A Hybrid RF–WiFi smart apartment control system for building electrical training

The rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) has accelerated the growth of smart home and intelligent building systems in modern residential infrastructures. However, many electrical engineering laboratories still mainly focus on conventional residential wiring practices and lack integrated smart control technologies that reflect modern smart apartment environments. This paper presents the design and implementation of a hybrid RF–WiFi smart apartment training system developed for practical teaching in electrical engineering education. The proposed system integrates two WT06 RF 4-channel relay controllers operating at 433 MHz together with a Broadlink RM-Pro smart gateway to establish a hybrid wireless control architecture for residential electrical loads. By combining the two WT06 relay modules, the system provides eight independent wireless control channels for controlling multiple residential electrical devices. In the proposed configuration, the WT06 relay controllers perform RF-based switching operations, while the Broadlink RM-Pro receives commands through a WiFi network and transmits RF control signals to the relay controllers. The developed platform simulates a residential apartment electrical system, including lighting circuits, electrical outlet circuits, ventilation loads, water heater loads, and air-conditioning loads. Experimental results demonstrate the stable and reliable operation of the proposed hybrid smart control system under various wireless control scenarios. The proposed platform provides a practical and low-cost educational solution for studying residential electrical systems and IoT-based smart home technologies in engineering laboratories.