See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/329130806

Web-based Wireless Wake-on-LAN approach for Robots

Conference Paper · September 2018

DOI: 10.23919/IConAC.2018.8749046

CITATIONS READS

0 310

3 authors:

Hamza Aagela Taha Al-Jody

University of Huddersfield University of Huddersfield
11 PUBLICATIONS 57 CITATIONS 4 PUBLICATIONS 6 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Violeta Holmes
University of Huddersfield
88 PUBLICATIONS 2,090 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Hamza Aagela on 22 November 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on
Automation & Computing, Newcastle University,
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 6-7 September 2018

Web-based Wireless Wake-on-LAN approach for Robots

Hamza Aagela, Taha Al-Jody, Violeta Holmes

Computing and Engineering
University of Huddersfield
Huddersfield, United Kingdom
(Hamza.Aagela, Taha.Al-Jody, V.Holmes)@hud.ac.uk

Abstract— The ability to wake up robots over a wireless communication network at the power-off state. Current
LAN remotely can improve the power consumption technologies are relying on several protocols for
performance of remote robots or cloud robotics system. This communication, such as, ZigBee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wi-
paper presents a solution for power management of a mobile MAX. These wireless network protocols have limited
robot, using web-based wireless Wake-on-LAN (WWoL). capabilities or unable to power up the devices remotely.
The focus in on power management of a mobile robot, but Similarly, the Wake-on-LAN WoL, use "awake" network
this approach is also suitable for most of the IoT mobile message to turn on some compatible computers [3, 16, 17].
devices, and other systems that are designed to be used
remotely. The proposed solution allows the targeted device to This paper introduces a web-based WWoL approach
be powered ON and OFF remotely via a web-based that can be used to manage the power of the robot remotely
dashboard. This approach was validated in a case study with and securely, to improve the battery power consumption on
an AR drone 2.0 and demonstrated substantial power its standby mode. This design applies the concept of
optimization for the drone. In addition, security issues are WWoL way of connecting to the power system of the
explored when WWoL is deployed in remote control of targeted device by using the secondary Operating System,
mobile devices. It was established that power consumption is which depends on standard network protocols such as IEEE
reduced when the drone is in a standby mode waiting for an 802.11 (Wi-Fi). This approach is following the idea of the
operator to send a wake-on request message wirelessly, Internet enabled switch [14] to control the power status of
without compromising security posed by wireless remote a mobile robot or the IoT devices by using a web
access to the devices. application.
Keywords-component; WWoL, Robotics, IoT
There are some limitations of existing methods of
I. INTRODUCTION deploying WWoL; the wireless adapter needs to be
Developments in cloud computing and microcontroller- integrated with the main board of the device and there is a
based devices lead to establishment of the foundation of lack of support from most on-board adapters manufactured
Internet of Things (IoT). Recently, the IoT automation and for WWoL. This approach only works when the device is
cloud robotics have seen growth in industry demands. in standby mode, therefore, the wireless client must be
Home automation usually considers remote or automatic connected all the time and it will not work if the machines
control of devices [1]. However, the Industrial Internet of are in full power-off states.
Things (IIoT) devices in industry, are somewhat different With the rapidly growth of wireless LAN technologies
from typical home automation devices, where the devices in recent years, there has been an increasing need for
are able to communicate with each other via a network. The implementing wireless LANs, and WoL, in the context of
potential of the IIoT, to improve productivity by the wired Ethernet LAN. As a method for implementing
introducing cyber-physical systems is vast, hence it is WWoL, a power saving mode can be deployed as stated in
referred to as next industrial revolution Industry 4.0 [2]. standards related to the international standard IEEE802.11.
Cloud robotics is new development utilizing cloud The power saving mode stated in IEEE802.11 is allowed in
computing and multi-robot systems, in order to provide a client PC or laptop in a WoL waiting state. In this power
robotic services. Robotic services are systems, devices, and saving mode, the client PC or laptop is in a sleep mode for
robots deploying sensors and actuators and control in a a time period. [3].
specific environment. The functionalities of stand-alone The IoT is becoming a necessity for various devices,
robots are limited by their inadequate on-board processing which means that many physical devices should be
power and storage capacity, when handling large amounts connected to the internet or an intranet network. As the
of data and processing them in real-time. In cloud robotics, number of devices able to connect to the internet increases,
various equipment and devices that can sense the so does the risk pose to these devices from attackers [4, 13].
environment, perform various tasks and interact with
people in both the physical and cyber worlds are treated the There a numerous reason for security violations that
same. The limited processing and storage power are occur in embedded system devices such as vulnerabilities
improved by integrating the robots with cloud computing in an installed package, or mis-configuration of the system
systems. e.g. enabling root login with the default password. Cyber
criminals can use different vulnerabilities, network firewall
All these systems and technologies will have the mis-configuration and even physical attacks to perform
provision of being controlled over the internet. One of the different penetration strategies and get access to the system
limitations of those devices is that of power management. [5]. Therefore, security issues in remote control of the
A remote user cannot power-up the device remotely from robotics and IoT devices is considered in this paper in the
full power-off status, because of the lack of accessibility via context of designing and deploying WWoL systems.
 The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section A. Hardware Set-up
II defines the web-based WWoL system architecture The system requires hardware component
diagram and its operation, section III presents the proposed configuration, as shown in Figure 2. It consists of a
system hardware and software. The section IV covers raspberry Pi Zero W microcontroller, running a secondary
security of web-based WWoL system. The salient features OS, and 5 V DC relay. The Raspberry Pi is powered up via
of the system are presented in Section V. Results and the additional 3.7 V battery Lipo 1500 mAh.
evaluations are shown in sections VI & VII, respectively.
The key reason for choosing Raspberry Pi Zero W over
II. WEB-BASED WWOL other available microcontrollers is its compatibility and
The concept of the wake on wireless LAN requires the support for most of the internet protocols and low cost. In
operating system (OS) on a targeted device to be active all addition, the model Raspberry Pi Zero W is wireless-
the time or partially active (sleeping mode). Therefore, enabled with an inbuilt 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN chip and
such device will consume battery power constantly. Bluetooth 4.1 LE [7]. This will allow the Pi to connect to
the web applications. It is equipped with 1 GHz single core
We are proposing a solution that applies the WWoL ARM11 processor and 512 MB memories. The main power
concept by using a secondary OS approach as an alternative supply is the micro USB power, but also could be powered
way of connecting to the power system of the targeted up via the GPIO pins by using one of the 5V pin and ground
device which could be, a robot, an IoT device, or any device pin [8]. Furthermore, it is a lightweight weighing just 9g [7,
that uses battery power. The key features of the developed 15], therefore, it will not add extra weight when placed on
system are as follows: the drone.
• Allow the device to go on complete power off state.
• Autonomously connect to the web controller.
• Power on/off devices over the internet.
• Establish secure tunnel to the web controller.
• Portable and light weight system.
• Compatibility and integration with various devices.
Figure 2. Raspberry Pi Zero W
The WWoL system architecture illustrated in Figure 1
shows the key components of the system. The user will get The electronic circuit has been designed so that the
access to the targeted device via a browser and use the relay will act as a smart switch controlling the power status
internet to send the signal to the Raspberry Pi zero. The Pi of the linked device. The Raspberry Pi Zero W is connected
will activate a relay, which connects the device to its power to a relay with three wires: 5 V, Ground, and signal by using
supply, in this case a drone. the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi Zero W.
A device selected for case study in this paper was the
Parrot AR. drone 2.0 shown in Fig. 3. This device, also
referred to as an Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) [9], is
remotely controlled quad copter drone that contains a
number of sub-components. It has on-board two electronic
boards mounted on a plastic basket. First board is a
motherboard that uses a 32bits ARM9-core called Parrot P6
processor running at 468 MHz and has additional Wi-Fi
chip. The second board, a navigation board, has a 16bits
PIC microcontroller running at only 40 MHz, and serves as
Figure 1. WWoL System architecture an interface with the sensors. It also has a number of
sensors. There are two cameras, a vertically-oriented
The wireless connection used in this approach is Wi-Fi; camera at the bottom side of the drone and a front camera
nevertheless, we can use most of the supported wireless with a connector, and two Prowave ultrasonic vertically-
internet enable technologies as an alternative. oriented sensors. The drone is powered up with 11.1 V Lipo
The Raspberry Pi will act as a secondary Linux-based battery supplying 1500 mAh [10, 12, 19].
OS for the main system, which allows the power
management of the main device, while the connection to
the web service remains.
III. SYSTEM SET-UP
In our prototype implementation the system requires
some essential set-up in both hardware and software. Thus,
this section defines hardware and software configurations.
 Figure 3. Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 [11]

B. Software Set-up
This UAV system is managed via a web application that
is hosted on a cloud virtual machine as an online server.
Figure 4 shows the main page of the WWoL web
application on both statuses (when the button is turned OFF
and ON).

Figure 4. Dashboard of the Web Application shows states when the

button is turned OFF and turned ON.

Our WWoL approach requires a web-based application

that needed development on both client and server sides.
The client side was developed in Python and NodeJS. The
Python is used to control the power status of the DC relay
(on or off).
The NodeJS application is responsible for linking the Pi
with the web service, which feeds the status of the Pi and
the Switch every 3 seconds (the time here is optional to be
defined by the user). The server side provides a web page
as a dashboard that has a switch and label to demonstrate
the Pi current status.
As shown in Figure 5 the system initially acquires and
checks the current status of the Pi (online or offline); if it is
online, the system will check the status of the switch which
will be reflected in the state of a switch button on the web Figure 5. The Web-based WWoL algorithm
site. Therefore, the device “Drone” status will be updated
accordingly. IV. SECURITY OF WEB-BASED WWOL SYSTEM
For the creation of web-based WWoL system security
The main reason for deploying this approach in using a
had to be in mind during the design process of the system.
Web-based Application rather than a mobile application is
There are various parameters that need to be considered for
that the web appliances are accessible from almost any
security of the systems.
device that has a connection to the internet, with the only
prerequisite being that a web browser is available. This The system could be implemented using the following
design is system independent, therefore resolving the issue components:
of compatibility and interoperability between devices.
The first component is a backend web server which
The layout of the front end of the web application was serves the web page and monitors all the changes while
first coded with Hypertext Markup Language version 5 keeping a connection with the client (Pi). The servers have
(HTML5) which is acting as a skeleton of the webpage, as PHP installed on it with a simple but secure authentication.
well as Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) which was also used A short session is created to keep the connection alive for
along HTML5 to help designing an easy to use modern web one hour. The details of the authentication are stored on a
page. MYSQL database. The server only has File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) enabled for the ease of transferring files.
Javascript, which is a client-side scripting language,
was also used in order to help with the visual design of the The second and the main part of the system is the client
webpage, as well as the event handling such as sending the (Pi); it has a Debian based Linux installed with the latest
requests. security patches applied. The client has most of the network
“plugins” removed so that it is only running NodeJS along
On the backend, PHP was mainly used in order to
with an SSH server that has a root login disabled. Only one
handle the requests and to write the changes to disk. Also,
user was created with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) used
the status of the Drone e.g. Flying, Grounded was being
along with a password. The user will need to login in order
checked with PHP.
to make changes when needed.
 The third part if the system is the connection between to quantify the power savings, which results in longer
the server and client to avoid successful “Man in The operation time of the device.
Middle Attacks”. The connection is an HTTP Ajax Polling
request with parameters. The request is tunneled through a We can calculate the idle operation time for the device,
Secure Socket Layer also known as HTTPS request, which powered by battery, from the power consumption (Amps)
means that if the packets are inspected and encrypted by the and the Amps Hours for the Drone’s battery by using the
server only the client could decrypt them. That restricts the data from its specification and the following equation:
ability to modify or read the packets.
Both the server and the client validate the data in every
process of the system to make sure attacks such as MYSQL
injection and HTTP parameter pollution are prevented. The results are summarized in Table I, which shows the
Finally, as a safety feature, both the client the and server drone idle time (when stationary) with and without our
check the status of the drone; if the drone is flying then the system. It demonstrates that deployment of the proposed
client will wait until the drone is grounded to cut off the system outperforms the standard power system in the drone
power. as well as giving substantial improvement of the drone
running time while both systems are connected to the Wi-
V. RESULTS Fi. The proposed system could provide a longer running
The prototype of the web-based WWoL system has time when powered by a battery, giving a minimum of 750
been developed and tested to function with optimal results. minutes and maximum of 1125 minutes, compared to a
The outcome of implementing the system is that it enables regular drone system, with a minimum operational time of
remote human operator to control the power system of the 133.3 minutes and maximum of 171.4 minutes.
attached device, in this case the drone, by using the web TABLE I. IDLE TIME FOR THE DRONE WITH AND WITHOUT THE
application as a smart switch. Figure 6. Shows the system WEB-BASED WWOLAN SYSTEM
with the appliance (in this case, an LED of the drone) when
the appliance is in the OFF state. Drone Idle time when stationary (min)
Without WWoL With WWoL

Min 133.3 Min 750

Max 171.4 Max 1125

The results show the value of using the Wireless Wake-

on-LAN approach on a mobile robot, powered by battery,
which normally has limited operation time running without
a charger. The proposed WWoL approach would give a
substantial improvement in the power optimization of the
Drone in standby mode, as well as provide a remote access
Figure 6. The drone and raspberry pi zero w with the
to the drone power system over the internet.
appliance turned OFF
The appliance can also be switched ON using the web VI. CONCLUSION
application. As Fig. 7. Shows the system with the appliance This paper has reviewed the current available solution
(in this case, the LED of the drone) when the appliance is of the WWoL approaches and introduced alternative
in the ON state. techniques that could be used by various battery operated
IoT devices that consume power while in standby mode.
Our approach has a number of advantages. It is easy to
implement, it is relatively inexpensive, and enables a user
to control wirelessly a state (ON/OFF) of remote device via
the internet using web application. This system has been
designed with security in mind, and it was implemented and
tested using a Drone device. It was found that it functions
as intended, with optimal results regarding the power
consumption of the controlled device and remote control of
the device. The use of the system proved its value in terms
Figure 7. The done and Raspberry Pi zero W with the
of increasing the Idle-time for the Drone in standby mode.
appliance turned ON The overall cost of this system depends on the cost of
Raspberry Pi (or its alternative), the cost of the electronic
A. Analysis of Power Savings
circuits, built around any internet enabled microcontroller,
The experimental results have shown the practical thus eliminating the need for operating system specific
feasibility of Wireless Wake-on -LAN. It is also important applications, and hence reducing development costs.
 In addition, some web hosting costs are incurred to host Turtlebot robot Turtlebot robot." Automation and Computing
the web application, with multi-function dashboard that can (ICAC), 2017 23rd International Conference on. IEEE, 2017.
be used to monitor and control the targeted device [7] Introducing the Raspberry Pi Zero W - Raspberry Pi Spy",
Raspberry Pi Spy, 2018. [Online]. Available:
remotely. https://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2017/02/introducing-the-
However, there are some limitations of the system such raspberry-pi-zero-w/. [Accessed: 06- May- 2018]
as that it requires access to the internet, and the second OS [8] Raspberry Pi Zero W - Raspberry Pi", Raspberry Pi, 2018.
[Online]. Available: https://www.raspberrypi.org/
in a Raspberry Pi device which needs to be accessed and products/raspberry-pi-zero-w/. [Accessed: 10- May- 2018]
configured with each new Wi-Fi access point. [9] Martin, Gerard Theodore. "Modelling and control of the
parrot ar. Drone." The UNSW Canberra at ADFA Journal of
VII. FUTURE WORK Undergraduate Engineering Research, Dec 2012.
The Wireless wake-on-LAN system is suitable for [10] Bristeau, Pierre-Jean, et al. "The navigation and control
applications that require access to the devices over the technology inside the ar. Drone micro uav." IFAC
internet and supports longer operation and services of the Proceedings, Vol. 44.1, pp.1477-1484, Jan 2011. 1477-
1484.
devices due to a reduction in their power usage. This work
[11] Pleban, J. S., Band, R., & Creutzburg, R. (2014, February). Hacking
is part of a larger project in designing a complex cloud and securing the AR. Drone 2.0 quadcopter: investigations for
robotic system that will use a web hosted dashboard and improving the security of a toy. In Mobile Devices and Multimedia:
remote access to control the power status of multiple robots. Enabling Technologies, Algorithms, and Applications 2014 (Vol.
In such system, a user will be able to turn ON or OFF the 9030, p. 90300L). International Society for Optics and Photonics.
robots as required, based on the environment or process [12] "Panel EN - Edito - Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Elite Edition", Parrot
needs. Finally, this idea of the secondary OS, which runs Official, 2018. [Online]. Available:
https://www.parrot.com/global/Drones/parrot-arDrone-20-elite-
on battery, can be improved with lower and smaller edition#piloting-assistance-fly-like-an-expert. [Accessed: 11- May-
microcontroller that can be used only to keep the wireless 2018]
chip on the device active. [13] Suo, Hui, et al. "Security in the internet of things: a review."
Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (ICCSEE), 2012
ACKNOWLEDGMENT international conference on. Vol. 3. IEEE, 2012.
The authors would like to thank the HPC Research [14] Reddy, Vishwateja Mudiam, et al. "Internet of things enabled smart
switch." Wireless and Optical Communications Networks
Group at the University of Huddersfield, who provided the (WOCN), 2016 Thirteenth International Conference on. IEEE,
facility, the equipment and support in writing this paper. 2016.
[15] Abaya, W. F., Basa, J., Sy, M., Abad, A. C., & Dadios, E. P. (2014,
REFERENCES November). Low cost smart security camera with night vision
capability using Raspberry Pi and OpenCV. In Humanoid,
[1] Rüßmann, Michael, et al. "Industry 4.0: The future of productivity nanotechnology, information technology, communication and
and growth in manufacturing industries." Boston Consulting Group control, environment and management (HNICEM), 2014
9 (2015). international conference on (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
[2] Jeschke, Sabina, et al. "Industrial internet of things and cyber [16] McCormick, D. K. (2017). IEEE technology report on wake-up
manufacturing systems." Industrial Internet of Things. Springer, radio: an application, market, and technology impact analysis of
Cham, 2017. 3-19. low-power/low-latency 802.11 wireless LAN interfaces.
[3] Fujii, Kazuo, and Naotaka Katoh. "Wireless wake-on-LAN power [17] Mishra, P., & Goel, S. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,351,247.
management." U.S. Patent No. 7,792,066. 7 Sep. 2010. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
[4] Abomhara, Mohamed. "Cyber security and the internet of things: [18] Tang, S., Zhang, C., Yomo, H., & Obana, S. (2016, September).
vulnerabilities, threats, intruders and attacks." Journal of Cyber Energy and spectrum efficient wireless LAN by tightly integrating
Security and Mobility 4.1 (2015): 65-88. low-power wake-up radio. In Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio
Communications (PIMRC), 2016 IEEE 27th Annual International
[5] Babar, Sachin, et al. "Proposed embedded security framework for Symposium on (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
internet of things (iot)." Wireless Communication, Vehicular
Technology, Information Theory and Aerospace & Electronic [19] Saha, S., & Wadoo, S. (2017, November). Linear optimal control of
Systems Technology (Wireless VITAE), 2011 2nd International a parrot AR Drone 2.0. In Undergraduate Research Technology
Conference on. IEEE, 2011. Conference (URTC), 2017 IEEE MIT (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
[6] Aagela, Hamza, Maha Al-Nesf, and Violeta Holmes. "An
Asus_xtion_probased indoor MAPPING using a Raspberry Pi with

View publication stats