Learn, Implement and Share

PROBLEM STATEMENT for Smart Dustbin

There are millions of public dustbin out there that people use and are emptied in a few days by the public authorities. Now the problem is not all dustbins are filled at the same rate and the dump vehicle waste time checking each and every dustbin. This leads to more fuel usage, labour and cost. The solution is a smart dustbin.

SOLUTION

IOT of smart dustbin can solve this issue by tracking the amount of garbage inside the bins and thus can be easily geotagged and the dump vehicle can plan its path around the city in a more optimised way to save time and fuel cost. The dump vehicle can decide which smart dustbins to clear first and whom to clear next time. This can be a smart city project.

The project involved an Arduino Nano with ESP8266 to talk to the internet and an Ultrasonic sensor to measure the depth of the garbage in the smart dustbin.

The system updates the server every 3 seconds and the user can track the quantity of garbage in the bins.

ELECTRONICS AND PARTS

  • Arduino Nano
  • ESP8266
  • HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor
  • 9v Battery
  • 3.3v Regulator
  • Wires
  • Plastic Bin
  • Wood / similar material for mounting the sensor

CONSTRUCTION AND IMPLEMENTATION

From the gallery below you could easily see it is an easy construction with a mounting for the Ultrasonic Sensor and the Arduino and ESP8266. A small 9v battery could also be seen stuck to one side of the bin. Though this project looks so easy to implement and deploy but in real life when this is made into a product and need to be deployed we have to take care of 100s of quality standards and performance metrics. In real life, this should be the most power efficient so that battery power lasts longer. In some places, there will not be any wi-fi available and thus alternate connectivity should also be made available. Accuracy and reliability is also an important parameter to consider.

The ESP8266 connects with a preprogrammed Wi-Fi SSID and starts polling the Ultrasonic Sensor, measures the depth and uploads it to the cloud.

I haven’t implemented any boundary conditions and fault tolerances in the code. This code is just good for POC and not for a product.

GALLERY

CODE

Download Code From >>

 https://github.com/arnabdasbwn/ESP8266-Arduino-Smart-Dustbin
#include <NewPing.h>

#define TRIGGER_PIN 12 // Arduino pin tied to trigger pin on the ultrasonic sensor.
#define ECHO_PIN 11 // Arduino pin tied to echo pin on the ultrasonic sensor.
#define MAX_DISTANCE 50 // Maximum distance we want to ping for (in centimeters). Maximum sensor distance is rated at 400-500cm.

NewPing sonar(TRIGGER_PIN, ECHO_PIN, MAX_DISTANCE); // NewPing setup of pins and maximum distance.

//*-- IoT Information
#define SSID "CrazyEngineer"
#define PASS "www.ArnabKumarDas.com"
#define IP "184.106.153.149" // ThingSpeak IP Address: 184.106.153.149

// GET /update?key=[THINGSPEAK_KEY]&field1=[data 1]&field2=[data 2]...;
String GET = "GET /update?key=VYJGZSHIYR7SMTX9"; // You have to get your key from the website
int prev = 0;
void setup() {
Serial.begin( _baudrate );

sendDebug("AT");
delay(5000);

if (Serial.find("OK"))
{
debug.println("RECEIVED: OK\nData ready to sent!");
connectWiFi();
}

}

void loop()
{
int dat = sonar.ping_cm();
if (dat < 0 || dat > 37)
dat = prev;
String depth = String((37 - dat)); // turn integer to string
debug.print( "DEPTH = " );
debug.println(depth);
updateTS(depth);
delay(1000);
}
//----- update the Thingspeak string with 3 values
void updateTS( String T)
{
// ESP8266 Client
String cmd = "AT+CIPSTART=\"TCP\",\"";// Setup TCP connection
cmd += IP;
cmd += "\",80";
sendDebug(cmd);
delay(2000);
if ( Serial.find( "Error" ) )
{
debug.print( "RECEIVED: Error\nExit1" );
return;
}

cmd = GET + "&field1=" + T + "\r\n";
Serial.print( "AT+CIPSEND=" );
Serial.println( cmd.length() );
if (Serial.find( ">" ) )
{
debug.print(">");
debug.print(cmd);
Serial.print(cmd);
}
else
{
sendDebug( "AT+CIPCLOSE" );//close TCP connection
}
if ( Serial.find("OK") )
{
debug.println( "RECEIVED: OK" );
}
else
{
debug.println( "RECEIVED: Error\nExit2" );
}
}

void sendDebug(String cmd)
{
debug.print("SEND: ");
debug.println(cmd);
Serial.println(cmd);
}

boolean connectWiFi()
{
Serial.println("AT+CWMODE=1");//WiFi STA mode - if '3' it is both client and AP
delay(2000);
//Connect to Router with AT+CWJAP="SSID","Password";
// Check if connected with AT+CWJAP?
String cmd = "AT+CWJAP=\""; // Join accespoint
cmd += SSID;
cmd += "\",\"";
cmd += PASS;
cmd += "\"";
sendDebug(cmd);
delay(5000);
if (Serial.find("OK"))
{
debug.println("RECEIVED: OK");
return true;
}
else
{
debug.println("RECEIVED: Error");
return false;
}

cmd = "AT+CIPMUX=0";// Set Single connection
sendDebug( cmd );
if ( Serial.find( "Error") )
{
debug.print( "RECEIVED: Error" );
return false;
}
}

LINKS

Git  >> https://github.com/arnabdasbwn 

Follow me on Instagram >> https://www.instagram.com/arnabdasbwn/

Follow me on Twitter >> https://twitter.com/ArnabDasBwn

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel >> https://www.youtube.com/c/ArnabDasBwn


Crazy Engineer

MAKER - ENGINEER - YOUTUBER

10 Comments

Anupam Das · July 29, 2018 at 11:29 am

Wow very nice. Good work.

Joshua Japitan · August 19, 2018 at 5:34 pm

hello, could you please post at least a diagram as to how you have connected the components? i am trying to learn IoT and seeing this project, it would be a great start as to how to do IoT

SREEHARI CR · November 7, 2018 at 2:35 pm

Is website creation is needed for smart dustbin?

Litos · February 5, 2019 at 3:12 am

Hey, could you explain how you set up the ThingSpeak server to receive the data please?

Thaksika · September 13, 2019 at 7:47 pm

How to declare debug in the above code

    Crazy Engineer · September 21, 2019 at 4:14 am

    No Idea what you are looking for. Please write it more descriptive.

Vivek · January 24, 2020 at 11:57 pm

Nice project and great explanation. Though I think we can also add a message and/or email when the dustbin fills to a certain level.

    Crazy Engineer · January 29, 2020 at 3:04 pm

    Yes, that is a good feature. You can definitely add and publish in Git Hub.

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.