Experimental Assessment of an IoT Home Energy Management System Integrating Dual Axis Solar Tracking and Net Energy Analysis

The main contribution of this research is the design, implementation, and empirical evaluation of a low-cost (approximately BDT 7,700) IoT-based home energy management prototype that integrates synchronized physical and browser-based control, multi-load current sensing, battery storage, and a two-axis photovoltaic tracker. Beyond proving the system’s operational viability at an accessible price point, the study quantifies the performance gains of the two-axis tracker—which yielded a 35.35% mean-power gain and 2.402 Wh in gross energy over a fixed panel—and critically transforms the commonly unverified assumption of negligible tracking power consumption into a precise experimental threshold: the tracker must consume less than 0.600 W on average to maintain a net-positive energy benefit.