Statement of the Problem

Background:

In the past, there had been many keyless entry solutions that have been developed to eliminate the hassling task of toting a key around or making the key a more convenient tool to use.  These various solutions range from card scanners, retina scanners, fingerprint identification, and combination locks.  Even though these solutions are unique and some even use state of the art technology, they can be very costly and presenting a key to a reader or scanner can be a hassle when range of motion is limited.  

Intelock will be a new keyless entry system that will be added to the family of solutions all ready out there.  Its unique characteristics of low cost, low power and reliability will separate itself from the other solutions on the market.  With Intelock, the user will never have to take their identification key out of their pocket or purses in order to gain access into an entry way. 

The Design:

The Intelock system will consist of a base station (coordinator), a unique identity user key, an electronic deadbolt, and a doorknob trigger.  The base station is a small unit that will be powered by a traditional AC outlet and will be placed in a discrete part of the home.  The role of the base station is to set up Intelock’s personal area network (PAN) which will be responsible for controlling the keyless system.  When setting up the PAN, the base station will look for wireless devices within range, and will recognize only those devices that have already been given access to the base station’s PAN.  These wireless devices include the electronic deadbolt, the doorknob trigger, and at least one (depending on the number of keys needed within the household) unique identity user key. 

The doorknob trigger is responsible for telling the base station whether or not to lock or unlock the electronic deadbolt in order to let the homeowner into their home.  To access the trigger commands, a homeowner can simply turn their doorknob either to the left or to the right.  A turn to the left will send a lock command to the base station and a turn to the right will send an unlock command. 

Upon receiving a lock or an unlock command from the doorknob trigger, the base station will then check to see if a unique identity user key is within range. If the key is within range and has permission to the join the base station’s PAN, the base station will send the respective command to the electronic deadbolt thus unlocking or locking the deadbolt. 

Intelock will also implement a solution to access the homeowner’s base station from a remote location through the use of a ZigBee USB dongle connected to a home computer (with internet access) and custom server based software.  The dongle will create another wireless device which can talk to the home base station and deliver it a lock or unlock command via the web.  The homeowner can access the server software from any remote location with internet access and send lock or unlock commands back to their home.  For example, let’s say you are at work and your children are locked out of the house.  All you would have to do is log onto a special server from work (provided that you have the correct password and username) and send the appropriate command back to your home to let the keyless system know that you want to unlock your front door.  Simple isn’t it? 

The project will be based on Atmel’s embedded processor ZigBee development kit which also integrates Atmel’s own transceivers.  All custom software will be written in C/C++.

Project Deliverables:

A prototype of the keyless entry system will be delivered.  The ZigBee technology will be integrated within a scaled down model of a physical home door to show how the system will actually be used.  In addition, the server based software will run on a laptop to demonstrate remote access capabilities.