Y. Zhao and Z.
Ye: A Low Cost GSM/GPRS Based Wireless Home Security System
A Low Cost GSM/GPRS Based Wireless
Home Security System
Yanbo Zhao and Zhaohui Ye
Abstract — Home security system is needed for occupants’
convenience and safety. In this paper, we present the design
and implementation of a low cost, low power consumption,
and GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communication
/General Packet Radio Service) based wireless home security
system. The system is a wireless home network which contains
a GSM/GPRS gateway and three kinds of wireless security
sensor nodes that are door security nodes, infrared security
nodes and fire alarm nodes. The nodes are easy installing.
The system can response rapidly to alarm incidents and has a
friendly user interface including a LCD (Liquid Crystal
Display) and a capacitive sensor keyboard. The wireless
communication protocol between the gateway and the nodes is
also suitable for other home appliances. Furthermore, some
methods are taken to ensure the security of system information.
Index Terms — Security, GSM/GPRS, Wireless
I. INTRODUCTION
THERE is a growing interest in intelligent home network as a
way to offer a comfortable, convenient and safe environment
for occupants [1]. In order to enhance the occupants’
convenience and safety, home security system is indispensable
in the field of intelligent home network. The requirements of a
home security system include low cost, low power
consumption, easy installation and rapid response to alarm
incidents.
According to connecting mode, home network can be
divided into two kinds: wireless network and non-wireless
network [2]. The wireless technology has some remarkable
benefits comparing with non-wireless technology. For example,
it makes the installation and maintenance easier and reduces
the system cost. Bluetooth [3], ZigBee [4], [5], 802.11 [6] and
wireless USB [7] are the most popular technologies in the field
of home wireless network. [3] introduces a method to form a
home network which provides flexible and dynamic services
via Bluetooth. However, the system mentioned in [3] is high
power consumption and high cost so that it is not convenient to
use in security system. [4] and [5] present how to apply
ZigBee/IEEE802.15.4 to establish a home network that is cost-
effective and low power consumption. However,
Yanbo Zhao is with the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China (Email: zhao-yb06@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn).
Zhaohui Ye is with the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China (Email: yezhaohui@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn).
Manuscript received December 6, 2007 0098 3063/08/$20.00 © 2008 IEEE
567
[4] and [5] don’t present the implementation. Wireless home
network based on the IEEE802.11 standard, also known as
WiFi, provides a good solution for many home network needs
such as transferring file and media date [6], but this standard is
also high cost and high power consumption. [7] presents the
design of a home network using a wireless USB controller that
offers several benefits such as low cost, expandability and
outstanding performance. Wireless USB can also be used in
home security system.
How to inform user in real time when alarm incidents occur
has become a crucial feature of home security system. This can
be done via internet or GSM/GPRS. GSM/GPRS is more
convenient than internet. The main reason is that the
GSM/GPRS network has wide spread coverage making the
whole system available for almost all the time. Furthermore,
GSM/GPRS network has high security infrastructure which
makes sure that the information sent or received cannot be
monitored [8]. The network examples mentioned in [3], [5], [6]
and [7] send the information to remote users via internet. [8]
and [9] are examples of home systems using GSM/GPRS
network for remote controlling. However, [8] only illustrates
that GSM is communication method between remote user and
home network server but doesn’t apply it to home security
system. The system in [9] only applies GSM/GPRS technology
to intrusion detecting and its communication is non-wireless.
In this paper, a low cost GSM/GPRS based wireless home
security system is presented. The system includes two parts:
wireless security sensor nodes and a GSM/GPRS gateway. It
has the following features:
(1) Low cost. All the microprocessors used in the sensor
nodes and the gateway are cheap 8-bit microprocessors,
and all other devices are inexpensive.
(2) Low power consumption. All security sensor nodes are
powered by batteries.
(3) Easy installing. Because the nodes communicate with the
gateway by wireless, they can be installed anywhere
inside the home.
(4) Rapid response. The GSM/GPRS gateway will send
SMS (Short Message Service) messages to inform
remote PMP (Property Management Person) and users
when alarm incidents occur.
(5) Friendly user interface. The system has a friendly user
interface including sixteen capacitive sensor keys and a
LCD. Users can view the states of security sensor nodes,
modify password of the gateway and change the mobile
phone number for receiving the alarm messages.
(6) Emergency alarm function. There is an emergency alarm
key (SOS key) in the GSM/GPRS gateway which makes
users at home to alarm in emergency situations.
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(7) Information security method. In order to ensure the
security of system information, some security methods
are taken, such as a password for gateway to prevent
unauthorized person to access the system, and a pseudo
security key for data encryption and decryption to
ensure security wireless communication.
The paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the
general structure of the proposed system, as well as its main
features and components. Section III shows the design of
GSM/GPRS gateway and Section IV shows the design of
security sensor nodes. Section V discusses the communication
between the gateway and the security sensor nodes. In Section
VI, the preliminary experimental functions of the system are
shown and, finally, in Section VII, conclusions are presented,
referring perspectives for future work.
II. THE HOME SECURITY SYSTEM
The general structure of the home security system is shown
in Fig. 1. The system includes two parts: wireless security
sensor nodes and a GSM/GPRS gateway. There are three kinds
of sensor nodes in this system: door security nodes, infrared
security nodes and fire alarm nodes. The GSM/GPRS module
is the interface between the gateway and the GSM/GPRS
network.
GSM/GPRS
gateway
UART
interface
SMS
Security nodes GSM/GPRS
module
The mobile
phone of
remote user
Fig. 1. The structure of home security system
The microprocessor used in this system is 8-bit PSoC
(Programmable System on Chip) device. There are three
reasons to use this device. Firstly, it makes the design easier
and reduces system cost. It has configurable analog and digital
blocks, as well as programmable interconnects logic. This
architecture allows users to create customized peripherals such
as filters, amplifiers, analog to digital converters,
communication interfaces and so on. Secondly, this device has
a sleep timer and SMP (Switch Mode Pump) circuit, which are
useful to reduce power consumption. Thirdly, there is a special
IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 54, No. 2, MAY 2008
PSoC device which reduces the design complexity of
capacitive sensor keyboard in the system.
The wireless data transfer between gateway and sensor
nodes is implemented with a wireless transceiver module. The
module operates in the unlicensed worldwide 2.4GHz ISM
(Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band and has many
excellent features: (1) low power consumption, 21mA
operating current and sleep current less than 1μA; (2) DSSS
(Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) data rates up to 250kbps,
GFSK (Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying) data rate of 1 Mbps;
(3) Operating range is 10m plus; (4) 4 MHz SPI (Serial
Peripheral Interface) microcontroller interface.
III. THE GSM/GPRS GATEWAY
A. Hardware of GSM/GPRS Gateway
The diagram of the hardware of GSM/GPRS gateway is
shown in Fig. 2. The GSM/GPRS gateway contains six major
components:
(1) Microprocessors, including I and II;
(2) Wireless transceiver module;
(3) LCD;
(4) LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) and a buzzer;
(5) Capacitive sensor keyboard;
(6) GSM/GPRS module.
Fig. 2. The diagram of GSM/GPRS gateway
Microprocessor I is the central device of the gateway. It
receives the information coming from nodes and sends out
alarm messages to remote users via GSM/GPRS module.
Microprocessor II deals with the keys’ signals and sends the
signals to microprocessor I through its SPI interface.
In this system, the communications between the GSM/GPRS
module and Microprocessor I are implemented in the form of
AT (Attention) commands.
The implementation of GSM/GPRS gateway is shown in Fig.
3.
Y. Zhao and Z. Ye: A Low Cost GSM/GPRS Based Wireless Home Security System 569

Fig. 3. The implementation of GSM/GPRS gateway

B. Software Design of GSM/GPRS gateway

The working procedure of gateway is as follows:
(1) The wireless transceiver module receives the states
information of security sensor nodes and sends the Fig. 4. The flowchart of main program of microprocessor I
information to microprocessor II through its SPI
interface. Fig. 5 shows the flowchart of the menu subprogram.
(2) LCD displays the information of sensor nodes. When (1) Check up password.
alarm incidents happen, LCD will display alarm (2) If the password is right, the menu appears on LCD,
information. LEDs and the buzzer will warn the users at otherwise the sub program ends at once.
home. At the same time, the gateway will send alarm (3) Press 1 to 4 corresponds to the four functions of the
SMS messages to remote PMP and users through the menu: 1 for initializing password and the SOS number,
GSM/GPRS module. 2 for changing password, 3 for changing the SOS
(3) Sixteen capacitive sensor keys including an emergency number and 4 for quit. These functions are discussed in
alarm key (SOS key) are designed to modify password Section IV in detail.
and mobile phone number for receiving the alarm
messages. What’s more, the SOS key is used to startup
emergency alarm.
The function of microprocessor II is receiving keyboard’s
information and sending it to microprocessor I through SPI
interface. Its procedure workflow is to scan keyboard in turns
and to send out signals corresponding to the keys which are
touched by fingers of user.
The flowchart of main program of microprocessor I is
shown in Fig. 4.
(1) Initializes system.
(2) Receives information of sensor nodes and keyboard.
(3) If any node alarms, the program calls alarm subprogram
to display alarm message on the LCD and sends
corresponding SMS messages to remote PMP and users.
(4) If user at home presses the SOS key, it means he/she
wants to alarm immediately. Then, the system will send
the SOS message to remote PMP and users at once.
(5) If user wants to use the menu function of gateway,
he/she need to press the Menu key. Then, the program
calls menu subprogram.

Fig. 5. The flowchart of menu subprogram

570 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 54, No. 2, MAY 2008

IV. WIRELESS SECURITY SENSOR NODES

A. The General Structure of the Sensor Nodes

The general diagram of wireless security sensor nodes is
shown in Fig. 6. Every sensor node has a wireless transceiver
module and a microprocessor. The microprocessor receives
and analyses the sensors’ signals to detect the state of node.

Fig. 8. The implementation of a door security node

C. The Infrared Security Node

The infrared security node adopts a pyroelectric infrared
Fig. 6. The general diagram of nodes sensor (PIR). PIR sensor responds to the infrared radiation of
human body whose radiation is strongest at wavelength
Two methods are taken to reduce power consumption of between 9.4 μm and 10.4 μm [10]. The sensor can be placed in
nodes: the entrances of rooms or other areas. When an intruder enters
(1) SMP circuit. It can be used to generate typical operating these areas, the sensor will detect the infrared radiation
supply voltages off a single battery using only a few generated by the intruder and output a signal whose range is
external components. As long as external voltage is about 1mV and frequency is about 1Hz, as shown in Fig. 9.
more than one volt, the microprocessor would work
normally, so the node can work steadily for a long time.
(2) By configuring the sleep timer, the microprocessor can
go into sleep mode periodically, which reduces average
power consumption.
B. The Door Security Node
Door security node adopts magnetic sensor. The sensor
doesn’t need external power supply and has an ON/OFF signal
output according to the distance from magnet to dry spring.
The distance threshold is 16 mm. As the sensor is normally in
ON state, the circuit in Fig. 7 is designed to use a 1MΩ
resistor R1 to limit the circuit current so as to reduce power
consumption. The implementation of a door security node is
shown in Fig. 8.
VCC

Fig. 9. Output signal of PIR sensor

Magnetic
sensor Since the output signal of PIR sensor is very small, signal
R2 processing circuit must be designed. The common method is
Micro- using a special amplifier to process the signal [11]. The circuit
330 processor has a stable output and a quick response. However, it is
R1 complex, high power consumption and high cost.
1M
Since microprocessor contains configurable analog and
digital blocks which can be configured as filters, amplifiers
and analog to digital converters, the other simpler method is to
use these configured filter, amplifier and ADC (Analog to
Digital Converter) to process the signal, as shown in Fig.10.
Fig. 7. Circuit of door security node
The output signal of PIR sensor is wired to microprocessor
Y. Zhao and Z. Ye: A Low Cost GSM/GPRS Based Wireless Home Security System 571

after a RC (resistor-capacitor) filter. The signal processes

inside the microprocessor include amplifying, further filtering,
analog to digital conversion and comparing with the alarm
threshold determined by experiments. This method greatly
simplifies circuit and reduces the power consumption.
The implementation of infrared security node is shown in
Fig. 11.

VCC

Fig. 12. The implementation of a fire alarm node

6.8M
V. THE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
When alarm incidents occur, the nodes will send alarm
information to the GSM/GPRS gateway immediately. If there
47u
is no alarm incident, the gateway and sensor nodes use a
query-reply communication mode. When a node is queried, it
6.8M 0.01u 20K
returns its state to the gateway. The communication packet
format between the gateway and node is given in Fig. 13. The
packet consists of Preamble (P), Start of Packet (SOP), Packet
Length (PL), Payload Data (PD) and the CRC16 bits.
Fig. 10. Circuit of PIR sensor with a RC filter
Payload data have two bytes. The first byte represents the
identity of security node, the second byte represents the state
of node (0x00000001: “Open” State; 0x00000010: “Close”
State; 0x00000100: “Alarm” State) or query command
(0x00001111) from gateway. Before the payload data is
transferred, it is encrypted with a pseudo security key. The
payload data is decrypted with the same pseudo security key
after received. The security key is generated by GSM/GPRS
gateway and is sent to each node when installing.

Fig. 13. The communication packet format

Fig. 11. The implementation of an infrared security node VI. THE SYSTEM FUNCTION

A. Alarm Function
D. The Fire Alarm Node
The home security system discussed above has two kinds
There are many fire-detection techniques. The common of alarms: abnormal alarms issued from three sensor nodes and
methods are based on temperature sampling, relative humidity emergency alarm started by users when they touch “SOS” key.
sampling, smoke analysis, in addition to ultraviolet and Table I presents messages on LCD and SMS messages sent to
infrared sampling. [12] presents a fire-alarming method based user when alarms take place.
on video process. Although the method mentioned in [12] can TABLE I
provide additional information about the process of burning, it ALARM FUNCTIONS OF SYSTEM
is too expensive to be used in home security system.
In this system, each fire alarm node adopts a temperature Alarm Type LCD SMS
sensor and an infrared receiver. The temperature sensor door security nodes’ alarm Door Alarm Door Alarm
monitors environment temperature and infrared receiver MESSAGE SENT
monitors heat and flames. If temperature or infrared of infrared security nodes’ alarm Stealing Alarm Stealing
MESSAGE SENT Alarm
environment exceed defined thresholds, the node sends out
fire alarm Fire Alarm Fire Alarm
alarm signal. The implementation of a fire alarm node is MEDSSAGE
shown in Fig. 12. It is simple design, low cost and suitable to SENT
use in home. emergency alarm SOS!!! HELP!!!
MESSAGE SENT
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B The Menu Function
“Menu” key should be touched in order to use functions of
menu. User is requested to enter password firstly. If the input
password is correct, the system menu will show on the LCD.
(1) Initialization
Press “1”, the system password is changed to “222333”
and mobile phone number for help is changed to
“00000000000”.
(2) Change password
Press “2”, the system requests user to enter new
password. When completed, the system asks user to
input again to verify. If two inputs are same, the
password will be changed to the new one. During the
process, you can use “Cancel” key to delete what you
have entered.
(3) Change mobile number
Press “3”, the system displays the existing mobile
number and prompts user to enter new number. When
finish inputting mobile phone number, press “Set” key to
complete the amendment.
(4) Quit
Press “4”, the system quits the menu.
VII. CONCLUSION
This paper presents the design and the implementation of a
wireless home security system. PSoC devices and wireless
transceiver modules are adopted. The system has a friendly
user interface and employs some methods to reduce the power
consumption.
Communication of the system is complete wireless, which
makes the system easy to install and use. The system is low
cost, low power consumption and easily operable. In addition,
the wireless transceiver modules enable the system to transfer
other information such as voice and picture rather than just
alarm signals. As a result, the system can lightly be expanded
to other applications.
The system is secured with a login password. As a future
work, we are currently working to establish a more secure
system by researching a proper wireless security protocol.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank Lucan Lin, Xiaolong Chen
for their contribution to the design and implementation of the
system.
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Yanbo Zhao was born in Shijiazhuang, China on July 18,
1984. He received the B.S degree from Harbin Institute of
Technology, Harbin, China, in 2006. He is currently
pursuing his M.S degree at Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China. His main research interests are home automation
network, home network security and electronic
technology applications.
Zhaohui Ye was born in Hunan Province, China on
December 14, 1968. She received her B.S, M.S., and
PHOTO Ph.D degrees in Industry Automation Instrument, Reactor
Engineering and Reactor Security, and Control Science
and Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China, in 1992, 1994, and 2004, respectively. She has
been working in Automation Department at Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China since 1994, and now she is an
associate professor. From September, 2002 to March, 2003, she studied as a
Visiting Scholar in Extension and Teaching Development Center at
University of California, at San Diego, USA. Her main research interests are
home automation network, electronic technology application, and analog
integrated circuit design.