SmartPaw - chatière connectée

Introduction

As part of our first year in the engineering program at Unilasalle Amiens, we have decided to develop a connected cat flap.

The objective of this project was to create an IoT project using LoRa connection to apply what we have learned in class.

Objectives of the project

We wanted to make a cat flap for cats that respected the following conditions :

• Lockable for other animals.
• Controllable from an IOS Application and a web interface.
• Communicating in LoRa.

Creation Process

First, we started by establishing a LoRa connection and understanding how it works. During this phase, we were only sending the temperature measured by the Sodaq Explorer. Once we successfully received the temperature data on The Things Network (TTN), we created a web interface to visualize the information. With the completion of this initial step, we moved on to the hardware programming and data transmission to TTN.

During the hardware programming, we enabled communication between an Arduino Uno and a Sodaq Explorer. The Arduino read information from the RFID badge and sent it to the Sodaq, which checked if the badge was authorized to unlock the gate or not. We also programmed the ability to unlock the gate from the website.

After successfully implementing these functionalities, we developed an iOS mobile application to control the gate lock and display all the data on a user interface. To create the application and web interface, we utilized a server with Node-RED installed, which served as a broker for all our data.

The application

Conclusion

To conclude, we encountered a few challenges during the project, such as:

• Complex integration of different components.
• Managing power consumption for extended battery life.
• Developing a user-friendly interface.

We believe there is always room for improvement in our product, so here are a few areas for enhancement:

• Integration of cameras to monitor pets when they use the pet door.
• Integration of geolocation features to track the real-time movements of pets.

Our connected pet door project has been a success, providing pet owners with a convenient and secure solution. The remote control, activity monitoring, and identity detection features contribute to improving the daily lives of both owners and their pets. Future enhancements could further enhance the performance and functionality of the product.

Presentation video