Optimizing Smart Home Performance and User Convenience with RSSI-based Proximity Detection

As the global population continues to urbanize, cities are becoming the main drivers of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, it is projected that 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas, placing a significant strain on current city systems and governance. To address this challenge, city planners and urban designers are turning to the concept of “smart cities” which utilize advanced technology to improve the lives of residents. One of the key elements of smart cities is the integration of smart homes, which are becoming increasingly popular as a means to improve energy efficiency and provide added value to users. This paper presents a novel approach for enhancing user convenience and improving the performance of smart home systems. The proposed system utilizes Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to establish proximity between devices and provides customized services based on proximity detection. The proposed algorithm addresses smart home systems in a more applicable manner by introducing self-calibration, which uses data already collected by devices in the system to locate devices in the home and build a smart home map for the smart home devices. Experiments conducted in this study demonstrate the feasibility of using RSSI to establish proximity between devices. Moreover, the results show that it is possible to differentiate between distances and establish proximity in terms of other devices.