Cost-Effective Smart Socket for Power Monitoring and Remote Control

An embedded system for a smart power outlet has been developed, designed to measure the electrical power of devices connected to it. Power is determined by measuring voltage and current: the voltage is measured via a transformer for simplicity of implementation, while a Hall effect-based sensor is used for current measurement, enabling precise and safe measurement of high currents. Both sensors are connected to a 12-bit ADC. Although the voltage and current signals are noisy and inherently imprecise, meticulous data processing allows for obtaining of more accurate results. The system provides a power measurement range starting from 3 watts with a resolution of 1 watt, demonstrating that reliable measurements can be achieved even with cost-effective components and nonideal measurement methods. The smart outlet is built on a custom printed circuit board optimized for safely handling a maximum power of 2.4 kW, equivalent to 10 amps at 240 volts. All components through which the current flows were selected to prevent overheating. Smart functionality is achieved through remote control and result monitoring. The outlet is compatible with ZigBee networks, integrating automatically and correctly displaying within the network.