Universal Remote Control

S.L. Yadav*, V.P. Jain *, A.A. Asthana*, S. Salunkhe*

*University of Mumbai.

KEYWORDS: Infrared, Bluetooth, Central processing device 5. OBJECTIVE:

, EEPROM module , Arduino UNO ,
The objective of this project is to develop a functional Universal serial
ABSTRACT : remote control software or program that will make it possible for all
With most pieces of consumer electronics, from camcorders people to control any brand of their TV, DVD player, Satellite
to stereo equipment, an infrared remote control is usually receiver and other remote control based electrical appliances from
always included. Today we all are using mobile phones, and in their personal computer or notebook.
each mobile devices there is one common communication
media through which devices communicate and that common 6. MOTIVATION AND SCOPE:
platform media is Bluetooth Project is consisting of two main In today’s world many of us have different IR based devices like TV,
sections, which are as describe below Home Theatre, Projectors, DTH boxes, just to name a few.
A. Mobile Android application: A phone application which These devices are controlled wirelessly using different remote controls
help to transmit the signal through Mobile Bluetooth to the which are unique to them respectively.
main circuitry. For different devices the library of the remote
module of that device will be configure prior to use on it. The
library module is of devices can be easily obtain via use of
model number of that device.
B Central device: It will detect the signal transmitted by the
android mobile application, based on the type of signal it will
fetch the command and generate the IR signal, these IR signal
will control various electronic device which works on separate
remote. The source code and instructions is already be feed
into the memory used.

1. INTRODUCTION On an average a normal household/workspace has at least 3 remotes to

control their electronic devices according to the survey conducted by us
"IR" stands for infrared. Infrared light is invisible since its and if you like to keep up with the latest advances in technology, chances
frequency is below that of visible Otherwise, it is like any are you have at least one remote control per electronic devices.
other light source, operating under the same laws of physics. Each remote requires maintenance like battery replacement etc. that can
In most cases, the IR signals are produced by an LED source. add up to a lot of remote control batteries if you own several remotes.
TV remotes send commands only one way, in a low-speed Replacement of batteries can get to be quite expensive if they drain too
burst for distances of up to 30 feet. They use directed IR with quickly.
LEDs that have a moderate cone angle to improve ease-of-use Thus we felt a need to create a device which can single handedly controls
char acter istics. The IR signal sent out by those devices is all these devices with just a smartphone application along with it.
generally modulated to around 38 kHz carrier using But the main motivation behind this project is that, when we
amplitude shift keying (carrier on or off). The data rate send conducted our.
is generally in range of 100-2000 bps. There are some IR
systems which use other frequencies and other modulation
systems. Generally infrared remote controls are a 32-40 kHz
modulated square wave for communication. This square wave
is then send to IR transmitter (IR LED). The carried frequency
is amplitude modulated by the data, usually full on/off type
modulation. The data rate is typically in 50-1000 bit/s range
depending on the system used. Usually the transmitter part is
constructed so that the transmitter oscillator, which is driving
the infrared transmitter LED, can be turned on/off by applying
a TTL voltage on the modulation control input
2. CURRENT SCENARIO: 7. SURVEY:

Smartphones and tablets such as those running Nokia's Maemo A stupefying 82% people desired for a single remote control.
(N900), Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating system We can modify this project for the betterment of the product and to
can also be used as universal remote controls. A number of increase its usability and efficiency. We can add voice control to control
devices from vendors such as Samsung, LG and Nokia include the application and also use it as authentication for access of the
a built-in IR port that can be used as a remote, while others application. We can further reduce the overall area used by the hardware
require a physical attachment, or 'dongle', be connected on to by making it more compact using latest design technologies.
the phone when used as a remote. The dongle is required to Further we can also operate the application with gesture controls
convert the electrical control signals from the phone into infra- Using the motion sensor in the smartphone.
red signals that are required by most home audio visual
components for remote control. However it is also possible to
implement a system that does not require a dongle. Such 8. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM:
systems use a stand-alone piece of hardware called a 'gateway',
which receives the electrical control signals from the Our proposed system is a universal remote control that will operate via
smartphone in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi form and forward them on in Bluetooth using smartphone application. Basically, t h e G r a p h i c a l
infra-red form to the components to be controlled. There are U s e r I n t e r f a c e (GUI) for the Universal Remote Control program
multiple universal remote apps available for Android. One of which is going to be develop by using android studio. The circuits will
the first apps available to use the IR port was IR Universal be constructed from two modules i.e. one to capture the signal and
Remote. It was released by Wave Spark in early 2013. The provide timing functions, and the second as transmitter placed
application is still available in The Google Play Store today. If somewhere near the target equipment. The hardware will be
you have a device with a built in IR Blaster then you can interfaced to smartphone application on the communication port .The
download it to use as a universal remote replacement. The remote can be operated on any standard TV, DVD player, satellite
developer Wave Spark has recently updated the application receiver and air-conditioner, operated over a range of 15 feet which
interface and re-released an IR Only Version. will be easy to use, and also reliable.

3. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: 9. DESIGN PHASE: BLOCK DIAGRAM AND FLOWCHART.

1) Arduino IDE for developing the program

BLOCK DIAGRAM:
for microcontroller.
2) Android Studio for developing the
3) Smartphone application.
4) Arduino Nano Microcontroller.
5) Infrared Transmitters.
6) Bluetooth Module.
7) Interfacing ATmega328P with Peripherals.
8) Knowledge of Embedded C and Java.

4. PROBLEM DEFINATION:

The use of remote control to operate wireless device has become

an integral part of our life. Due to advancement in technology in
embedded systems and availability of various machines to our
comfort, there was a need felt for a smart remote control which
could single handedly control the IR based device present,
thereby reducing the need of multiple
PROBLEM DEFINATION STAGE’S:
FLOW CHART:
The use of remote control to operate wireless device has become
an integral part of our life. Due to advancement in technology in
embedded systems and availability of various machines to our
comfort, there was a need felt for a smart remote control which
could single handedly control the IR based device present,
thereby reducing the need of multiple Remote controls, Energy
consumption and E-wastage.

DESIGNING BLOCK DIAGRAM:

The designing of the block diagram plays a very important role
as it visually describes the system as a whole displaying the
significant elements of the system. The diagram below is the
block diagram of the project.

IMPLEMENTING CIRCUITS AND COMPONENTS:

This is the actual implementation of each block. At this

Stage we have designed each block separately and
Finally integrated them into the complete working system.
10. APPLICATIONS AND ADVANTAGES:

DEVELOPING FLOWCHART AND SOFTWARE: 1. Eliminate use of remotes for every devices
2. Pencil cell use will be completely eliminated.
To get the logical flow of the software the development 3. Bluetooth Devices have a range of Upto 100 feet
Of flowchart is having a prominent role. So we have 4. Central device is smaller in size and light weight.
5. By the realization if the above proposed system we can
to analyses the complete system and organize the flowchart Eliminate the use of remotes for every devices.
in such a manner that one can understand the It make use of mobile as mode of communication with
All the devices and so traditional remote is replace
Complete working of the software. With mobile phone.

WRITING ACTUAL CODE FOR 11. CONCLUSION AND REFERENCES:

MICROCONTROLLER: CONCLUSION:

After the development of the algorithm and flowchart we The main purpose of making this project is to develop such a system
have actually translated them in C language for Arduino which will provide to eliminate use remotes of every devices. In
designing this project we learn various aspects involved in Arduino and
Nano microcontroller so that it can understand the instruction java programming and about the entire system. It also involved analysis
and run as per our requirement. The instructions are in and study of IR sensors and how to maintain a protocol in order to control
devices. Thus, in this work we proposed to design a project named
Embedded C language. Universal Remote control which will help a student understand the output
DESIGNING THE ANDROID APPLICATION: of a device which he can use in practical applications.

The working mechanism of the application was finalized and REFERENCES:

the algorithms were implemented in Java language using
1. “Applications for Android Smartphones and Tablets using
Android libraries on the Android Studio platform. The UI of Arduino Bluetooth IR”. By link
the application was designed along with media resources www.superir.net/Arduino_Bluetooth_Remote.

required for the same. 2. IEEE paper subject,” Wireless Infrared Remote Controller for
Multiple Home Appliances” published by Santosh .M. Nejkar at
International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research (IJEER)
in 2014