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Internet of Things Based Digital Lock System

Article in Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience · September 2018

DOI: 10.1166/jctn.2018.7535

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 Copyright © 2018 American Scientific Publishers Journal of
All rights reserved Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience
Printed in the United States of America Vol. 15, 1–6, 2018

Internet of Things Based Digital Lock System

S. Sankar1 ∗ and P. Srinivasan2
1
Research Scholar, School of Computer Science and Engineering, VIT University, Vellore 632014, Tamilnadu, India
2
School of Information Technology and Engineering, VIT University, Vellore 632014, Tamilnadu, India

Nowadays, there is a drastic increase of corporate, startup companies and apartment houses, due
to the smart city project, business and huge population in cities. The digital lock system plays
a significant role, to provide the security and reduce the manpower in smart home and building
automation scenario. The proposed system implements the digital lock system using Internet of
Things (IoT), to provide the security for an authorized and a guest user. If the person is an autho-
rized, and their details (password and biometric thump impression) are already stored in a local
database or cloud storage. Whenever the person wants to enter/leave the home or office, they need
to enter the text password or thumb impression, and the door will be open automatically. If the per-
son may be a guest, they need to enter the guest option in the hardware device. It will capture the
image and it will send the details to an authorized person like admin, owner through the internet.
The admin or owner can see their details through mobile application or E-Mail. Once, they will give
the approval to the digital lock system, and it will be open/close the door automatically.
Keywords: Smart Lock, Digital Lock, Internet of Things, Cloud Storage.

1. INTRODUCTION Zigbee, etc. The edge router or IoT Gateway collects the

RESEARCH ARTICLE
IoT is a collection of sensor and actuator enabled phys- data from the sensor through the wireless communica-
ical devices connected to the internet, that’s able to tion device, and it is forwarded the data to cloud storage.
exchange the data between them without the person’s The user can access the data from cloud storage through
involvement.1 2 The combination of emerging technolo- internet.5 6
gies such as Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Big Data, Figure 2 shows that the Block diagram of IoT sensor
Cloud Computing, ubiquitous computing and the Internet node. The node consists of the processor, power supply,
is transforming the physical object into smart objects. The memory, transceiver and sensors. The processor can use
smart objects able to learn and understand the environment either microcontroller or microprocessor. The RAM size is
by itself and take the decision accordingly. IoT enabling in terms of kilobytes. The power supply ranges from 3.3 V
technologies are allowed, to establish the communica- to 5 V. The transceiver is mostly used in 2.4 GHZ.7 8
tion between physical devices. IoT enabling technologies In Ref. [2] and Gartner Inc. says that 8.6 billion devices
are WSN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Near are expected to connect to the internet from 2014 and
Field Communication (NFC), Quick Response Code, Blue- 2021. From the year 2016 to till date, 31 percentages of
tooth Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, Z-wave and Zigbee. The devices are increased to communicate on the internet. In
most popular IoT applications are smart city, smart home, the year 2014, only 0.5 billion of devices connected to the
internet. In the year 2015, the number of devices connected
smart health, logistics, smart agriculture, smart Grid, sup-
to the internet is 0.6 billion. Likewise, the upcoming years,
ply management chain, etc.3 4
we are expected more devices connected to the internet.
Figure 1 shows that general architecture of IoT. It com-
Figure 3 shows that machine to machine communication
prises of three parts namely sensor, storage and appli-
from 2014 to 2021.9
cation. In sensor part, the sensor nodes are deployed
Nowadays, the digital lock system mainly used for the
based on the application requirement, and it is attached
application of smart home and home automation. However,
to the wireless communication device. We use the sen-
some occasion we need to share the security key to our
sors temperature, webcam, light sensor and it is connected relation or guest in the smart home or building automa-
to the wireless communication devices namely Bluetooth, tion. The proposed system introduces the technique to rec-
tify the limitations. Nowadays, technology is a part of our
∗
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. human life that enables to improve our lifestyle.10 11

J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 2018, Vol. 15, No. xx 1546-1955/2018/15/001/006 doi:10.1166/jctn.2018.7535 1

 Internet of Things Based Digital Lock System Sankar and Srinivasan

2. RELATED WORK
Anuradha et al.10 implemented an optimized door lock-
ing and unlocking system for physically challenged
people. This work is implemented using Arduino Yun
microcontroller. The primary objective of this work, the
physically challenged person, can lock and unlock the door
through the mobile application. In this system, the signif-
icant components are Wi-Fi, Arduino microcontroller and
servo motor.
In Ref. [12] presented a digital door lock using IoT.
It is used to improve the security and usability. The per-
son appears in front of the door; this system captured the
image and sent it to the admin. When the unauthorized
tries to enter the home, this system enabled the security
function and sent the alert to admin and additionally locks
the door automatically.
Fig. 1. General architecture of internet of things. Rishabh Kumar Gupta et al.13 implemented an IoT
based door entry system. It is used to control the home
and office door remotely. This system has one option for
The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes guest monitoring. The person needs to press that option.
the related work. Section 3 presents the problem statement. It enabled the camera; speaker and it captured the image.
Section 4 presents the proposed system. Section 5 repre- It sends to the admin and the door will be open based on
sents the results and discussion and final section is the the admin or owner decision.
conclusion of this work. In Ref. [14] proposed a security-based smart home sys-
tem using fingerprint. In smart home system, most of them
usually follow the fingerprint and security pattern, for pro-
viding the security. In this system, the admin or owner
can recognize the person identity through finger print. It
RESEARCH ARTICLE

is implemented using Raspberry Pi2 and it is tested in the

different environment. It is provided more security than
existing smart home based security system.
Shia Kumar15 proposed a smart home system using
mobile application. This system aims to provide the flex-
ible and low cost of the system, for the user. In this
system, it is integrated with Arduino microcontroller, Eth-
ernet, Switches, temperature sensors, gas sensors, intrusion
detection sensors and humidity sensor. Finally, the alert
sends to the admin or owner. This system is implemented
and tested in the different environment. It is provided more
flexible than other smart home systems.
Neethu Gupta et al. implemented IoT based door lock-
Fig. 2. Block diagram of IoT sensor node.
ing system. This system consists of the following com-
ponents are mobile and door. The sensor embedded with
3.5 door and generated data about door information stored it
M2M connection in billions

3
in cloud storage. The authorized person can view and con-
trol the door from anywhere the world through mobile
2.5
application.16
2
Mohammad Nasimuzzaman Chowdhury et al.17 pro-
1.5
posed an access control mechanism for the smart home
1
system. The visitor wants to enter the home, and they
0.5 need to send the information to authorized person through
0 E-mail or Twitter. If the authorized person wants to see
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
their image, the camera is activated and captures the
Year
image, and it is sent automatically to allow person. Finally,
Fig. 3. Machine to machine communication from 2014 to 2021. the door will be open accordingly.

2 J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 15, 1–6, 2018

Sankar and Srinivasan Internet of Things Based Digital Lock System

Shweta Chanda et al.18 implemented a digital code lock Remote Monitoring

system. This work mainly concentrated on security. If the
person entered the correct password, the lock released oth- Mobile Application E-Mail
erwise closed. This work is implemented using Arduino
microcontroller and tested using proteus simulation tool.
Annie P. Oommen et al.19 implemented a digital code Internet
lock system. This work aims to provide the security in the and Cloud
restricted area. Security is a significant concern in day-to- Storage
day life. In this system, it is considered the hardware com-
ponents are ATmega 8-bit microcontroller, buzzer, push
type keypad. When the person wants to enter into the Home Environment
restricted area, they want to enter the password. The sys-
Application Gateway
tem is compared with the database and the door will open
automatically.
In Ref. [20] proposed a wireless sensor network (WSN) Router
based digital lock system for smart home system. The dig-
ital lock system contains the combination of password and
Arduino Yun Micro Controller
digital key. It includes the modules namely, Zigbee mod-
ule, the human detection module and Zigbee relay module.
The digital lock module is used to attach the locking sys- Door embedded with Biometric Device and
tem. Zigbee module is the interface between WSN nodes. Keypad and Web camera
It is implemented in real-time, and it is provided with the
services between the mobile application and smart home Fig. 4. Proposed system architecture.
system.

web camera attached to the door. These things connected

3. PROBLEM STATEMENT to the Arduino Yun microcontroller. The Arduino Yun
Most of the people always in the urgency situation. This is microcontroller captured the images from the web cam-
probably inflicting the issues inclusive of forgetting to lock era. The captured image sends to cloud storage. From the

RESEARCH ARTICLE
the door in their home. sometimes, they may lose the key remote monitoring phase, we can see the person, who is
of the door. Apart from that, there may be less protection standing in front of the door through mobile application
on the door lock which the burglar can break the door. and E-Mail.

4. PROPOSED SYSTEM 4.2. Proposed System Work Flow

The proposed system proposes the high usability and reli- Figure 5 show that the proposed system workflow. When-
able digital lock system using IoT. The digital lock con- ever the person wants to enter the home, they need to enter
tains the keypad for text password entry and biometric the password. If it matches with the database, the door will
scanner for thumb impression. It connected to the local be open automatically. Otherwise, the system has captured
database or cloud storage. The digital lock embedded with the image, and it sends to the admin. Finally, they verify
home or office door. Whenever the person wants to enter the image and approve, for opening the door in home or
inside/outside the home or office, they need to enter the office.
text password or biometric thumb impression. The per-
son is authorized, and their details are already stored in 4.3. Proposed Methodology
a database or cloud storage. If the person is a guest, the Whenever the guest or authorized user wants to enter the
proposed system already enabled one option as a guest, home or office, they want to press the push button. Our
they need to click that option, and then the system auto- system activates the speaker and gives the voice informa-
matically captures the image and sends it to the admin or tion to the user. If the person is an authorized user, they
owner. They can view their details through mobile applica- need to provide the password, and it is compared with the
tion or E-mail. Finally, the authorized person will approve database. If it matches the current entry with the database,
and opens the door accordingly. the door lock will release automatically; otherwise, it gives
the voice alert to the person.
4.1. System Architecture If the person enters the guest option, the system acti-
The proposed system architecture consists of four phases vated the web camera and captured the image through
namely, user mode, smart home environment, storage and Arduino Yun microcontroller, and it is stored in the local
remote monitoring. In the smart home environment, the database or cloud storage (ThingSpeak). In monitoring

J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 15, 1–6, 2018 3

 Internet of Things Based Digital Lock System Sankar and Srinivasan

Start respective the admin or owner. They can view their details
through mobile application or E-mail. The admin or owner
needs to give the approval based on that open the door
User enters the biometric thumb accordingly.
impression or text password

4.3.2. Home Environment

i. Input Hardware Device
Yes No In Digital lock system, we use the input hardware
Valid devices namely, thumb scanner, keypad and web camera.
User?
We use generic GNRC17 thumb joystick module as thumb
Door Open
scanner, keypad 4 × 4 for text password and webcam for
Automatically capturing the image.
User enters the Guest
option ii. Microcontroller
In our system, we use the Arduino Yun microcontroller
and it is connected to input hardware devices. Arduino Yun
Capture the image and is a microcontroller and it contains Ethernet shield, Wi-Fi
Voice send to authorized
Person shield, SD card, USB port, 20 digital pins. The microcon-
troller operating power is 5 V.

Yes No 4.3.3. Storage

Acept
or In digital lock system, we can use a local database or cloud
not? storage, for collecting the text password details, thumb
Door Open impression and person image. The local database MySQL
Automatically
Not open the Door connects with Arduino Yun, and we can perform the store
and comparison operation. The alternative option, we can
use ThingSpeak with Arduino Yun microcontroller. We
Fig. 5. Proposed system work flow. install the ThingSpeak communication library for estab-
RESEARCH ARTICLE

lishing the communication. Later, we create the channel

phase, the admin or owner can see the person, who is and perform the read and write operation using API keys.
standing in front the door through mobile application or
E-mail. Then, they can approve, and the door will be work 4.3.4. Remote Monitoring
accordingly. In our smart door lock system, it consists of In remote monitoring phase, we can monitor the person,
4 phases namely, user mode, home environment, storage who is standing in front of the door. It can be performed
and remote monitoring. in two ways i. mobile application. ii. E-mail.
i. Mobile Application
4.3.1. User Mode In our home or office, we can monitor the door, through
i. Authorized User the mobile application. We developed an android appli-
If the person wants to enter inside or outside the home cation, and the digital lock entries are retrieved from
or office, they need to register their details already. The ThingSpeak through JSON code. Each last entry values
personal information such as thumb impression, text pass- are updated into the mobile app. The admin or owner can
word, and biodata details are stored in the local database approve, to open the door. Then, the digital lock system
or cloud storage. The proposed system implements the will be work accordingly.
digital lock system in both local database and cloud stor- ii. E-mail
age. We have used the MySQL as a local database and In digital lock system, we can monitor the door, through
ThinkSpeak for public cloud storage. Whenever the per- E-mail. Initially, we need to configure the ThingSpeak and
son wants to enter inside/outside the home, they need to Email through ThingSpeak channel information automatic
enter their password or the thumb impression. The system email platform. It is provided in the website www.ifttt.com.
checks with the database. The person is authorized, and Here, we create an account and configure the ThingSpeak
then the door will be opened automatically. channel and each entry is updated in email.
ii. Guest User
The proposed system mainly concentrates on the guest
user. If the guest wants to enter the home or office, they 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
need to enter the guest option. It captures the image The proposed system is implemented the digital lock sys-
and enables the voice message option and it send it to tem and tested in the different environment. It works well

4 J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 15, 1–6, 2018

Sankar and Srinivasan Internet of Things Based Digital Lock System

Fig. 6. The proposed system hardware setup.

Fig. 9. Guest alert through E-mail.

authorized details are already stored in local database or

cloud storage. The keypad and biometric scanner setup are
shown in Figure 7.
ii. Guest User
The guest wants to enter into the home or office. They
need to select the guest option. The digital system auto-
matically captures the image and sends it to respective
admin or owner through mobile application or E-mail.
Figure 8 shows that guest alert through mobile application
Fig. 7. Keypad and biometric scanner. and Figure 9 shows that guest alert through E-mail.

RESEARCH ARTICLE
in all the cases. Figure 6 shows that the proposed system 6. CONCLUSION
hardware setup. The proposed system enhanced the usability and high reli-
i. Authorized User ability of the digital lock system using IoT. The digital
Whenever the person wants to enter inside/outside, lock system plays a significant role, to provide the secu-
they need to enter password or thumb impression. The rity and reduce the human resources in the smart home
and building automation scenario. The proposed method
is implemented the digital lock system, to ensure the
safety, for an authorized and the guest user. We tested
the security aspects in the different environment. It is
reduced the human manpower, and also it is provided
more security, for the smart home and building automation
applications.

References
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Received: 28 August 2018. Accepted: 11 September 2018.

RESEARCH ARTICLE

6 J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 15, 1–6, 2018

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