Device Monitoring and Controlling using Mobile
Telephony
Akash D.K.
Email: dk.akash191@gmail.com
IV Semester, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, JNNCE,
Shivamogga , India
Abstract: Nowadays, the communications becomes very
simple, fast, interactive and more compact, that makes
the globe as a small village. So it is very easy for anyone
to subscribe in the local or global telecommunication
networks with individual mobile phone as they are
becoming multipurpose devices. These devices are
capable of storing data as well as running custom
application. As more people adopt these devices and
begin to use them for personal or business tasks, the
need for controlling access to the data stored within the
devices will become vital. In this white paper we will
describe how mobile phones can be used for remote
monitoring and control by augmenting an existing or
new product with an embedded information-server, the
product can be remotely controlled in a very cost
effective way. We will describe the many different
benefits of using mobile communication by a set of
example scenarios in various fields of applications.
Keywords: GSM, Information Server, DTMF, TOBE,
Code controlled lock.
1. Introduction
Controlling devices using switches are common.
From a few decades controlling devices using remote
control switches like infrared remote control witch,
wireless remote control switches, light activated
switches are becoming popular. But these technologies
have their own limitations of range. Laser beams are
harmful to mankind. Some technologies like IR remote
control are used for short distance applications. In such
case if we have system which does not require any
radiations and not harmful which can be used from any
distance from meters to thousand kilometers using a
simple mobile phone. As mobile devices for
communication and computation gain more widespread
acceptance, where a person is located when processing
digital information or sending and receiving messages or
phone calls is increasingly under individual control. If
one can conduct business from anywhere, then one can be
anywhere when conducting business. For example,
mobile phones may not reveal one's location to the party
at the other end of the line as readily as stationary ones.
With todays and tomorrows wireless
technologies, such as IEEE 802.11, Blue tooth and 3G,
mobile devices will frequently be in close and interactive
communication. Many environments including offices,
meeting rooms, automobiles and class rooms already
contains many computers and computerized applications,
and the smart homes of the nearest future will have
ubiquitous embedded computation. Remote control with
small mobile device is a challenge for mobile/ubiquitous
computing. Enabling users to use data and functions
stored in/served by their home/office PCs from anywhere
with small mobile devices is beneficial because users can
access the data/functions at any time they want without
carrying heavy notebook PCs. Further more, users can
control applications they want to keep running even while
they are absent.
In the next section we will take a look at some
different scenarios where mobile communication with
embedding information servers implemented into devices
have benefits for both the end user and the producer.
2. Modes of Operations
First its necessary to clearly identify two different
modes of operation, based on the distance between
the user and the controlled device.
1). Short distance: Typically no longer than 10 or 100
meters distance is allowed. In this mode the users
terminal can connect directly to the device, e.g. via a
radio link such as Bluetooth. This incurs no connection or
traffic-fee. One important aspect of the short distance
mode is that only a limited number of information servers
are available at any instant. This, in turn, makes features
like service discovery and service activation possible. In
section 2.3 we will discuss these features more
thoroughly.
2. Long distance: When the distance is too long to
establish a direct connection. In this mode the terminal
need to connect to the device via a network, typically this
will be a digital cellular network (e.g. GSM or UMTS) or
the internet (or a combination of the two). In this case the
communication with the device will be associated with a
traffic fee. In this mode the number of information servers
available are tremendous, thus there can be no automatic
service discovery or service activation. Instead, the user
must explicitly request information from a particular
information server, e.g. by placing a data call directly to a
modem connected to the information server.
3. Enabling Technology
An embedded information-server will rely on at
least two technologies,
1) First, there is a need for an information bearer. That
is, a communications medium, like a GSM mobile phones
network or a LAN (Local Area Network).
2) Second, the information needs to be encoded in a way
that the users terminal can understand and present to the
user. Also, the users terminal need a mechanism to
retrieve information from the server (e.g. like HTML and
HTTP for the WWW).
3.1 Information Bearers
For information bearers we will here only
consider wireless alternatives. The rationale for this is
that for most embedded information-servers, either the
device it is embedded in, or the user of the device, will
be mobile (or at least non-stationary). Thus, wired
bearers, such as LANs, have a more limited number of
scenarios where they are useful. A wireless bearer is
generally the preference when either,
The device is moved around a lot (keeping it
connected to a wired network becomes
troublesome).
The user is expected to move around while using
the device.
The device is to be located where wired networks
are not available (e.g. houses, rural areas, etc.).
Ease of connection is important.
3.1.1 GSM
The most widespread, wide area, wireless, digital
network is the GSM (Global System for Mobile
Telephony) Network. GSM is a digital cellular network,
originally indented for voice telephony. GSM is available
allover the world and is also a digital network for mobile
telephony. In addition to voice telephony, GSM provides
a circuit switched data bearer. The widespread availability
of digital cellular networks makes them ideal bearers for
some embedded information-servers. For instance, in the
service and support scenario, to an international vendor/
manufacturer of devices, the semi-global coverage of
GSM is a great advantage. The bandwidth (i.e. data
transfer-rate) in GSM is relatively low, which limits the
how interfaces are designed (e.g. large, colourful images
may take too long to download).
3.1.2 GPRS and UMTS
The present generations of digital cellular
networks, e.g. GPRS and UMTS (so called 2.5G and 3G
networks) will support packet switched data connectivity.
In these systems, the fees will be based on the amount of
traffic sent or received. An even more important aspect of
the connection less nature of GPRS and UMTS is the fact
that accessibility to services is improved with virtually no
connection delay. Instead the terminal will behave as if
was always connected. Also the next generation networks
will deliver higher bandwidth(4G network), hence
enabling new types of services having the requirement of
higher bandwidths. For the embedded information-server,
the next generation networks will have yet an advantage.
The fact that the terminal is always connected means that
the server can send data to the terminal, without the user
initiating a session (i.e. establishing a data phone call).
This means that the server can send out, so called, push
data for important events. For the alarm systems, this
gives a way to send out alarms to users and initiate a
dialog with the user to decide how the alarm situation
should be resolved. GPRS is currently being rolled out by
major GSM operators and is widely available where
GSM is available. UMTS, the successor to not only GSM
but also to TDMA, have been deployed successively
staring in urban areas.

3.1.3 Bluetooth
Bluetooth is short distance, low power, digital,
radio communications technology. It is standardized by
Bluetooth SIG, which is supported by most silicon,
computer and wireless phone vendors. Bluetooth has been
designed to enable cordless connectivity between a
multitude of devices and user terminals. Bluetooth SIG
envisions being used to connect: keyboards with
computers, handsfree ear-pieces to phones laptops to
printers and to the internet. Another important usage for
Bluetooth is to connect wireless user terminals, like
phones or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) to different
information servers. Naturally, some of these information
servers could embedded, hence allowing the user to
access information. In addition to connectivity, Bluetooth
offers automatic service discovery Service discovery is
the process of finding out which services are available at
a certain location. Bluetooth have several properties that
makes it attractive for embedded systems. The (relatively)
low power-consumption makes it suitable for battery
driven (portable or handheld) devices.
3.2 Information Servers
An information server is an integrated software
platform consisting of a set of core functional modules
that enables end users to integrate data from disparate
sources and deliver trusted and complete information at
the time it is required and in the format it is needed.
Similar to how an application server is a software engine
that delivers applications to client computers, an
information server deliver consistent information to
consuming applications, business processes and portals.
The advantages of an Information Server are
1) Trust: An information server can be deployed to
continuously validate the consistency, accuracy and
quality of information as it flows from data sources and
across applications and business processes. Data quality is
ensured throughout the information lifecycle.
2) Productivity: A unified platform with roll-based user
interfaces reduces training costs and learning curves
previously required to learn and manage different data
integration tools from multiple vendors. Technical teams
get up to speed quickly and deliver projects faster.
3) Scalability: Parallel processing technology ensures that
enormous volumes of information can be processed very
quickly. It further ensures that processing capacity is
never an inhibitor to achieving project results, allowing
solutions to easily expand to new hardware, and to fully
leverage the processing power of all available hardware.
4)Reuse: By enabling integration logic to be packaged
and deployed as a service, technical teams using a service
oriented architecture (SOA) can leverage work done more
efficiently to build their solutions while ensuring that
consistent rules are applied to information integration,
improving data governance.
In the next few section we will describe some
existing technologies that can be used when building
embedded information servers.
3.2.1 SMS
SMS (Short Message Service) is provided by
most digital cellular networks (including GSM and
TDMA).Using SMS a GSM modem equipped
information server can send and receive message to a user
with a mobile phone. The messages are limited in size
(usually 160 characters) and the delay from sending a
message until it is received is typically around 10-20
seconds, but delays in the order of hours could sometimes
be experienced. This limitation (size and delay) obviously
put some constraint on what services could be
implemented with SMS. However, SMS strength is its
wide availability. Currently, the number of mobile phone
subscribers is sky rocketing and have in some areas
surpassed the number of fixed-line phone subscribers.
Since almost all mobile phones have the ability to send
and receive SMS, an information server that uses SMS
could be accessed by a large part of the potential users
(without the need for upgrading any Phones).
Also, SMS could be used in conjunction with the
server types described below. In this case, SMS can be
used to notify the users of events in the server (like an
alarm in a building going of, or a service engineer could
receive the last few lines of an error log). Alternatively,
SMS can be used to send a confirmation that some action
was successfully performed, e.g. a service technician
could request a system to perform some (time consuming)
self check, and when the system completes the check an
SMS is sent with the result.

Fig. 1 Matrix arrangement of DTMF
3.2.2 DTMF:
Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF)
is used for telecommunication signaling over analog
telephone lines in the voice-frequency band between
telephone handsets and other communications
devices and the switching center. The version of
DTMF used for telephone tone dialing is known by
the trademarked term Touch-Tone, and is
standardized by ITU-T recommendation .Other
multi-frequency systems are used for signaling
internal to the telephone network. It is a method for
instructing a telephone switching system of the
telephone number to be dialed, or to issue commands
to switching systems or related telephony equipment.
DTMF tones are simply two frequencies played
simultaneously by a standard home phone/fax or
mobile phone. Each key on your telephones keypad
has a unique frequency assigned to it. When any key
is pressed on your telephones keypad (as shown in
Fig.1) the circuit plays the corresponding DTMF
tone and sends it to your local exchange for
processing.
3.2.3 Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
It is a mechanism for setting up multimedia
connections in fixed and broadband mobile IP networks,
e.g. in the all-IP release of UMTS (Universal Mobile
Telecommunication System). The SIP architecture
consists of functional elements, which are user agents,
located symmetrically at endpoints, as well as proxies and
registrars, operated by a third party. The protocol enables
users to be reachable regardless of their location or
terminals in use. The address of the user may either be a
SIP URL similar to an e-mail address, or a phone number.
The SIP infrastructure can be utilized in various
applications, such as Instant Messaging (IM).
3.2.4 Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP)
It was designed to remedy the problems with
using web servers in wireless networks and embedded
environments. It builds on the same concepts as the Web
and reuses much of techniques and standards for the Web.
The WAP standard calls for three different servers to be
involved in WAP communication. An ISP (Internet
Service Provider), a WAP gateway, and a web server.
However, when building embedded information servers,
these three can be efficiently combined into a single
entity, thus reducing the complexity of implementing
WAP, but still gaining its benefits. We call such a
combination a WAP server.
5. Applying Technology
5.1 Home Appliance Control System (HACS)
Home security has been a major issue where
crime is increasing and everybody wants to take proper
measures to prevent intrusion. In addition there was a
need to automate home so that user can take advantage of
the technological advancement in a system that allows
user to control home appliances ubiquitously and also
provide security on detection of intrusion via SMS using
GSM technology. The architecture of HACS is as
depicted in Fig.2.
Working:
The working of HACS model (shown in Figure 2)
is explained:
1). Home server: PC being the main module has HACS
system installed on it. The two subsystems; one being
appliances control is responsible for ubiquitous access of
appliances and the second subsystem being security alert
is responsible for security intrusion detection. Both
subsystems work on GSM technology for transmission of
instructions from sender to receiver.
 Fig.2 Trial Architecture of HACS
Fig. 3 The GUI developed on mobile phones
2). Adapter: GSM modem acting as a terminal adapter is
a plug and play device and is attached to the PC which
then communicates with the PC via RS232 port. GSM
modem is a bridge responsible for enabling/disabling of
SMS capability.
3). Cell Phone: Mobile device communicates with the
GSM Modem via radio waves. The mode of
communication is wireless and mechanism works on the
GSM technology. Cell phone has a SIM card and a GSM
subscription. This cell phone number is configured on the
system. User transmits instructions via SMS and the
system takes action against those instructions and also
multimedia image captured by cameras can be viewed
remotely as depicted below in Fig.3.
5.2 Automotive industry
It is an industry where long lived, expensive products
have to be maintained and upgraded throughout a
product-lifespan of decades. Here, a standardized inform-
ation server could be the perfect maintenance tool. Not
Fig.4 TOBE Architecture for Smart Cars
expensive, specialized diagnostic equipment need to be
produced and the information-server will bridge the gap
between the aging technology in the vehicle and modern
information browsers and newly produced maintenance
equipment. Cars are designed to move. The functions and
value a car create should be built upon the base of
moving. Thanks to the advances of mobile information
and telecommunication technology, the mobile commerce
is now not impossible. The mobile technologies including
Global Positioning System (GPS), Global System for
Mobile Communications (GSM), Short Messages Service
(SMS) of GSM mobile phone, in-car computer, database,
and other information technology are the key enable the
concept of the TOBE service.Yulon Nissan, a car
manufacturer in Taiwan, launched the TOBE service in
June 2002. This TOBE service provides car
owners/drivers diversify information and services,
including real-time information, news, weather reports,
discounts messages, valet order service, in-car online
shopping for souvenirs, flight and hotel reservation,
scenic spot messages, roadway guide, roadside assistance,
exceeding the speed limit alarms, tow-away alarms,
integrated GSM module, anti-theft notices, and collision
reports as shown in Fig.4.
5.3 Agricultural Area
Mobile Operators in India is testing a technology
that allows farmers to use their mobile phones to remotely
monitor and switch on irrigation pump sets in far flung
locations. In India, where the electricity supply is erratic,
farmers often walk several kilometers to where their
irrigation pumps are located, only to find that there is no
electricity available. By dialing a code number from his
mobile phone to a wireless device attached to the pump,
farmers can now remotely monitor the electricity supply,
and also switch the pump on and off. The mobile phone
can be used by the farmer for other communications as
well.
Many times over irrigation may erode the top
soil. In order to maintain the fertility of top soil the water
potential must be continuously monitored. For this
purpose a Remote real-time monitoring soil water
potential system based on GSM is implemented in
agriculture fields. Managing irrigation water needs to
combine a method of measuring soil moisture with some
methods of irrigation scheduling. The measuring soil
moisture requires timely application of the right state of
water . The state of water in soil is described in terms of
the amount of water and the energy associated with the
forces which hold the water in the soil. The amount of
water is defined by water content and the energy state of
the water is the water potential. In order to measure
precisely soil water potential, many kinds of sensor were
invented and applied in the agriculture production, With
the development of information technology, it is possible
to remote measure soil water potential by mobile
communication system. Testified by practice, the
information system successfully real-time monitors soil
water potential further guides farmer to precise irrigate
the crop.
5.3.1 Basic structure of an information system
The information system (Fig. 5) may realize a
series of functions including collecting, transporting,
storing, centralization, management, statistical analysis,
forecast and browning of soil water potential data.
Making the classification according to the function, the
Fig.5 Irrigation Control using Mobile Phone
system is composed of monitoring center, data
transmission channel and data detection terminal.
5.4 Security Systems
This system relates to code controlled lock and
particularly to a DTMF (Dual Tone Multi
Frequency)code controlled lock device by which the
unlocking operation is carried out through the
transmission of prearranged DTMF codes so as to ensure
complete security against unauthorized unlocking actions.
Conventional locks such as key operated locks,
combinational locks, push button locks etc suffer
common problems like the unlocking portions of locks
are all exposed on an outside surface of the door. These
exposed portions of the locks are susceptible to
unauthorized unlocking actions and to being wrecked by
burglars. Therefore, security of the conventional locks
cannot be ensured
A DTMF-code controlled lock device mainly
composed of tow units: a key control unit(mobile phone)
and a lock-body control unit. The key control unit,
adapted to be carried by a user includes a Dual-Tone
Multi Frequency (DTMF) sequence for inputting and
getting an unlocking DTMF code. The lock-body control
unit, adapted to be installed in a security chest, door etc
together with a security/door lock, includes a
transducer(microphone) for transferring the DTMF code
signals received from the key control unit, a pair of
amplifying circuits connected in series with the
transducer, a decoder with its input connected to the
amplifying circuits for decoding the DTMF signals into a
BCD code, a CPU with a pair of memory units coupled
with the output of the decoder for comparing the BCD
code with pre-stored one therein, and a relay circuit
coupled with the CPU in connection with the lock bolt for
effecting unlocking operations upon being energized by
the CPU if the comparison finds the two identical.

6. Conclusion
In this paper the concept of embedded information -
servers has been described. The question is only how to
tap the devices information or how to update it, thus
levering on existing technologies and devices for
accessing information.
A set of enabling technologies readily available
today, like DTMF, DECT, Bluetooth, GSM or GPRS and
3G networks are the best choice for monitoring and
controlling many systems. From the multitude of
available technologies, of which the most important once
where covered in this paper, we have concluded that
wireless communications will provide a robust, cost
effective, realistic alternative. Also, since these
technologies are based on standards that are supported by
all major communications vendors, they are the most
future-proof technologies available today.

References
[1]. Dr. Mikael Sjodin, Embedded Wireless Information
Servers,2001.
[2]. Kuang-Hui Chiu National Taipei University, Using Mobile
Communication Technology to Improve Automobile Consumers
Values,2005.
[3]. Yongming Zhao, Xin Lu* and Haijiang Wang, Remote real-time
monitoring soil water potential system based on GSM, 2007.
[4]. Jan Lucenius, Jani Suomalainen and Piia Ventola, Implementing
Mobile Access to Heterogeneous Home Environment.
[5].http:// ieeexplore.ieee.org/