What is 8bithouse?

8bithouse is the simplest way to realize a smart house engine for your home. It is coded in C and runs on an Arduino Mega 2560 board. Through a simple shell you will be able to execute the basic commands which will allow you to interact with the board.

The first version accepts only eight devices, but it's easy to see that the code could be easily modified, allowing more wired pins. You could add and remove devices, enable them and dim them, adjusting the power. Devices are emulated through leds and there is also a small buzzer notifying executed actions.

About us

We are two Computer Engineers, now graduating in the MSc of Engineering in Computer Science at Sapienza University of Rome. Visit our LinkedIn profiles to learn more about us.

• Claudiu Ivan
• Matteo Lombardi

How to implement 8bithouse

It's not complex to carry out 8bithouse, but you still need something to tune before you can start.

Hardware

In order to implement this project you will need an Arduino Mega 2560 board, a breadboard, wires, a small buzzer, resistors and some leds which will emulate the connected devices. The configuration will be the one described above:

Software

Arduino libraries are needed. You can install them executing sudo apt-get install arduino.

Make sure to have correct permission set on the serial port where you connect the board. If access is denied, you can change the permissions with this command: sudo chmod a+rw /dev/ttyACM0

Compiling and running

• Arduino
  1. Connect the board to your pc
  2. Enter "arduino" folder
  3. Execute make
  4. Execute make 8bh_avr.hex
• Client
  1. Enter "client" folder
  2. Execute make
  3. Execute ./8bh to run the client

Commands

8bithouse allows seven commands, here is a list with the techincal explaination of their functionalities:

• 8bh add <device-name>: Searches for a hole in the bitmap of initialized devices. If the server finds a free space, it fills the hole with the new device. At first it is disabled.
• 8bh rm <device-name>: Searches for the name received and if found, the corresponding bitmap place is freed and the device erased.
• 8bh enable <device-name> | buzzer: If found, the device is enabled.
• 8bh disable <device-name> | buzzer: If found, the device is disabled.
• 8bh dim <device-name>: Searches for the name received and if found, brightness can be increased and decreased.
• 8bh reset <device-name>: Frees all registered devices in the board.
• 8bh list: Print the status of the board and the registered devices.