Hindawi Publishing Corporation

International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks

Volume 2015, Article ID 214805, 11 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/214805

Research Article
An Intelligent Power Outlet System for the Smart Home of the
Internet of Things

Tiago M. Fernández-Caramés
Department of Electronics and Systems, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

Correspondence should be addressed to Tiago M. Fernández-Caramés; tmfernandez@udc.es

Received 27 June 2015; Revised 5 October 2015; Accepted 18 October 2015

Academic Editor: Salvatore Distefano

Copyright © 2015 Tiago M. Fernández-Caramés. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.

This paper presents an intelligent power outlet system that can be controlled wirelessly and that has been specifically designed
to monitor electrical events in low-current loads. Each power outlet of the system embeds a microcontroller, a 2.4 GHz ZigBee
interface, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader, a relay, and a current sensor. The main features of the system include the
remote control of the power outlet, real-time monitoring of the current consumption, the customization and programming of the
power supply time schedule, the automatic interruption of vampire currents, and the prevention of certain types of electrical fires
and electrocutions. A prototype with such features has been implemented and tested in a simple home automation network in order
to validate its functionalities. The results show that the system reacts fast and avoids overconsumptions and electrocutions, being
able to make the next generation of homes safer and smarter.

1. Introduction 1,570 civilian injuries, and $1.4 billion in direct property

Modern homes provide electricity to electrical devices
through the last element of the power supply chain, the power
sockets, which have been regarded traditionally as a mere
junction. In fact, power sockets have not evolved as fast as
other everyday devices, although they seem to be one of the
best positioned candidates to be improved as smart homes are
becoming increasingly popular.
In the last years, different functionalities have been
added to power sockets, like wireless control or current
consumption monitoring, but there are still many others that
could make such devices smarter. This paper addresses some
of the most common problems that arise when interacting
with power sockets and shows a novel approach to two of
them: the prevention of electrical fires and the avoidance of
electrical shocks.
Regarding electrical fires, they are described as fires that
begin because of some type of electrical failure or malfunc-
tion. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) [1]
latest report states that, in 2011, just in the USA, there were
47,700 home electrical fires that resulted in 418 civilian deaths,
damage [2]. In the same report it is also stated that, of all the
electrical fires whose cause could be determined precisely, the
vast majority were caused by short-circuits.
A similar situation occurs with electrical shocks. Accord-
ing to the Electrical Safety Foundation [3], in North America
each day nearly 7 children are treated in hospital emergency
rooms for electric shock or burn injuries caused by tampering
with a wall outlet. In the same region, fires and burns are the
third leading cause of unintentional death among children
aged 14 and under.
In order to address the two issues previously mentioned
this paper presents a smart power outlet system that has the
following features:
(i) It is able to detect overconsumptions that might lead
to overheat in low-current systems and, therefore, to
an electrical fire.
(ii) It prevents electrocutions, since it only supplies power
when it identifies a valid appliance.
(iii) It can be controlled remotely using wireless sensor
network technology.
2 International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
(iv) It is able to monitor in real-time and make available to
external devices (e.g., PCs connected to the Internet,
smartphones, and tablets) current consumption data.
(v) It can disconnect the power supply when a vampire
current is detected (a vampire current is a current that
arises when an appliance consumes power when it is
in stand-by mode or when it claims to be switched
off).
The next sections of this paper are structured as follows.
Section 2 reviews the most relevant state-of-the-art smart
power sockets developed with academic and commercial
purposes. Section 3 details the design of the system and gives
an overview of the communications architecture. Section 4
focuses on the description of the two main components
of the system: the gateway and the smart power socket.
Section 5 describes the functionalities and setup of the
system implemented. Section 6 shows the results for different
experiments that demonstrate the capabilities of the system.
Finally, Section 7 is devoted to the conclusions.
2. State of the Art: Academic and Commercial
Smart Power Sockets
2.1. Academic Developments. In the last years researchers
have enhanced power outlets by adding different smart
functionalities. For instance, [4] presented an outlet system
that can be controlled remotely by using Bluetooth and GSM
wireless interfaces. The system can switch every outlet on
and off remotely by sending an SMS (Short Message Service).
An improved version of the system is presented in [5], and
it includes ethernet support and the capability of measuring
current consumption. Furthermore, in [6, 7] almost the same
authors of [4, 5] describe a similar outlet system with PLC
(Power Line Communication) module. In the case of [7], the
system is aimed at controlling remotely UPS (Uninterruptible
Power System).
One of the first examples of wireless sensor networks
applied to a power outlet system is described in [8]. The
system proposed uses ZigBee to switch on and off remote
outlets and to measure their current consumption.
A different approach is taken in [9]: the authors make use
of a data acquisition system to control the state of the outlets
and to monitor current consumption.
Another power socket system that uses ZigBee is detailed
in [10]. Such a paper proposes communications architecture
that allows for switching off a socket where an appliance in
stand-by mode is plugged in.
Like in [6, 7], PLC interfaces are embedded into the
designs proposed in [11, 12]. Both power outlet systems can
switch on and off outlets and monitor current consumption,
but the latter is especially interesting: it is able to use different
sensors to monitor living patterns and then optimize the
energy savings of a home.
The authors of the electrical outlet described in [13]
embedded an ethernet module for a smart power grid in
order to control the loads autonomously. Their system can
switch on and off the power outlets, it is able to monitor
current consumption, and it has been explicitly designed for
working in a network where a large amount of the power
comes from renewable sources.
Finally, [14, 15] present power outlet systems based on
ZigBee and PLC, respectively. Such systems can control the
state of the outlets and monitor current consumption, but the
system detailed in [15] includes an additional feature: it is able
to issue warnings about possible power overloads.
2.2. Commercial Smart Power Sockets. There are smart
power sockets already available in the market (e.g., [16–
22]), although, in general, they are a step behind the ones
developed by researchers.
For instance, the WeMo switch from Belkin [16] is a WiFi-
based power outlet that can switch on and off the power from
an outlet. The MeterPlug [17] is similar but uses Bluetooth
and it can also monitor current consumption. MyPlug, from
Orange [18], has ZigBee transceiver and GSM interface, but it
is only able to control the state of the power socket.
The SafePlug [19] is probably one of the most advanced
off-the-shelf developments: it can switch on/off the power,
monitor current consumption in real-time, and identify
appliances to prevent fires and electrical shocks.
Finally, it is worth mentioning three other solutions:
PlugWise [20], Modlet [21], and SmartPlug [22]. They all have
very similar functionalities (they can switch on/off the outlets
and monitor energy consumption), but while PlugWise and
SmartPlug use ZigBee, Modlet seems to use a proprietary
wireless technology.
2.3. Analysis. After analyzing all the references previously
mentioned, it can be stated that the enhancements performed
over power outlets have been mainly focused on the ability
to control them remotely, by using wired [6, 9, 11–13, 15],
wireless [4, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16–22], or hybrid interfaces [5]. Most
of the wireless power outlets only carry out point-to-point
communications (e.g., [4, 5, 7, 16, 17]), using technologies like
Bluetooth [4, 5, 7, 17], GSM [4, 5, 7, 18], or WiFi [16].
However, in the last couple of decades, different alter-
natives were proposed in order to substitute point-to-point
networks for sensor networks. The first sensor networks were
initially used in environments where there had to be a strict
control of specific parameters like temperature, humidity, or
the presence of toxic gases. These kinds of networks could
either use independent wired infrastructure (e.g., KNX [23]
or LonWorks [24]) or the already existent infrastructure
(e.g., X10). Other alternative communication technologies
that have achieved certain degree of success on the market are
BACnet (Building Automation and Control Network) [25],
DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) [26], EnOcean
[27], Z-Wave [28], DASH7 [29], and Wireless HART [30].
The latest evolution of sensor networks is Wireless Sensor
Networks (WSNs), which have been thoroughly studied
for their application in different fields [31], from wearable
computing [32] to the management of the power grid [33],
or even to musical activities [34].
Currently, ZigBee is arguably the most popular technol-
ogy for creating WSNs and it has been included in the latest
generation of wireless power outlets [8, 10, 14, 18–22].
Although ZigBee is a well-established technology, it is
worth mentioning that the ZigBee Alliance has been working
recently on an open alternative (ZigBee IP [35]) that includes
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
IP connectivity through 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power
Wireless Personal-Area Networks) [36]. There are several
manufacturers that are already selling ZigBee IP-compliant
platforms. Such IP connectivity seems to be one of the keys
for the future Internet of Things (IoT) [37] and will enable
the interaction among the increasing amount of IP-enabled
devices present in modern homes (e.g., smart televisions,
home entertainment equipment, and remotely controlled
appliances).
Besides WSNs, energy efficiency is probably one of the
most studied topics in the field of intelligent homes, and some
of the smart power outlets previously cited have been pre-
sented with the objective of monitoring energy consumption
[17, 19–22].
Related to home energy efficiency is the problem of
vampire currents. Surprisingly, just a few smart power outlets
[10, 17] automate the detection of vampire currents and are
able to disconnect appliances after they have been in stand-
by for a certain amount of time.
Regarding electrical fires and electrical shocks, there
is barely any commercial or academic smart power outlet
specifically addressed to tackle them. The exception seems to
be SafePlug [19]. However, after analyzing all the academic
and commercial devices, it has been found that none imple-
ments all the functionalities offered by the system presented
in this paper.
3. Design of the System
Traditionally it has been stated that, for the protection of
electrical installations and people, there is a well-established
array of tried and tested hardware technologies (e.g., fuses
and circuit breakers) that are safe and fast. Although such
technologies achieve their goal when configured properly,
they usually do not adapt dynamically to the environment or
to the connected appliances.
The system presented in this paper involves the use of
software control, which has been regarded as relatively slow
and subject to software errors. The latter statement can be
tackled by performing intensive tests under harsh conditions,
but the former needs to be studied carefully before imple-
menting an electrical safety software-based device.
3.1. On the Prevention of Electrical Fires. Electrical fires can
occur due to different events, with two of the most common
ones being power overloads and short-circuits. In both cases,
when they happen, the energy released must be smaller than
the maximum load capacity of the transmission medium to
avoid irreparable damage.
In the case of power overloads, the current must remain
below the maximum permissible load current of the trans-
mission medium (𝐼𝑧 ). The following rule is commonly
applied in accordance to IEC/EN 60898-1/-2 and IEC/EN
60947-2 by miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) manufacturers
to determine when the circuit should be opened in the event
of an overload:
𝐼𝑡=30 ≤ 1.45𝐼𝑧 , (1)
where 𝐼𝑡=30 is the monitored current at an ambient tempera-
ture of 30∘ C.
3
In the case of short-circuits, it is necessary to deter-
mine the maximum short-circuit current. If the short-circuit
release time is under 100 ms, the next rule is usually followed
to prevent electrical fires and avoid damage [38]:
𝐾2 𝑆2 ≥ 𝐼𝑘2 𝑡cut-off , (2)
where 𝐾 is coefficient of the material medium (As/mm2 ), 𝑆
is cross-sectional area of the conductor of the transmission
medium (in mm2 ), 𝐼𝑘 is RMS value of the short-circuit
current flowing through the medium (in A), and 𝑡cut-off is
release time in seconds of the protection device for the
current 𝐼𝑘 .
Equation (2) indicates that if a high current is maintained
during too much time, the conductor through which it flows
might be melted and even catch on fire.
Such equation in (2) is derived from thermodynamic
equations that regulate adiabatic processes and it enables
designers to check the suitability of a composite cable used
for the c.p.c. (circuit protection conductor, i.e., the earthing
conductor and all the equipotential bonding conductors).
Equation (2) can be rewritten to determine the maximum
time required to damage a cable:
𝐾2 𝑆2
𝑡cut-off = , (3)
𝐼𝑘 2
where 𝑡cut-off can now be viewed as the time required by the
short-circuit current 𝐼𝑘 to rise the conductor temperature to
the highest permissible level (i.e., before damaging the cable).
The constant 𝐾 is calculated as [39]:
𝑄𝑐 (𝐵 + 20) 𝜃𝑓 − 𝜃𝑖
𝐾=√ ln (1 + ), (4)
𝑄20 𝐵 + 𝜃𝑖
where 𝑄𝑐 is volumetric heat capacity of the conductor
material (J/∘ C mm3 ), 𝐵 is reciprocal of the temperature
coefficient of resistivity at certain ∘ C for the conductor (∘ C),
𝑄20 is electrical resistivity of the conductor material at 20∘ C
(Ωmm), 𝜃𝑖 is initial temperature of the conductor (∘ C), and
𝜃𝑓 is final temperature of the conductor (∘ C).
Equation (4) can be simplified by assuming a particular
type of conductor:
𝜃𝑓 − 𝜃𝑖
𝐾 = 𝐶√ ln (1 + ), (5)
𝐵 + 𝜃𝑖
where 𝐶 is constant for a specific material:
𝑄𝑐 (𝐵 + 20)
𝐶=√ . (6)
𝑄20
For instance, 𝐶 for copper is 226 and for aluminum is 148
and for steel is 78 and for lead is 41.
Therefore, once the conductor material has been chosen,
the value of 𝐾 will depend solely on the initial and final
temperatures supported by the insulation. For example, 𝐾
becomes 115 for a cable made of copper (𝐵 for copper is
4 International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
0.02
0.018
0.016
0.014
0.012
Time (s)
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Current (A)
Copper, p.v.c., S = 0.10 mm2
Copper, p.v.c. 85∘ C, S = 0.10 mm2
Aluminium, p.v.c., S = 0.10 mm2
Aluminium, p.v.c. 85∘ C, S = 0.10 mm2
Aluminium, thermosetting, S = 0.10 mm2
Lead, p.v.c., S = 0.10 mm2
Lead, p.v.c., S = 0.25 mm2
Lead, p.v.c., S = 0.50 mm2
Lead, p.v.c. 85∘ C, S = 0.10 mm2
Lead, p.v.c. 85∘ C, S = 0.25 mm2
Lead, p.v.c. 85∘ C, S = 0.50 mm2
Lead, thermosetting, S = 0.10 mm2
Lead, thermosetting, S = 0.25 mm2
Steel, p.v.c., S = 0.10 mm2
Steel, p.v.c., S = 0.25 mm2
Steel, p.v.c. 85∘ C, S = 0.10 mm2
Steel, p.v.c. 85∘ C, S = 0.25 mm2
Steel, thermosetting, S = 0.10 mm2
Figure 1: Maximum release times before damage under 20 ms for
different materials, insulations, and cross sections.
234.5∘ C) and insulated with p.v.c. when assuming 𝜃𝑖 = 70∘ C
and 𝜃𝑓 = 160∘ C.
Then, according to (3), Figure 1 plots 𝑡 for different
values of 𝐼𝑘 for a small installation (up to 100 A) while
using different conductor materials, insulations, and cross
sections. Figure 1 only shows the portion of the curves under
20 ms, where a regular MCB would cut off the current. For
instance, if a current of 90 A arises due to a short-circuit in
a p.v.c. insulated copper cable with a cross-sectional area of
0.1 mm2 , after roughly 17 ms, the insulation would melt and
might catch on fire. Note that cross section is not the same
as diameter, but 0.1 mm2 is really small for regular cables.
However, it is not uncommon to have appliances that include
PCB paths and electronic components with conductors of
such size.
Therefore, it is possible that an appliance results in severe
damage and catches on fire before a regular MCB stops the
current flow.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that (2) assumes that
all the heat generated during a short-circuit is retained,
which, in reality, does not occur, but it allows for obtaining
a conservative estimation that provides a safety margin. If
more precision is required, nonadiabatic heating must be
considered [40].
3.2. Time Constraints for Software-Based Current Monitoring
Devices. In the case of systems that perform an active
monitoring of the current in order to prevent certain events,
what might concern users is the amount of time the system
needs to react. Such an amount is given by
𝑡r = 𝑡d + 𝑡s , (7)
where 𝑡r (reaction time) is the total time, 𝑡d (detection time) is
the time required to detect the event, and 𝑡s (switching time)
is the time it takes to switch off the power supply.
90 100 The detection time can be decomposed in the following
terms when the detection is performed through a software
algorithm:
𝑡d = 𝑡ml + 𝑡adq + 𝑡dr + 𝑡cc , (8)
where 𝑡ml (main loop time) is the time needed by the main
control loop to reach the detection code, 𝑡adq (acquisition
time) is the time consumed by the smart outlet to acquire the
current data, 𝑡dr (data reading time) is the time required by
the current sensor to actually obtain the current data, and 𝑡cc
(control code time) is the time the device consumes to verify
whether the controlled event has happened.
Regarding the term 𝑡s , it may be defined as follows:
𝑡s = 𝑡sc + 𝑡rs , (9)
where 𝑡sc (switching code time) is the time spent in sending
the order to the switching device and 𝑡rs (relay switching time)
is the time actually consumed by the hardware to switch off
the power supply. Thus, it can be found that there are times
that depend on the embedded controller and its code (𝑡ml ,
𝑡adq , 𝑡cc , and 𝑡sc ) and times that rely on hardware devices (𝑡dr
and 𝑡rs ). The former times can be reduced up to a certain
degree by optimizing the code or increasing the system’s clock
frequency, while the latter ones can be considered fixed once
the hardware has been chosen.
Since a smart outlet would be placed after a regular
home circuit breaker, it has to react at least as fast. For
low-load currents (under 100 A) MCBs are commonly used.
The time required to switch the breaker contacts in MCB
usually oscillates between 20 ms and 50 ms; therefore, it will
be established as a reference that the detection time 𝑡r should
be less than 20 ms.
Before designing the device, the hardware-related times
𝑡dr and 𝑡rs have to be analyzed since they might constitute time
bottlenecks. The time 𝑡dr is strictly related to the reaction time
required by the current sensor to sense changes. For instance,
in the case of Hall-effect sensors, the reaction time is in the
order of several microseconds, so it should not constitute a
time constraint in the development of the smart power outlet.
The time required to switch off the power supply (𝑡rs )
is more restricting since it requires a hardware device to
open physically the circuit. For such a purpose relays are
commonly used and manufacturers usually call the elapsed
time to open the circuit “release time.” The release time
varies from one device to another and ranges from tens of
microseconds to a few milliseconds. Note that the release
time does not include the bounce time, which accounts for
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
the time necessary for stabilizing the contacts after switching
the relay. Thus, the relay must be chosen not only to meet the
voltage, current, and power constraints but also to reduce the
release and bounce times as much as possible.
In order to perform a fair comparison between relays and
circuit breakers it is also important to note that the former
ones usually include in their datasheets time curves that are
used to show how fast a breaker will trip at any magnitude of
current. It can be observed in such curves that the larger the
current is, the faster the breaker will switch and, therefore,
the shorter the trip time is. The trip time can be defined as
the time required to open the circuit once it has sensed an
event. By comparing commercial MCB datasheets it can be
concluded that the trip time is at least equal to 3 ms for a
current that is 3 times the nominal current.
3.3. On the Prevention of Electrical Shocks. Power outlets usu-
ally include different safety measures in order to prevent elec-
trical shocks. The most common one is the addition of a third
prong (ground) that reduces the risk of electric shock and
protects equipment from electrical damage. There are also
power sockets that are encapsulated into a tamper-resistant
receptacle that prevents the insertion of objects. There are
also power outlets (AFCI, Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters) that
reduce the risk of electrical shock by interrupting power when
arc fault occurs in the circuit. Moreover, there is another
kind of outlets (GFCI, Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters) that
prevents shocks by shutting off the power when the electricity
flowing into the circuit is superior to the one returning (i.e.,
when there is a leakage).
All these traditional solutions work in most situations,
especially when the same outlet combines different function-
alities (e.g., ground fault protection and tamper resistance),
but there are still cases when they fail (e.g., when the ground
is not properly set or when a kid is able to tamper the outlet).
The system proposed in this paper prevents electrical
shocks based on the following principle: if there is no
appliance connected to the outlet, electricity will not be
supplied. In this way, most of the tampering will have no
consequences and no electrical shocks should occur.
To achieve this goal it is necessary to identify when
an appliance is connected to an outlet. There are different
mechanisms that allow for identifying appliances, but most
of them rely on mechanical systems, nonautomated systems
(e.g., pressing a button to indicate that the appliance is con-
nected), or proprietary technologies. The proposed solution
uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification): RFID reader is
embedded into the power outlet, while RFID tags are attached
to the appliance electrical connector or to its cord. Therefore,
electricity is only supplied if a valid RFID tag is attached to the
appliance and if its connector/cord is very close to the smart
power outlet (within several centimeters).
Regarding electrical shocks caused by arc faults, they are
mostly suppressed by using the design principles detailed in
Section 3.1.
3.4. Communications Architecture. In an automated home,
the domotic installation is ideally deployed during the con-
struction stage, in conjunction with the deployment of the
5
electrical system. However, in houses and buildings recently
built but not explicitly designed for incorporating domotics,
the electrical infrastructure could be added later, which might
become a really cumbersome task and, in some cases, even
impossible.
This problem can be tackled by using wireless power
outlets interfaces, which can be placed whenever the user
wants (not necessarily during the construction stage) and
that do not require altering the internal decorations or
modifying the internal wiring of the house. For such a reason,
the system presented in this paper incorporates wireless
communications module. In fact, it is incorporated wireless
sensor network module since it allows for extending the
communications range just by adding relay nodes. This is key
indoors, where the regular range in the 2.4 GHz band reaches
between 40 and 100 meters. Furthermore, some construction
materials like concrete or certain metallic structures alter
signal propagation, deriving into its attenuation and, in
consequence, into a remarkable decrease in wireless coverage.
Thanks to the ability of relaying the wireless signals received
from other sockets, the communications towards and from a
gateway can easily reach several hundred meters.
Figure 2 shows the communications architecture of the
system proposed. Each smart power outlet is able to transmit
and receive data directly to/from a central gateway or by
using intermediate power outlets. The gateway is responsible
for connecting the power outlet system to a wide variety of
remote devices that may be attached to the Internet.
This communications architecture is possible thanks to
the use of WSN technology like ZigBee. ZigBee is actu-
ally a set of wireless protocols for performing low-energy
consumption and low data rate communications. A deep
description of ZigBee is beyond the scope of this paper, but
the interested reader can refer to [41] to get a good overview
on the basics of ZigBee.
4. Components of the System
As it can be observed in Figure 3, the system consists of two
main components: the smart sockets and the gateway, which
are described in the next subsections.
4.1. Gateway. The gateway is responsible for exchanging
information with the smart sockets and for making the
data available to remote users through a web application.
Its hardware consists of two subsystems dedicated to tasks
related to control and communications.
4.1.1. Control Subsystem. It is made of two main components:
(i) The web application. It allows users to configure
and interact with each individual power socket. It
is currently running on a PC, but it could be easily
embedded into smaller platforms.
(ii) The ZigBee interface. It is connected through USB to
the PC that runs the web application. It consists of
a microcontroller (ATmega328P) that transmits and
receives information through the communications
subsystem and exchanges data with the web applica-
tion.
6 International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks

Internal LAN
or Internet

Figure 2: Overview of the communications architecture proposed.

ZigBee network

Smart power sockets

reader socket
RFID Power
IP-based network Microcontroller
ATmega328P
RFID tag
Gateway
PC

reader socket
RFID Power
Microcontroller +
USB

Web Microcontroller
application ZigBee interface ATmega328P

Remote users RFID tag

socket
Power

Microcontroller
ATmega328P
reader
RFID

RFID tag

Figure 3: Main components of the smart power socket system.

4.1.2. Communications Subsystem. Communications are per-
formed by using ZigBee module connected to the con-
trol subsystem. The gateway acts as a coordinator of PAN
(Personal-Area Network) composed by all the sockets. The
ZigBee module is Xbee PRO ZB Series 2 from Digi [42] that
works at 2.4 GHz and that is loaded with the “Coordinator”
version of the firmware.
4.2. Smart Power Outlet. The smart power socket consists of
the five different subsystems:
(iii) Actuation subsystem: it is responsible for switching
(i) Sensing subsystem: it basically includes a Hall-effect
current sensor (LEM, HXS 10-NP/SP3) that permits
estimating the amount of power consumed by an
appliance connected to the smart power outlet.
(ii) Communications subsystem: it includes a ZigBee
wireless interface loaded with either the “End Device”
or the “Router” version of the firmware. The latter is
chosen when it is required to relay data from other
sockets. Note that thanks to using ZigBee the system
nodes are automatically discovered and conform a
mesh that directs the data towards the gateway.
on and off the appliance connected. Like other sub-
systems, it has to react as fast as possible when cutting
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks 7

Status LEDs

ZigBee module

ATmega328P

16 MHz Xtal

ICSP

Figure 4: Components of the control and communications subsystems.

Relay Current sensor

RFID reader Microcontroller

RFID antenna

RFID tag
Power regulator

Figure 5: Disassembled outlet exposing the internal components of a smart power socket.

off the power supply to prevent fires and damage. 5. Implementation

Specifically, this subsystem is based on a relay (OEG
OJ-SH-105LM) with additional simple circuitry to
control it with the microcontroller.
(iv) Identification subsystem: it uses RFID to perform
the identification: RFID reader is embedded into
the power outlet, while RFID tags are attached to
the appliance electrical connector or to its cord. In
the system proposed RFID reader (ID-12LA) that is
capable of reading 125 KHz EM4001-compatible tags
was used.
(v) Control subsystem: its core is ATmega328P micro-
controller that controls all the other subsystems. It has
to be programmed efficiently in order to manage all
the incoming requests. The most critical requests are
the ones coming from the current sensor, since there
is only a small fraction of time for detecting overcon-
sumptions. Figure 4 shows the main components of
the subsystem, which has been designed explicitly to
fit the small space behind a regular wall outlet (see
Figure 5).
5.1. Testbed Setup. A testbed was built in order to test all the
features of the proposed system. It was designed to represent
a simple home automation network and was composed by a
gateway and several smart power sockets.
Figures 6 and 7 show a couple of snapshots of the admin-
istration software, which was developed in C# with ASP.net
using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express as local database.
The reason why it was developed as a web application is
that, thanks to that, it can be used from multiple hardware
devices (PCs, Macs, tablets, smartphones, etc.) with the only
requirement of installing a web-browser.
5.2. Implemented Features. The testbed developed currently
monitors the following events:
(i) If an appliance with a valid RFID tag is plugged
into the smart power outlet, the power supply is
enabled. Note that RFID tag is always associated
with the same appliance (it would be ideally attached
by the manufacturer), but every valid appliance is
8 International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
Figure 6: Administration application screen for configuring a
power socket.
Figure 7: Example of the screen for enumerating and adding new
power sockets to the system.
authorized by default to be used in every smart power
outlet of the system.
(ii) If the current exceeds the maximum allowed during
𝑡cut-off (according to (3)), the system turns off the
power supply to avoid damage and electrical fires.
(iii) If the maximum current slope is exceeded, an over-
current is detected and the relay opens the circuit.
Note that the slope can be adjusted to the envi-
ronment to get a trade-off between detections and
false positives. A commercial implementation would
require testing the system in real-world situations and
adjusting accurately the rate of false positives. If the
inner workings of an appliance would result in sudden
rises of current, its power profile should be configured
properly to filter them out.
(iv) If the current remains below the recommended min-
imum during at least the vampire current detection
time indicated in the power profile, a vampire current
is detected and the system stops supplying current.
(v) If there is a powering schedule for the power outlet
setup, the appliance will be powered off during the
time intervals indicated by such a schedule.
(vi) Remote user management commands are the sixth
item. Users can list and add new power outlets to the
system.
(vii) If a remote user carries out certain action (e.g.,
switching on/off an outlet or viewing the historical
current consumption), it will be executed if there are
no other more critical tasks running.
Other functionalities that are not currently implemented
but that would be straightforward to implement on the
testbed are as follows:
(i) Power load balance mode. The intelligent sockets can
exchange information to avoid overloads or to respect
a maximum power limit imposed by the user.
(ii) Appliance fail pattern. By monitoring current it is
possible to detect when a device is malfunctioning
and predict when it is going to fail [43].
(iii) Smart powering. The system can embed sensors that
determine the value of parameters like temperature,
humidity, or presence that might lead to an intelligent
powering of the connected appliances. For instance, it
may not make sense to activate a heating system when
a room is hot enough or when it has not detected
the presence of people in the environment for certain
amount of time.
(iv) Cost-efficient powering. In some European countries
the cost of residential electricity oscillates throughout
the day. The system may be adapted to obtain the
prices from the Internet and only power certain
appliances when the electricity cost is below a value
previously set.
5.3. Cost of the System. The components of the testbed can
be manufactured currently for 45C (the smart power outlet)
and 20C (the gateway, without the PC), when buying in bulk
10,000 units. The most expensive component is the ZigBee
module (around 15C in bulk), which can be replaced by other
RF interfaces with mesh capabilities (e.g., ESP8266), which
would make the cost of both devices go down to 32C and 7C,
respectively.
It is worth also noting that the cost can also be reduced
by not using certain subsystems. For instance, if the identi-
fication subsystem is removed (its functionalities would be
carried out partially by the user, who would be responsible
for associating every outlet with an appliance), the manufac-
turing cost of the smart power outlet in bulk would be around
25C.
On the contrary, the system could be enhanced by
replacing some of the components with more accurate ones at
the expense of increasing the cost of the system. For example,
more expensive current sensors would allow for obtaining
more precise measurements and, thus, fine-tune vampire
current and overcurrent detection. The actuation subsystem
could also be improved by incorporating relays that feature
higher maximum currents, reduced switching time, and more
durability, but the cost of the smart power outlet would be
increased significantly.
6. Experimental Analysis
6.1. Signal Attenuation. One of the problems of indoor wire-
less communications is that signals are reflected, refracted,
absorbed and, therefore, attenuated by the multiple obstacles
present in the environment. In order to test the commu-
nications architecture, the testbed was placed in an indoor
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
Power level 2 Power level 3
9000
7000
5000
3000
Current (mA)
1000
−1000
−3000
−5000
−7000
−9000 Power level 1
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Time (ms)
Figure 8: Current oscillation when monitoring a hairdryer.
environment and the attenuation of the signals was measured.
Specifically, the mean RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indi-
cator) value obtained during the reception of 100 messages
sent from a smart socket to the gateway was measured. Each
measure was averaged five times for each measurement to
counteract the signal fluctuations caused by indoor fading.
Both the gateway and the smart socket transmitted with a
power of 3 dBm and boost mode was enabled. The results
obtained show that, as it was expected, the signal attenuates
with the distance (e.g., the signal mean attenuation with line-
of-sight at 2 m was 12.05 dB, while at 8 m it was 22.99 dB)
and depending on the material of the obstacles the signal
encounters (e.g., the mean attenuation at 50 cm for a brick
wall was 1.46 dB, but it was 3.95 dB for a window with
closed metallic blinds). Such results highlight the need for
a WSN-based communications architecture, whose use of
certain nodes as repeaters allows for compensating signal
attenuations.
6.2. Current Monitoring. It is possible to monitor remotely
the state of the network of smart sockets. The management
system offers the possibility of monitoring the current con-
sumption in real-time and obtain the historical consumption
during a specific time interval.
Figure 8 shows an example of the current consumed by a
hairdryer. Such a figure was obtained when the hairdryer was
turned on and then switched between the different numbers
that are associated with power levels (it can be observed that
there are four different consumption levels).
6.3. Electrical Event Reaction and Detection Times. A key
feature of the system is the possibility of stopping the current
from flowing when detecting an abnormal electrical behavior
before electrical fire or damage occurs in the cases when the
circuit breaker does not open the circuit fast enough.
In order to determine the detection time of an electrical
event, theoretical and empirical analysis were performed. In
9
both cases the detection time is modeled as exposed in (7),
(8), and (9). Note that, as it was previously mentioned, there
are times that are exclusively dependent on the hardware (𝑡dr
and 𝑡rs ), while the others are software-related.
6.3.1. Hardware Detection Times. The time 𝑡dr required to
read the current data by the sensor depends solely on the
sensor. In this specific case, according to the datasheet of the
selected current sensor, the time required to obtain a new
value of the current when it changes oscillates between 3 and
5 microseconds.
In the case of 𝑡rs , which indicates the time needed by the
relay to open the circuit, it was initially estimated to be 1 ms,
Power level 0 since this is the deactivation time indicated by the chosen
(switched off) relay datasheet. If it is installed in the electrical system MCB
6000 7000
that reacts faster than 1 ms, a really fast relay would have to be
used. That is the case of reed relays, whose release times range
from several tens of microseconds to 1 millisecond. However,
it is important to take into account that, in most cases, reed
relays are only valid for low-load circuits.
6.3.2. Theoretical Software Detection Times. The time
required by the ATmega328P to execute the code can be
estimated before its execution by counting the number of
cycles it requires. To estimate such a number it is necessary to
count, for each type of instruction, the number of assembler
instructions required by the code and then multiply it by the
number of cycles per instruction and by the period of the
system (the inverse of the microcontroller clock frequency):
#types
1
𝑡code = ∑ #instructions𝑖 ∗ #cycles𝑖 . (10)
𝑓clock 𝑖=1
In the case of the ATmega328P, it runs at 16 MHz.
According to its datasheet there are no dividers for the
external clock signal; therefore the period is 62.5 nS.
The counting of the assembler instructions is a tedious
task since it requires following the right branch of every jump
in the code (that is not always obvious) and counting the
cycles consumed by every executed instruction (indicated
in the microcontroller’s datasheet). As an example, Table 1
shows the instruction count for some of the most common
instructions of the executed code (the first row of Table 1
indicates the number of clock cycles consumed by each
of the instructions). Table 2 contains the total number of
cycles required by each segment of code and shows the total
theoretical time of 𝑡ml , 𝑡adq , 𝑡cc , and 𝑡sc . As it can be observed,
the time required by each section of the code is really small
and their sum is less than 0.2 ms. Such pieces of code could be
further optimized to decrease execution time, but they have
been considered fast enough.
It is important to note that 𝑡adq is the largest software
time because an average of 0.112 ms is required to perform
the analog to digital conversion of the current value.
6.3.3. Empirical Software Detection Times. With the objective
of verifying the empirical detection times, the real execution
time of the different parts of the code was quantified by
using functions that rely on the timers of the microcontroller.
10 International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks

Table 1: Count of the most common instructions executed in different segments of code.

ADD CALL CPC LDI LDS MOV MOVW RET STS SUBI
Cycles per instruction 1 4 1 1 3 1 1 5 2 1
#of instructions
𝑡ml 10 3 14 20 4 8 32 3 0 14
𝑡adq 2 1 0 2 6 2 1 1 2 1
𝑡cc 0 1 3 1 7 0 1 1 1 0
𝑡sc 2 2 0 8 2 4 10 3 5 8

Table 2: Theoretical and empirical reaction times.
Theoretical
# of cycles Time (𝜇s)
𝑡ml 471 29.44
𝑡adq 33 114.06
𝑡cc 24 1.5
𝑡sc 142 8.87
𝑡dr (average) 4
𝑡rs 1,000
Reaction time 1,157.87
Table 2 shows on the right the empirical times when averaging
10,000 times the measurement for each section of the code.
Note that the main loop section requires roughly 111.6 𝜇s,
in contrast to the theoretical time, which only requires
29.4 𝜇s. This difference is due to the fact that it also includes
the time required to handle certain asynchronous inter-
ruptions and verifications, which were not computed when
counting instructions during the theoretical analysis.
There is only one software function that carries out the
task of acquiring the current sensor data and that determines
whether the relay has to be opened. An average of 117.6 𝜇s
elapsed when executing such a function, which is really
similar to the sum of the theoretical values of 𝑡adq , 𝑡cc , and
𝑡sc (124.4 𝜇s).
6.3.4. Reaction Time Comparison. After all the theoretical
and empirical measurements it can be observed that both
approximations yield similar values (with a difference of
75 𝜇s) and that the software side of the system does not
constitute a bottleneck: even in the worst case (empirical
measurements) it would be clearly less than the average
circuit breaker trip time (20 ms). It can be also concluded that
the time required by the relay to open the circuit is critical and
restricts the ability of the system to react faster to electrical
events.
7. Conclusions
This paper has presented the design and implementation of
a ZigBee-based smart power socket system whose function-
alities include remote control, current consumption moni-
toring, avoidance of overconsumptions, detection of vampire
currents, and the prevention of electrical fires and shocks.
In order to demonstrate such features, a simple testbed was
set up and several experiments were performed. The results
obtained confirm the feasibility of the system and, after
analyzing the results, it can be stated that it provides a fast and
Empirical
flexible alternative to make future homes smarter and safer.
Time (𝜇s)
111.59 Conflict of Interests
The author declares that there is no conflict of interests
117.60
regarding the publication of this paper.
Acknowledgments
1,233.19 This work has been funded by Xunta de Galicia, Ministerio
de Economı́a y Competitividad of Spain, and FEDER funds
of the European Union under Grants 2012/287, R2014/037,
and TEC2013-47141-C4-1-R. The author would like to thank
Rafael Constenla Casal for his assistance during the whole
development of the system.
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