Bright Star University - The Sixth International Conference - Smart Cities and State of the Map –Libya December

2020

Design and Implement IoT Smart Home via Cisco Packet

Tracer: Applications & Simulations
Dr. Aboagela Dogman, and Mohamed Jewiley
Faculty of Information Technology, University of AL-Zintan, AL-Zintan, Libya,
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) plays an important role in our daily life. It has
become applicable to many aspects of our lives such as homes, colleges,
universities, and has been expanded to cover even cities. One of the IoT
applications is a designing of smart home. Smart home can be defined as a
collection of IoT devices connected via home gateway, and can be controlled
remotely using smart phone. Such these smart homes contain devices which have
the ability to communicate with each other, and with their material environment.
The smart home gives the owners the ability to customize, monitor, and track the
home environment which in turn increase security, and manage energy in
efficient and effective manner. The aim of this paper is to model and simulate an
IoT system for smart home that uses different IoT devices that are addressable to
allow the transmission of valuable information. The designing of smart home
was effectively implemented using new released version of Cisco Packet Tracer
simulator 7.3 that includes different kind of sensor and actuator and having
different types of smart device used for automation.

Keywords: IoT technology, Cisco Packet Tracer, Smart Home, Home Gateway.

1. Introduction

The Internet of Things (IoT) can be defined as a connection of millions of smart

devices and sensors via the Internet. The connected devices and sensors can be
utilized to collect and share data. The collected data are used for evaluation by
many organizations such as include homes, businesses, cities, governments,
hospitals and individuals.
The IoT has been partly possible. This is due to the advent of cheap processors
and wireless networks. The inanimate objects such as doorknobs, light bulbs,
fans, etc. can now be equipped with an intelligent sensor that can collect and
transfer data to a network [1][2].

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The concept of IoT aims to connect billions of new devices to the Internet.
According to an IoT publication from Cisco Academy, A third of connected
devices will be computers, Smartphone, tablets, and smart TVs. The remaining
two-thirds will be other kinds of “things”: such as sensors, actuators, and newly
invented intelligent devices that monitor, control, analyze, and optimize our
world. Some examples of intelligent connected sensors are: smart doorbells,
garage doors, thermostats, sports wearable, pacemakers, traffic lights, parking
spots, and many others [3]. The following are some of useful applications of IoT
[4]:

 Smart energy: the concept of smart energy is to use electricity efficiently

when needed and help individuals to conserve energy according to their
needs. Smart energy is achieved by an automated IoT monitor device that
allows users to see how much energy they are consuming whenever an
appliance is switch on.
 Smart health: smart health is considered to be an important application
of IoT. Smart health monitoring devices are used to to monitor and
evaluate the health condition of patients.
 Smart manufacturing: IoT applications have participated significantly
in manufacturing. for example, an automated system runs by an IoT
monitoring device can be used to restock raw materials in a
manufacturing warehouse
 Smart city: there are many IoT applications used to improve urban
intelligence. These include applications to monitor parking spaces, street
lights, wind detector, and many others.
 Smart Home: there are a wide variety of IoT devices available to be
used at home to make it smart. Such these devices are motion detector,
lawn sprinkler, smart door, solar panel, and many other devices. These
devices can be connected using home gateway to the Internet in order to
be controlled remotely by smart phone.

2. Related works:

There are many scientific studies have been conducted in the field of the Internet
of Things (IoT) in recent years. These studies aimed to apply the idea of IoT to
various fields of our daily life. For example, Cisco Packet Tracer simulation
software was used to create and implement the idea of a smart home [4]. The aim
of the study was to find out the extent to which IoT can be applied to smart

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homes, taking into account the provision of the necessary protection for the data
sent between devices.
Other studies aimed at implementing the smart university using IoT
technologies, relying mainly on version 7.3 of the Cisco Packet Tracer
simulation program, which in turn contains new features of IoT devices [4][5].
Another study was aimed to design smart city where smart webcams can
remotely transmit data packets. The study indicates that when the smart webcam
are connected in a wireless medium, they can send and receive data packets via a
6LowPAN gateway which can be access by users in the Internet [4].
In contrast to previous studies which mainly focused on designing smart home as
in [4, 5, and 6] or studies that relied on one type of IoT device to design a smart
city as in [3], the focus of this paper is to model and simulate an IoT system for
smart home. Different IoT devices are connected and addressed in such a way to
allow the transmission of valuable information. In addition to that, the IoT
devices are connected using home gateway to the Internet in order to be
controlled remotely elsewhere by smart phone.

3. Methodology

In this study, packet tracer version 7.3 was used to model and simulate smart
home. Packet Tracer is a visual simulation program designed by Cisco. It allows
users to create and design computer networks that simulate real networks. Also,
Cisco packet tracer provides a lot of IoT devices which can be used to create
smart home. Figure 1 shows the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of Cisco Packet
Tracer 7.3. [7] [8]

Figure 1:GUI of Cisco Packet Tracer [7]

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 Bright Star University - The Sixth International Conference - Smart Cities and State of the Map –Libya December 2020

Packet tracer simulation software was chosen in this study because of its
characteristics as it distinguishes from other simulation programs as follows:
 It allows users to design complex networks.
 Users are allowed to explore Internet of Things concepts.
 It allows users to build, design and configure a smart city and smart
home.
 Provides a realistic visualization and simulation of IoT devices

4. Implementation and Results:

Figure 2 shows the scenario of designed and simulated smart home. The smart
home includes solar panel, smart battery, smart light, street lamp, smart door,
smart fan, smoke detector, smart coffee maker, garage door, and temperature
monitor. As shown in the Figure, all IoT devices are connected to the home
gateway which in turn connected to the Internet through Cluster0.

Figures 2: Smart Home Network

The IoT devices connected to Home gateway obtained their network
configuration settings from DHCP server which configured at the home gateway.
This is achieved by changing the Network adapter to wireless and changing the
IoT server for each IoT device to the Home Gateway as shown in Figure 3(a)-
3(b) respectively.

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Figure 3(a) Figure 3(b)

Figures 3: (a) wireless adapter of IoT device, (b) change IoT server to Home Gateway
After connecting IoT devices to the Home Gateway, each IoT device obtains the
IP settings from the IoT server (i.e. Home Gateway) as shown in Table 1.
Table1: network settings of IoT devices

Home
IoT device Connection Port IP address DNS server
Gateway
Solar Panel GE0 192.168.1.110 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Smart battery Wireless0 192.168.1.108 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Smart light Wireless0 192.168.1.100 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Street Lamp Wireless0 192.168.1.105 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Figure Wireless0 192.168.1.112 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Smart door Wireless0 192.168.1.113 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Temperature Monitor Wireless0 192.168.1.117 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Smart fan Wireless0 192.168.1.118 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Smoke detector Wireless0 192.168.1.114 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Garage door Wireless0 192.168.1.116 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1
Coffee Maker Wireless0 192.168.1.115 192.168.1.1 200.0.0.1

The function of smart Tablet is to verify and monitor the IoT devices. This is
achieved by logging into the Home Gateway using URL: http://192.168.1.1 as
shown in Figure 4(a). In the Home Gateway Login screen, the username, and
password are required which in our scenario is "admin". After successful login,
all registered IoT devices with IoT server should appear as shown in Figure 4(b).

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 Bright Star University - The Sixth International Conference - Smart Cities and State of the Map –Libya December 2020

Figure 4(a) Figure 4(b)

Figures 4: (a) Home Gateway credential verification, (b) IoT devices registered at IoT
server

The smart tablet can control all the IoT devices remotely. For instance, the tablet
can OPEN and CLOSE the garage door by switch its status between ON and
OFF as shown in Figure 5(a) - 5(b).

Figure 5(a) Figure 5(b)

Figures 5: (a) Red button indicates garage door is closed, (b) Green button indicates
garage door is open

Another function which can be performed using IoT smart tablet is to control IoT
device based on the condition of other IoT device. For instance, the status of
smart lamp can be ON whenever the door is OPEN and vice versa. In other
words: IF the condition "Smart Door Lock is Unlock" THEN the action "set

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 Bright Star University - The Sixth International Conference - Smart Cities and State of the Map –Libya December 2020

Smart Lamp status to ON", and IF the condition "Smart Door Lock is Lock"
THEN the action "set Smart Lamp status to OFF". Figure 6 (a) - 6(b) shows the
action taken of Smart Lamp based on the condition of Smart Door.

Figure 6(a) Figure 6(b)

Figures 6: action of smart Lamp based on Smart Door condition: (a) Smart Door
OPEN, Light is ON, (b) Door CLOSED, Light is OFF

5. Conclusion and future work

In this study, smart home network was designed and implemented. New released
version of Cisco packer trace 7.3 was used in this study because it includes new
features of IoT devices. IoT Home Gateway functions as IoT server and a
connection point between IoT devices. Smart tablet was used to control and
monitor the IoT devices remotely. In addition to that, some IoT devices were
automatically controlled based on the condition of other IoT devices. In future
work, the focus will be on the adaption of IoT status based on the environmental
conditions around the smart home

6. References

[1] Introduction of Internet of Things (2020) [access in February 2020] at

https://www.netacad.com.
[2] Mostafa Al-Emran, Sohail Iqbal Malik, and Mohammed N. Al-Kabi
(2020) A Survey of Internet of Things (IoT) in Education: Opportunities
and Challenges. In Toward Social Internet of Things (SIoT): Enabling
Technologies, Architectures and Applications. pp 197-209, Springer.
[3] Anthony Bawa Maxwell Lewis Selby (2018) Design and Simulation of
the Internet of Things for Accra Smart City, Network and Complex
Systems, Vol. 8, PP, 17-30, 2018.

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[4] Rania A. Tabeidi, Samia M. Masaad, and Buthayna G. Elshaikh (2019)

Implementing Smart College Using CISCO Packet Tracer 7.2 Simulator,
Journal of Engineering Research and Application, Vol 9, Issue. 4, pp 44-
39.
[5] Ghaliya Alfarsi, Jasiya Jabbar, Ragad M Tawafak, Sohail Iqbal Malik,
Abir Alsidiri, and Maryam Alsinani (2019) Using Cisco Packet Tracer to
simulate Smart Home, International Journal of Engineering and
Technical Research, Vol. 8, Issue, 12, pp 670-674.
[6] G.Ashok, P. Akram, M. Neelima, J. Nagasaikumar, and A.Vamshi
(2020) Implementation Of Smart Home By Using Packet Tracer,
International Journal of Scienfic & Technoloy Research, Vol 9, Issue. 2,
pp 678-685.
[7] Packet Tracer 7.3 (2019) [accessed in December 2019] at
https://www.netacad.com/courses/packet-tracer
[8] Introduction to Packet Tracer (2019) [access in December 2019] at
https://www.netacad.com.