Published April 23, 2016 © MIT

Mobile Monitored Motion Sensor

Have you ever wanted to remotely monitor if a room is being accessed? With a internet connection you can monitor with ease.

IntermediateFull instructions provided5 hours1,631

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Photon

PIR Motion Sensor (generic)

SparkFun Solder-able Breadboard - Mini

Software apps and online services

IFTTT Maker service

Particle

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Hand Drill

Soldering iron (generic)

Wire Srippers

Volt Meter

Story

This project was completed to check for viability of online monitored motion detection for security purposes. Security for a multi-resident home is not easy and, not having a way to monitor when a room is being accessed has caused problems for me. This project is the first step to the creation of a new personal smart security system that will be cheap and easy enough to be implanted by anyone, including a college student. The motion detector publishes through IFTTT to a mobile device, allowing remote monitoring of a location with a WIFI signal.

The motion detector was constructed using a microcontroller, and a PIR sensor. A Particle brand microcontroller was used for the project, this microcontroller has very simple Internet connection ability. The passive infrared sensor or PIR sensor from adafruit passes full voltage when motion is sensed. With the Particle powered with 5V and 1 amp, the system was able to pull power from the 3.3V port on the Particle to power the PIR sensor. Shown below is the initial wiring diagram of the system. With the power for the system setup, the output of the PIR sensor was ran to a digital read port (D0) on the Particle. The code for the system then loops to check if D0 shows a high voltage reading, and publishes through IFTTT to a mobile device.

Hardware and Cost for Project

With these easy to find components purchased, The circuit can easily be setup according to the diagram below. To check the circuit, use the tinker app from particle to see if the D0 pin reads high voltage when a motion is created in front of the sensor.

Front of the Solder Board

Sensor Mounted to Cover

Tripped Sensor

If the above test works as it should then the code in the below section should be flashed to the Particle. After the code is running in the particle, the onboard LED should flash when a motion is made in front of the sensor. When the code is checked then IFTTT recipes can be made to send the notifications.

The Two Recipes

Notification when motion is detected

Schematics

Code

PIR Motion Sensor Read and Publish

// -----------------------------------------
// Publish and Dashboard with PIV
// -----------------------------------------

int boardLed = D7; // This is the LED that is already on your device.
int PIR = D0;

//the setup function.
void setup() {

  pinMode(boardLed,OUTPUT); // on-board LED 
  pinMode(PIR,INPUT); // PIV


  // Now flash the D7 LED on and off 
  digitalWrite(boardLed,HIGH);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite(boardLed,LOW);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite(boardLed,HIGH);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite(boardLed,LOW);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite(boardLed,HIGH);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite(boardLed,LOW);
  
Particle.publish("beamStatus","ONLine",100,PRIVATE);
}
// Now for the loop.

void loop() {
  /* 
  Begin LOOP
  */

  while (Particle.connected()) {

    /* 
    While connected check PIV value
    */
  
      if(digitalRead(PIR)==HIGH){
          delay(1500);
      if(digitalRead(PIR)==HIGH){
        // Send a publish to devices...
        Particle.publish("beamStatus","INTRUDER",60,PRIVATE);
        // And flash the on-board LED on and off.
        digitalWrite(boardLed,HIGH);
        delay(1000);
        digitalWrite(boardLed,LOW);
        delay(3000);
      }
      } 
  else {
      // Nothing here wait 5 seconds
      delay(2000);
      }
}