All of us are aware of the doorbell. It comes in various types. Some of them are having simple ringtones whereas another is having a musical ringtone. In the early days, a doorbell system became an electro-magnetic device that rings a mechanical bell. As technology grooms up doorbells also enhanced and improve their design to sustain in the market. The major functionality has been added to the doorbell system that is related to security. Nowadays for monitoring and security purpose most of the peoples are using video doorbell system. If you are using this system then you are not going to ask who is there. This system is much more than a doorbell. Before going into deep let’s have a brief about this gadget.

What is a Video Doorbell?

It is also known as a doorbell camera. This gadget is a kind of IoT system that provides monitoring at your doorstep from all over the world. Even you can answer your door from anywhere in the world through its mobile application, seeing and speaking to your visitor as if you are there in person. It is a relatively new product compared to conventional security cameras. The user gets notified via a mobile app either when someone pushes the doorbell, or when the doorbell camera detects the motion of any person at the doorstep. They can either provide live streaming of footage on their mobile app to see and speak to the visitor or communicate with them by using any smart display devices like smart TV. In one line we can say, video doorbells are electronic devices that let users greet their visitors from anywhere through the device’s respective application.

Engineering Inside:

1. Power adapter
2. Control board
3. Camera
4. Wireless adapter
5. Two-way communication module
6. Battery

Power Adapter:

This unit provides a power supply to operate the various hardware units. It converts the input AC to output DC.  This unit also provides power to recharge the chargeable battery for this video doorbell system (if any battery is present to provide power in case of failure of the main power supply). The internal circuit of the power adapter is almost similar to your laptop charger.

Control Board:

It is the backbone of this security system. A fully-fledged operating system present on the memory of the control board to provide intelligence and logical ability to motion sensor-based cameras. The control board also provides an interface with a wireless module and a two-way communication module for the proper functioning of the video doorbell. When any visitor interacts with the camera then its footage has sent to the control unit, after that this unit performs various operations as per requirement and sends a visitor-notification to the user for checking the footage or perform a live stream to interact with the visitor. It is required to have a secure wireless network (most probably wifi) to prevent any intrusion in this security system. Here control board also generates a ring for the doorbell by using a separate speaker. Nowadays Raspberry-Pi is a very good option to design a secure and powerful video doorbell.

Camera:

In this module, a camera is integrated with a motion sensor to detect the motion. A motion-sensor is a non-contact device that detects infrared radiation from any living organism and converts it into an electronic signal either in analog form or in digital form (as per their circuit), which is then sent to the control board (for further processing). Heat sensed by a motion sensor can be quantified to detect very precisely motion. To detect motion PIR sensor module is a good option.

Wireless Adapter:

This module is mainly responsible to provide internet connectivity to the control board for sending processed data to the user and provide connectivity for two-way communication between user and visitor. Most of the manufacturer of video doorbell uses own design Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules to provide better security.

Two-way Communication Module:

It provides communication between user and visitor. This unit has some basic communication network circuitry with a speaker and microphone. It can be interfaced with the control board either directly or via a tuner circuit.

Battery:

As we know, having a battery as a backup source in any security system is always required because we can’t tolerate downtime. Li-ion batteries are a milestone in this field.

Working Process:

When a person comes to the doorstep or rings the bell then this gadget sends a notification to the user by using their application. At that time user may communicate to the visitor or let the camera capture the footage. Most of the video doorbells are using the internet to send the notification to the user whereas some of them are also using cellular communication by using inside SIM cards. Some of the cameras are also using artificial intelligence to differentiate moving objects; otherwise, the camera will alert the user for any kind of motion, which can lead to many irrelevant notifications.

Applications:

The main application of this gadget is found in the security field. Because you can’t be home or your office for 24 hours; you have many jobs to do. As we know video doorbells come in handy because they make it seem like you are at home or office for 24 hours when you are not, being able to greet visitors at your doorstep from anywhere by using the internet. For safety purposes, this gadget is a good option.

Thanks for reading. See you soon with another exploration!