A LoRa-Driven Home Security System for a Residential Community in a Retirement Township

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the capability to change our lives. In the near future, every device and almost every object will be linked together and connected to the internet. This paper summarizes the work done in developing a Long Range (LoRa) driven home security system for a residential community in a retirement township. Both hardware and software solutions were used to provide emergency alerts. A panic button was developed to generate alarms manually and embedded sensors were implemented to generate alarms automatically. LoRa wireless communication technology was used to connect all hardware devices in the network and to forward all these data to be stored in the server. A mobile application was developed to provide an alternative way of generating manual emergency alerts and to provide a communication channel in the form of a chat room for residents of the same community as well as the security guards. A web application was developed for residential area security management, where administrators can register new residential areas and assign security guards to these residential areas accordingly.

Home security; IoT; LoRa; Residential community; Smart cities

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the capability to alter our way of life. In the near future, every device we own and almost every object around us will be linked together and connected to the internet. The IoT will join us in ways we currently cannot even fathom (Berawi, 2018). By 2050, approximately 66% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas, which offer basic resources such as good food, high security, quality health care, and sufficient energy. In this new world, providing overall economic and environmental sustainability will be our biggest challenge, and efficiency in the allocation of these basic resources will need to be enhanced (ISO, 2018).

The demographic change in our societies is one of the major challenges that we are now facing, according to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002). The population is aging worldwide, and this will have a great impact on future generations, especially on the economy and on productivity. Recent research has shown that the percentage of people who are 65 years old and above is increasing and will reach 29.5% in 2060, compared to 17.4% in 2010 (European Commission, 2011). The safety of the older population is a concern because many older people spend most of their time at home and alone, leaving them more vulnerable to property thefts and other crimes.  The probability of theft  in residential neighbourhoods can be  reduced if a proper emergency alarm system is implemented.

The increasing elderly population presents numerous challenges for smart cities. Handling security quality and its costs is one of the most important considerations in the design and implementation of smart cities, but community councils should consider other issues as well. Security for senior citizens and elderly people can be one of the most significant challenges for smart residential areas, and the increasing number of retired persons will force smart cities’ community councils to assist this demographic group and work for its benefit. These councils should carefully plan the assistance they provide to these retired people, so that they can live the rest of their lives in safety and comfort. Advanced security systems for retirement residential homes are essential. This project is designed to maximize the efficiency of security systems and make those systems effective and easy to use by retired people. Retired people should be able to live in peaceful homes that offer them a safe environment and protection from the dangers of the outside world. Modern technologies, such as the expansion of the IoT, are driving the development of smart cities and industries, especially in the areas of cost reduction and quality improvement (Suwartha, 2017).

Retired citizens deserve to stay at home in a peaceful environment that offers them safe lives and protection from strangers. This project proposes a security system in an intelligent residential area that ensures a safe and convenient living environment for retired people. Long Range (LoRa) wireless technology is used in this security system. Our security system is a simple and interactive management system that is designed to allow security guards and the community council to monitor the status of each family in the residential area. A mobile application was developed for use by family members in case of emergency. We also considered the issue of sustainability, because investors and other financial stakeholders need an efficient financial plan in order to provide viable solutions to problems. Two modes of emergency calls were enabled in this security system, one a human-generated alarm and the other an automated sensor alarm. This project made efficient use of LoRa wireless network, which sends short messages for long ranges using low power. However, it is not meant to handle high data rates or send large amounts of data in each message 

Research was conducted to identify current and previous efforts in this area and to learn the current trends and technologies that are driving modern security solutions. An overall system architecture was then designed in order to visualize the complete distributed system. Afterwards, the detailed system design was highlighted, and each part of the system was explained along with its purpose and how it was connected to the other parts. After developing the designed prototype, a complete system test was performed, and the results have shown that the system is suitable for implementation in a residential area. The system is expected to perform the designed task completely.

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