I am currently doing a project in my undergrad on a system that allows household power units to be controlled from a computer through Wi-Fi.
My plan is to build a hardware unit that can be plugged into the power sockets to control the switches. This unit will have a relay, a microcontroller (AVR kit) and a Wi-Fi tranceiver. On the computer, I will be programming a simple interface with possibly microsoft visual basic. And in the center is a wireless router.
Are there any thing I should know about the IP protocol and such as I don't have much knowledge on data communication.
Any suggestions on my idea?
Thanks in advance..