresidential complexes due to the high cost associated with commercial IoT solutions particularly in developing or least developed countries. In-expensive and open-source IoT-based systems could be employed in these fields to improve overall safety and drastically reduce accidents. In this paper, a model IoT system has been presented that could be used in any commercial apartmentor building complex or retrofitted to existing industry and can augment safety and reliability along with improving the quality of life. For this purpose, Atmega1284P and ESP32 microcontroller-based IoT device was developed and implemented.For IoT integration and cloud operation, the Google Firebase IoT platform was chosen. To monitor the system using both Bluetooth (low energy, BLE) and Wi-Fi, an Android application was created usingMIT App Inventor 2.This device is capable of receiving and handling multiple analog or digital sensors andwill send an automated email whenever a threshold value for the sensor is exceeded which could be easily changed via the application. Furthermore, the delay and system response of this device were experimentally determined. This type of system could be easily scaled for various applications which are also discussed in this paper. It also offers better flexibility and cost-effective solution to commercially available alternatives.