We developed a smart home automation system. The system is developed based on a real-time Linux-based custom operating system (SHERIF LINUX) and was tested initially with the raspberry pi zero w device. The architecture of the system consists of 3 parts :
1. Cron Manager: This is the software that processes different jobs. Each job has a certain time, it can repeat, daily, weekly, or yearly similar to the known Linux Cron Job. However one of the major differences is that it supports the Hijri calendar in addition to the Gregorian calendar. Nevertheless, there is a wireless internet connection, by which the system can be adjusted to fix the Hijri calculations according to the latest local governmental adjustments. The jobs have special syntax and are stored in a small and lite database. The cron manager was written from scratch.
2. Communication Regulator: This is a middleware that regulates an encrypted Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communication channel between mobile devices and the Linux system. Log, jobs, settings, and amendments are all data transferred through the communication regulator. The data is packaged and compressed then encrypted and transmitted. The communication regulator writes data directly into the local database. Changes take place over midnight. It uses a full-duplex communication channel.
3. Mobile App: This is a mobile application for iOS devices that communicate over Bluetooth low energy with the regulator, to take user inputs, send the settings and deliver the regulator output (e.g. Logs)