A system for remote operation of devices: Helpful for elderly and disabled people

This paper proposes an electronic system for remote operation of various electrical devices. The range of the system is about 30 meter in indoor environment. The system consists of a wireless remote handset and a fixed actuator unit. The system can be easily integrated in an existing electrical wiring. This system is very helpful for elderly and disabled people who have restricted movement or are bedridden. Such people can operate many devices just with press of a single button of the remote. The device is omni-directional and hence can control devices which are not in line-of-sight unlike IR based remote controllers. The remote controller and the actuator communicate bi-directionally which helps to know the status of the devices which are ON at a point of time. The system is implemented using microcontrollers.