7st International Seminar of Research Month 2022

Volume 2023
http://dx.doi.org/10.11594/nstp.2023.3325

Conference Paper

On/Off Temperature Monitoring and Control via the Internet of Things

Using iTCLab Kit

Basuki Rahmat *, Minto Waluyo, Tuhu Agung Rachmanto

Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Jawa Timur, Surabaya 60294, Indonesia

*Corresponding author: ABSTRACT

E-mail:
[email protected] With the Internet of Things (IoT) gradually evolving as the next phase of the
Internet's evolution, it becomes important to recognize the various potential
domains for IoT deployments, and research challenges especially those
related to monitoring and control applications in industry. This paper shows
how to program a simple On/Off temperature control system via IoT using
Arduino and the iTCLab Kit. Meanwhile, for monitoring and controlling
temperature via cellphone, the IoT MQTT Panel is used. The experimental
results show that the control system has worked well. This is indicated by
controlling and monitoring the results of temperature control via cell phone
as expected.

Keywords: Control, monitoring, IoT, iTCLab, Kit, On/Off

Introduction
The Internet of Things (IoT) is often described as an area where billions of smart objects
appear that are interconnected with each other using the Internet as a means of sharing data and
resources (Chahal et al., 2020). With this technology, it is possible to remotely turn on and off
appliances at homes such as lights, televisions, stoves, heaters, doors, windows, Air Conditioners,
and others, as long as the equipment is connected to the internet and a web broker. With the
presence of this technology, it is possible to monitor and control remotely. Including monitoring
and controlling remotely using a simple control technique, namely on/off the controller. Although
the control technique is simple if it can be done remotely, making this control system is still quite
interesting and challenging to do research and development. Because it usually starts with a
simple control technique, it can then be replaced with a higher control strategy.
The application of the on/off controller, although simple, still inspires a lot of research,
including how to implement an HVAC on/off the controller in EnergyPlus to simulate the energy
of small residential and commercial buildings (Cetin et al., 2019). Research on how to simulate an
on-off controller for Second Order System using LabVIEW (Uriča & Simonová, 2017). Research on
how to analyze the effect of band-off settings and on/off controller set-points on energy
consumption and switching frequency of equipment from HVAC systems in housing (Afram &
Janabi-Sharifi, 2016). Research on how to compare fuzzy controllers and on/off controllers for
indoor climate management during winter in a model poultry house (Mirzaee-Ghaleh et al., 2015).
Included in this research, a simple remote on/off control technique is proposed, which is applied
to the Internet-Based Temperature Control Lab (iTCLab) Kit.
The iTCLab kit developed by the State Defense Campus of the Universitas Pembangunan
Nasional “Veteran” Jawa Timur Indonesia (https://www.upnjatim.ac.id), was originally inspired
by the development of the Temperature Control Lab Kit (TCLab), which was developed by
Brigham Young University. One of the private campuses in Provo, Utah United States (BYU, 2018).

How to cite:
Rahmat, B., Waluyo, M., & Rachmanto, T. A. (2023). On/off temperature monitoring and control via the internet of
things using iTCLab Kit. 7st International Seminar of Research Month 2022. NST Proceedings. pages 147-152. doi:
10.11594/ nstp.2023.3325
 7st ISRM 2022

TCLab is a temperature control lab that can be used for feedback control applications built using
Arduino, LEDs, two heaters, and two temperature sensors. The heater power output is adjusted to
maintain the desired temperature setpoint. Thermal energy from the heater is transferred by
conduction, convection, and radiation to the temperature sensor. Heat is also transferred from the
device to the environment (BYU, 2018). The main difference between iTClab and TCLab is that the
Arduino UNO microcontroller is replaced with the ESP32 so that this kit can connect to the
Internet of Things (IoT). An overview of iTCLab is shown in Figure 1.
Both iTCLab and TCLab kits can be used to learn Control Systems, System Dynamics, Arduino
and Python programming, Machine Learning programming, and others. Several studies on TCLab
applications include the introduction of digital controllers for undergraduate students using the
Arduino TCLab Kit (de Moura Oliveira et al., 2020). Another research on TCLab is how to
benchmark the temperature controller used for dynamics and process control (Park et al., 2020).
Another research on TCLab is how to evaluate and demonstrate laboratory equipment that can be
taken home (Rossiter et al., 2019). Another research on TCLab is how to experiment with
APMonitor Lab Temperature PID Control for Undergraduate Students (Oliveira & Hedengren,
2019). Furthermore, what TCLab can do, should be proven in the future, that it can also be done
by iTCLab.

Figure 1. Internet-Based Temperature Control Lab (iTCLab) Kit

Material and Methods

The basic system of an Internet of Things (IoT) based application with the Message Queuing
Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol consists of at least 4 main components, namely
Hardware/physical (Things) in this case the iTCLab device, internet connection, Cloud data center
as a place to connect, save or run applications as MQTT Brokers, and IoT MQTT Panels to monitor
and control remotely via mobile phones. The proposed system architecture is shown in Figure 2.
The MQTT broker, which is at the core of the MQTT Publish/Subscribe protocol, is a server
that receives all messages from the MQTT client and then routes the messages to the appropriate
subscribed clients. The MQTT broker used in this study is a free online public MQTT broker from
HiveMQ. Meanwhile, the IoT MQTT Panel is an application that allows for the management and
visualization of IoT projects, based on the MQTT protocol. With this application, an IoT-based
iTCLab On/Off Kit control system project can be created.
From the system architecture in Figure 2, to run as desired, a program using the Arduino
programming language is first made. The program contains temperature data retrieval. Equipped
with a way of connecting to IoT. The program is embedded in the iTCLab Kit. When run, if the
settings are correct, it will successfully connect to the MQTT Broker. Next, settings are made

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according to the topic created, on the IoT MQTT Panel. If it is appropriate, monitoring and
controlling on/off via cellphone can be carried out.

Figure 2. The Architecture of on/off temperature monitoring and control system using the internet of things

From the system architecture in Figure 2, to run as desired, a program using the Arduino
programming language is first made. The program contains temperature data retrieval. Equipped
with a way of connecting to IoT. The program is embedded in the iTCLab Kit. When run, if the
settings are correct, it will successfully connect to the MQTT Broker. Next, settings are made
according to the topic created, on the IoT MQTT Panel. If it is appropriate, monitoring and
controlling on/off via cellphone can be carried out.

Results and Discussion

The testing programming and setting on the iTCLab Kit are shown in Figure 3. Through the
serial monitor on the PC, it can be seen the temperature readings from the iTCLab Kit. Some
important program snippets include the following command line:

// Connect to WiFi network

Serial.print("Connecting to ");
Serial.println(ssid);
WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println("WiFi connected");

// Connect to Server IoT (CloudMQTT)

client.setServer(mqttServer, mqttPort);
client.setCallback(receivedCallback);
while (!client.connected()) {
Serial.println("Connecting to CLoud IoT ...");

if (client.connect("iTCLab Suhu On/Off")) {

Serial.println("connected");
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Serial.print("Message received: ");

} else {
Serial.print("failed with state ");
Serial.print(client.state());
delay(2000);
}
client.subscribe("heater1");
client.subscribe("heater2");
}
}

Figure 3. System testing using the iTCLab Kit

Next, settings are made according to the topic created, on the IoT MQTT Panel. The selection
of the panel used, and the settings that must be made on the IoT MQTT Panel, are shown in Figures
4 to Figure 6. If the settings are appropriate, On/Off monitoring and control via Mobile Phones can
be carried out. In this experiment, an example of the results of On/Off temperature monitoring
and control is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 4. Panels used in IoT MQTT Panel

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Figure 5. Connection settings in IoT MQTT Panel

Figure 6. Setting Topics in IoT MQTT Panel

Figure 7. Experimental results on the IoT MQTT Panel

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From the experimental results in Figure 7, it can be seen that the IoT MQTT Panel has been
successfully connected to the MQTT Broker. This means that the program and settings on the
iTCLab Kit are correct. The reading of the temperature sensor from sensor 1 and sensor 2 has also
been successful. It looks like the reading is a few degrees Celsius. Then it remains only to increase
and decrease the temperature, by turning the heater On/Off. This test has also been successful. It
can be seen that there is a difference in the temperature readings of each sensor. This is caused by
the different On/Off heating control when the button is pressed.

Conclusion
From the experimental results, it can be shown that the iTCLab Kit can be used as a device for
On/Off temperature monitoring and control testing via the Internet of Things (IoT). The On/Off
temperature monitoring and control program was created and embedded in the iTCLab Kit.
Furthermore, management and arrangements for monitoring and controlling mobile are made
using the IoT MQTT Panel. The experimental results show that the control system has worked
well. This is indicated by the results of monitoring and controlling on/off via mobile as expected.

Acknowledgment
This work was financially supported by the Directorate of Resources of the Directorate
General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology
through the Multi-Year Research Contract for the Leading Higher Education Applied Research
Program Number: 09/UN63.8/LT-Kontrak/III/2022, March 16, 2022.

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