2021 International Conference on Automation, Control and Mechatronics for Industry 4.

0 (ACMI), 8-9 July 2021, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Design and Implementation of a New Green IoT

Gateway Module
S M Rezwanul Islam Md. Ariful Islam
2021 International Conference on Automation, Control and Mechatronics for Industry 4.0 (ACMI) | 978-1-6654-3843-8/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ACMI53878.2021.9528239

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur
Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected]

Md. Abdul Kader Md. Monirul Kabir

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur
Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— In this paper, a new green IoT gateway module is definition of IoT was firstly described by International
proposed that has been designed and implemented, called as Telecommunication Union with the whole concept of data
(GIGM), formulated by mainly microcontroller unit (MCU), transmission and communication between ‘machine to
Wi-Fi module and load controlling latch switch (LCLS) module. machine’ and ‘human to machine’ interactions [3].
The proposed GIGM differs from the others upon two aspects:
Generally, the involvement of several kinds of sensors,
(i) implementing this green IoT gateway module into hardware
that is the first attempt anywhere, whereas, the conventional objects and smart nodes with information readability from
practicing is the theoretical based, (ii) designing a novel LCLS the surroundings is the expression and the practical
module integrated by transistor, opto-coupler and TRIAC, implementation of IoT. Due to processing of these data, the
where no one considered this issue in such a way. The main sensors are able to send them to the cloud service without any
technique in designing LCLS is to store the present command interference of human being as well as can transfer them to
state that is received from MCU for operating a particular load. another device, called ‘machine-to-machine’
Although the load being ON, the MCU turns OFF without communication, if required through the internet [4]-[6].
effecting LCLS that remains at such state until the next
command is given. Because of the dead state of MCU, no more As people are connecting each aspect of life to the
power is absorbed resulting the less power consumptions internet, the number of IoT devices might be higher to the
regarding the proposed GIGM. In order to evaluate the near future. The power consumption of these device might be
proposed GIGM how does it work, a series of experiments was a significant amount. There is a point to be noted that some
conducted. In this regard, 5 loads were connected with GIGM. of the devices are consuming power without being utilized.
For clarifications, the total observations were made into three
ways: First, whenever the load was increased from 1 to 5
Particularly, among other devices, IoT gateway device is to
including MCU being ON, that is so-called the switching state facilitate the communication between the internet and the
the power consumptions moved from 1.1W to 1.2W excluding thing [7]. Thus, these gateway devices are consuming power
the load power consumptions. Second, when the dead state of for whole day but being useful for a little time in a day.
MCU being started in case of loaded condition, the power Researchers have been focusing on this problem to bring
consumption was constantly 1W, and Third, Power solution for the welfare of the humanity.
consumption was frequently 0.7W for no-loaded condition while
the dead state of MCU being started. In contrast, the power Authors of [8] delineated the structure of an energy
consumption issue in the literature is not clearly mentioned efficient framework that anticipates the load condition, and
anywhere. Thus, it can be said that, our proposed GIGM works controls the mode of operation, sleep and awake, depending
significantly well in terms of power consumptions as well as on the situation and the assumption. In [9], researchers
power savings in both loaded and no-loaded conditions suggested to power the IoT devices using renewable sources
comparing to the existing approaches. of energy which could be transmitted to the device by
wireless charging method. Arshad et al. [10] described the
Keywords— Green IoT Gateway, IoT, IoT Gateway, Load
Controlling Latch Switch. schemes to ameliorate the power demand of IoT devices by
techniques to be executed. The article also focused on the
I. INTRODUCTION current exercise of power consumption to make an upgraded
During the last couple of years, the frontier of internet has plan for shaping green IoT more efficient in future. However,
been extended beyond horizon because people are not only the study in [11] provides technical discussion over reliability
networking for social benefits, online applications, online issues regarding IoT infrastructure. Authors explained
bookings or online shopping but also controlling remote operation scheduling paradigms to achieve authentic and
devices via internet. In 1999, the term “Internet of Things” green IoT environment. The article [12] motivates green IoT
was introduced for the first time to the real world [1]. technology through explaining the benefits of it and describes
Afterwards, the vision of smart world came into picture with the challenges to reduce the power consumption of IoT
the explanation of an infrastructure that interconnects things, devices. The literature demands several developments in the
people and information in a single domain by admitting infrastructure of the conventional IoT network to make it
worldwide facilities through Internet of Things (IoT) [2]. The green. Authors of [13] stated the prior steps to be taken to

978-1-6654-3843-8/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE

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 achieve resource utilization for energy efficient IoT structure. mobile application through the internet and to pass the signal
The words express that the narrow band IoT is suitable than to the MCU. It also receives information from MCU to
other versions and each part of the network must be efficient update the database. In this project, the Firebase Realtime
to have a green infrastructure. Database is used for secured communication between client
and the household loads. An android application shown in
Ahmed et al. [14] explained that the IoT devices are
Fig. 2 controls the loads and gives information about the
consuming power all day long even they are not in service
status of the load whether it is on or off. When the application
for a particular portion of the day. He added that converting
is accessed, a cognitive signal is sent to the supply switch
IoT into Green IoT is a great challenge and that could be
through the Wi-Fi module which activates the MCU to
possible through software, hardware, routine algorithm, and
process further actions taken by the user and to update the
so on. A research in [15] proposed a model incorporates
database accordingly.
energy efficient scheme (on duty, pre-off duty, and off duty)
that ensures less power consumption by the IoT network. The
result shows that the power consumption of pre-off duty and
off duty does not differ so much. Another experiment [16]
was executed which ended up with a low cost configurable
smart gateway system that has flexibility for different
applications. The energy consumption of the device is not
discussed and there is a security challenge that reduces the
reliability. A recent research in [17] described the algorithm
that improves the efficiency of the gateway which is better
than that of relay energy efficiency-based method.
However, reducing day-long power consumption of the
gateway device significantly, the paper proposes a new green
IoT gateway module (GIGM) that has been designed and
implemented with a novel switching technique LCLS that has
never been exercised.
II. PROPOSED GIGM
The proposed model of the gateway module has a direct
current (DC) power supply unit, which is indicated as the DC
Supply in Fig. 1. The DC Supply unit supplies power with 5V Fig. 2: Mobile Application for the proposed GIGM.
output to Wi-Fi Module (exhibited as ESP01), Load
Controlling Latch Switch (LCLS), and a microcontroller unit The MCU is the mother part of the system which executes
(MCU) through a switch called Supply Switch. The Supply each command paid to the system by the user. It receives
Switch is a relay switch which turns on only when Wi-Fi information from Wi-Fi module and then execute the
module gives it a cognitive signal. If the cognitive signal is information through a special characterized load controlling
removed, the supply switch becomes dead until receiving the switch, introduced in this model, is named Load Controlling
next cognitive signal. Latch Switch (LCLS). After the execution of the command
given to the system, the MCU turns OFF without affecting
LCLS and remains at that state until the next command is
given. So, the MCU is programmed for the specific job and
the algorithm is provided below:
Initialize Microcontroller Unit = MCU
Load Controlling Latch Switch = LCLS
ESP01
Start
MCU is OFF
If (ESP01 = 1)
MCU is ON;
MCU gives updates to ESP01;
MCU receives Signal from ESP01;
MCU Processes received Signal;
MCU instructs LCLS;
MCU is OFF;

Else
MCU is OFF;
Fig. 1: System model of the Green IoT Gateway Module. End

The Wi-Fi module connects MCU to the internet. The

main function of the device is to receive signal from the

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 Eventually, the well-planned activation of the MCU can
save the unwanted power wastage. The specific operations of
the MCU are expressed by the flowchart given in the Fig. 3.

Fig. 4: Circuit diagram of Load Controlling Latch Switch module.

Afterwards, the exceptional operation occurs if Sin is

disconnected instantly because of the positive feedback
applied to the input of the Q1 from the output of the Q2
through a resistance R5. Thus, SW keeps the on state though
the Sin is simply disconnected but not ‘0’. If signal ‘0’ is
applied to Sin now, the feedback is reduced and the transistor
Q1 goes down that will make Q2 to shut off and SW will be
disconnected.
III. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
In order to evaluate the proposed GIGM how does it work;
a series of experiments was conducted. That is why, a
prototype GIGM model was implemented in hardware shown
in Fig. 5 with all the components it belongs.

Fig. 3: Flowchart diagram of the MCU. Supply

Wi-Fi Switch
A. Load Controlling Latch Switch (LCLS) Module
It is a load controlling switch which is commanded by the
MCU. The interesting feature of the switch is that it keeps the
present command state, even though the MCU is dead, before DC
the next command from the MCU. It actually acts like a latch Supply
Microcontroller

switch which results the name “Load Controlling Latch

Switch (LCLS)”. It takes power from the DC supply to
energize its internal components and ac power passes through
the AC Switch “SW” while the command is high from the
MCU.
The circuit shown in Fig. 4 is powered by 5 V and Q1 is
the NPN transistor which controls base signal of the PNP
LCLS

transistor Q2. An opto-coupler MOC3021 is connected in

series with Q2 that separates the AC domain and the DC
domain apart to avoid frequency disturbance. The AC switch
is indicated by SW in the right side of the circuit. An AC load
controlling switching device, BT 136 (TRIAC), is triggered
by the opto-coupler output. The opto-coupler get energized
from the transistor Q2 which depends on Q1 to be activated
by the input signal Sin.
Fig. 5: The Green IoT Gateway Module (GIGM).
When the input signal Sin is ‘0’ then Q1 gets off and the
Q2 is no more receiving biasing to be activate. This situation Unlike other IoT gateway devices, this one is unique with
makes the opto-coupler shuts off and there is no triggering its power consumption behavior. The power consumption
pulse in the gate of TRIAC that makes SW is disconnected. behavior is distinguished into four states:
If signal ‘1’ is applied to Sin then Q1 activates which further
State-I:
turns on Q2 and the opto-coupler is energized to trigger the
In this state, the MCU is dead along with all loads are OFF
TRIAC to make SW to turn ON.
(means all LCLSs are OFF) and Wi-Fi module is active only.

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 For that case the gateway device receives 0.14A current and the power consumption of State-III increases with growing
consumes 0.7W of power from the DC Supply. load numbers while the power consumption of State-IV
remains constant at 1W for the same load growth.
State-II:
When all LCLSs are OFF as well as MCU and Wi-Fi
module are consuming power. The current drawn from the
DC supply is 0.2A which yields the power consumption of
the device is 1W.
State-III
In case of State-III, all the LCLSs are ON along with
MCU and Wi-Fi module are active, the power consumption
of the gateway device is given in the table below.

TABLE I. POWER CONSUMPTION WITH VARIABLE LOADS

Number of Loads 1 2 3 4 5
Power (Watt) 1.1 1.15 1.175 1.19 1.2

State-IV:
In State-IV, any number of LCLS is ON but the MCU is
OFF as well as Wi-Fi module is active. During this state, the
gateway device draws 0.2A current from the DC supply and
consumes 1W of power regardless the number of loads Fig. 7: Power consumption curve with different number of loads for State-
III and State-IV.
connected.
A. Power Consumption Analysis It has been explained that the State-IV of the Gateway
continuous without the MCU functioning. That means the
No load is connected to the Gateway device during the
State-III consumes extra power because of the active MCU.
State-I and State-II. The State II is in general case of a
gateway device which constantly draws energy from the Now, the operation of this GIGM can be abridged in three
supply due to the MCU and the Wi-Fi module are active. In ways:
State I, the MCU is OFF and the power consumption is much
less than that of the State II. a. While the MCU is ON for switching operation in
State-III, the number of connected loads grows from
1 to 5 along with the incremental power consumption
of GIGM from 1.1W to 1.2W accordingly.
Afterwards, the MCU gets off and GIGM operates
on State-IV.
b. In loaded condition explained in State-IV, the MCU
is OFF, the GIGM absorbs 1W constantly for any
number of loads.
c. During the no load condition of GIGM described in
State-I, the power consumption is constant at 0.7W.
The aforementioned points can clarify that the GIGM
activates itself only for switching times and remains dead
otherwise, the Wi-Fi module takes small power during the
dead mode. Thus, the GIGM takes less power for operation
and saves the wastage of energy during the day in comparison
to existing paradigms.
IV. CONCLUSION
Fig. 6: Power consumption graph of State-I and State-II. In an IoT network, a gateway device plays important role
for connecting the things to the internet. But, these
From Fig. 6, it is shown that the State-I receives 30% less conventional gateway devices are power consuming and
power than State-II. The scenario expresses that having the inefficient. This paper introduces a new green IoT gateway
MCU dead when it is not needed with no load is connected module (GIGM) that consists of MCU, LCLS, and Wi-Fi
to the gateway can save 30% of the power consumption. module (see Fig. 5). There are two facts which make this
GIGM is unique among others are: (i) the hardware
On the other hand, the State-III has different
implementation of this GIGM is the first trial within the
characteristics, which depends on the number of loads.
common algorithm-based practices, (ii) an unparalleled
However, the gateway device is able to connect 5 loads, then
switching technique named LCLS (see Fig. 4) is adopted. The
the analysis defines the maximum power consumption of the
core play of this LCLS is to keep instruction given by the
gateway when 5 loads are connected. As the Fig. 7 depicts that
MCU for switching a load until the next one is received. When

uthorized licensed use limited to: NANJING UNIVERSITY OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS. Downloaded on September 13,2023 at 11:35:45 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions appl
 the load is ON, the MCU can turn OFF without influencing [15] S. F. Abedin, M. G. R. Alam, R. Haw and C. S. Hong, “A system model
LCLS to change the switching state. Thus, the load is not for energy efficient green-IoT network,” 2015 International
Conference on Information Networking (ICOIN), Cambodia, 2015,
affected by the dead MCU and the power consumption of pp. 177-182, doi: 10.1109/ICOIN.2015.7057878.
GIGM is reduced due to inactive MCU. However, number of [16] S. Guoqiang, C. Yanming, Z. Chao and Z. Yanxu, “Design and
experiments was done to evaluate the working principle of Implementation of a Smart IoT Gateway,” 2013 IEEE International
proposed GIGM where 5 loads were considered. Clarifying Conference on Green Computing and Communications and IEEE
the observations, the experiments were grouped into three Internet of Things and IEEE Cyber, Physical and Social Computing,
ways: (a) During the switching state with active MCU, the Beijing, 2013, pp. 720-723, doi: 10.1109/GreenCom-iThings-
CPSCom.2013.130.
number of loads was risen from 1 to 5 and that resulted the
[17] J. Chandroth, N. Saxena, A. Roy, and E. Rastogi, “A New Design and
power consumption of GIGM went from 1.1W to 1.2W (see Analysis of Power Saving for IoT Gateway,” IETE Technical Review,
Fig. 7) excluding load power, (b) Regardless the number of pp. 1–9, Feb. 2021.
loads connected, during the loaded condition and the MCU is
dead, the GIGM consumed 1W of power (see Fig. 7), and (c)
The power consumption remained constant at 0.7W (see Fig.
6) when no load is connected to GIGM and the MCU is OFF.
Besides, no literature has stated about the matter of power
consumption. Hence, in terms of power wastage and saving,
it can be concluded that the proposed GIGM performs well
under no load and full load conditions as compared to current
systems.

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