Development of Smart Assistive DTMF Home Automation System for Ageing Population

According to recent statistics, there is an increasing growth in the percentage of older persons in almost every part of the world today is recorded. The rate at which the proportion of older persons increases in the population of developing countries is much faster than what is experienced in developed regions. Specifically, this trend is more predominant in developing economies with relatively much lower level of socio-economic development, particularly in Africa. In response to this, modern technological advances in semiconductor technology and wireless communication can be significantly exploited to drive the economic and social paradigm shifts associated with population ageing towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. In this paper, we designed and implemented a cost-effective smart assistive DTMF home automation system that utilizes a tele-remote circuit to control home appliances via existing cellular communication networks. This system adopted a GSM module as feedback device. Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) tones generated from keypads of mobile cell phones remotely control home devices and appliances. An integrated DTMF receiver decodes the tones and processes the information to control several devices using a relay switching system with an effective feedback mechanism. The digitallycontrolled system overcomes the limited range of infrared and radio remote controls with the aid of available cellular communication systems. Therefore, older people of the populace can be provided with better ease of living at home by minimizing their movement and dependency at affordable cost