Design and Implementation of a Short Message Service Based Remote Controller

Safeguarding our home appliances has become an issue when dealing with an advancement and growth of an economy. This research focuses on the controlling of home appliances remotely when the user is away from the house. The system is Short Message Service (SMS) based and uses wireless technology to revolutionize the standards of living. It provides ideal solution to certain problems faced by home owners in daily life. Due to its wireless nature, it is more adaptable and cost-effective. The research is divided into two sections; the hardware and the software sections. The hardware section consists of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) modem module, The Control module, the Appliance module, the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) module and the power supply module. The GSM modem receives the message sent by the person who wishes to operate any of the connected appliances, it then forwards it to the microcontroller, and the microcontroller decodes the message, switches on or switches off the appropriate appliance, updates the LCD and sends a feedback to the mobile phone via the GSM modem. Overall, the work employs The ATmega16 microcontroller, relays, a programmer to program the microcontroller, a mobile phones and a GSM modem. The AT commands is used to handle communication between the modem and the ATmega16 microcontroller. Flow code is used for the programming of the microcontroller. The overall work was implemented with a constructed work, tested working and perfectly functional.Keywords: Short Message Service, Global System for Mobile Communications, Remote Control, Electronic Circuit Design