An Edge Device for Monitor and Control of Electrical Appliances using Smart Power Line Communication

Smart control and monitoring have been critical in recent times due to the increase in cost and demand for electrical energy. In residential, commercial, and industrial sectors like building energy management, IoT farming, Smart Street Lighting, and Hospitals, Internet of Things (IoT) play a vital role in analyzing the consumption of individual loads. Available smart switches are restricted to changing the switch state (control) using a wireless channel. However, they fail to analyze the consumption of each electrical appliance. Signal propagation is more efficient in the case of low voltage networks by using Power line Communication (PLC). PLC is more convenient in analyzing the electrical consumption of individual loads as it does not require any additional wiring infrastructure. The paper proposes a smarter way of controlling and monitoring the consumption of individual appliances using PLC, IoT Sensors, and the Webserver. The design can be effectively implemented and yields appropriate results, as shown by the field experiments that were conducted and presented.