Electrical Power Status Notification System for Developing Countries

The teaching and learning activities at Osun State University, like those at every other institution of higher learning, are powered by electricity to a very large extent. Several coping strategies have been developed to achieve positive outcomes despite the epileptic and unpredictable nature of the electrical power supply to the campuses, which is not uncommon in most public institutions in developing countries. Due to the partly nonresidential nature of the institution, students and staff alike must travel to campus outside of normal working hours and days to study, use the existing and reliable broadband connectivity, or engage in other personal or group activities. Often times, there is the need to ascertain if power is available before committing to the journey to campus, and there is currently no medium for carrying out such checks. Proposed and documented here is the design and domestication of a power notification system, which provides information on the status of electrical power on campus. The system employed an ATmega328p and senses power availability from either the main source (connection to the grid) or the other source (generator), and transmits the information via the SIM800L GSM/GPRS wireless communication module to an android-based smart phone through a central server. The system can be adapted for several other applications and can equally serve utility consumers as well as utility companies, helping them remotely monitor and query the power status of their preferred clients across various locations in real-time.