Power Measurement Device

Abstract: This thesis project aims to develop an embedded system that can measure real-time power consumption of a house and provide information for the user. System consists of a microcontroller unit, a light sensor, RS232 serial interface, battery and an LED. An 18F series 8bit PIC microcontroller was used for this project because PIC is known to be versatile and very low power-consuming. The goal was to get periodic signal from the sensor mounted on the power meter of a house, calculate the power usage and send this data to serial port for communication purposes. The system is connected to PC through RS232 interface as the first step of the project. The power usage information and a simple user interface sent from the PIC are displayed on the HyperTerminal of the PC. The second step was to communicate with a wireless module which is connected to the central unit of the alarm system in a house. This part of the project requires modification of the communication protocol to suit the one that the company uses in the wireless module. As the power source we chose a 9V battery since the system needs 5V to operate. However it is just the prototype. Therefore the power source choice can be changed in future due to company needs. The LED used in the prototype is for testing purposes and it is also due to changes if not needed. As the result of the project, the first step is finished with minimum requirements. The external hardware is built with all the components and the software is implemented successfully. The system can get signals from the photo sensor; the result is calculated according to the duration between two signals; it is sent to the PC via RS232 serial port and displayed on the PC terminal.