NSF REU-Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates site to create "Pathways Opening
World Energy Resources" (REU - POWER)This work was supported by the National Science Foundation
Grant #1757650
Human-in-the-Loop Smart Home PrototypeJhonatan Londono, REU Participant Student, Northern Essex Community College
Kunind Sharma, PhD Student, Northeastern University
Michael Kane, Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Northeastern University
Motivation: Thermal comfort drives
~40% of residential use, with the
smart thermostat promising to
improve comfort, sustainability, and
economics.
Challenge: Current dataset are
insufficient for studying the internal
workings of the building physics.
Vision: Automate current control
systems that interact with building
physics. Built upon user behavior
models in order to keep occupants
comfortable and away from
intervention.
Goal: Create a smart home emulator
that mimics building physics by
bridging information from devices like
Ecobee, Raspberry Pi, Home
Assistant and Smart plugs.
Building energy simulations poorly
capture impact of thermostats and
occupant behavior. This prototype
enables physically testing these
variables without costly field tests.
• Edit, share, and implement advanced control algorithms.
• Integrate emulator into whole building simulation.
• Develop models that interact with building physics, social
cognition and human psychology to create robust human in
the loop infrastructures
• National Science Foundation (NSF).
• Northeastern University.
• Michael Kane
• Kunind Sharma
• Jonathan Cohen
• Northern Essex Community College
Methods and ResultsAbstract
Conclusion Future Research Acknowledgements
Wiring Diagrams
Testing and Soldering
Prototype
Communicate:• Raspberry Pi with Hassio.
• Hassio with Ecobee.
• Hassio with Smart Plugs.
• Hassio with VPN for remote access.
• Hassio with Notification applications.
Figure 1. One relay wiring.
Figure 2. Five relay wiring. Figure 9. Energy monitoring.
Figure 7.
Notification
Figure 5. Breadboard prototype.Figure 3. Breadboard test.
Figure 8.
Ecobee
Figure 4. PCB soldered. Figure 6. Soldered prototype.
