SMART HOME
Smart homes connect all the devices and appliances in your home so that they
can talk to each other. Any device in your home that uses electricity can be put on
your home network and at your command. Whether you give that command by
voice, remote control, tablet or smartphone, the home reacts. Most applications
relate to lighting, home security, home theater and entertainment, and
thermostat regulation.This makes a strong case of IOT. Smart home or home
automation is in market before the official use of IoT technology which is the
latest buzzword in the technology field.
The Internet of Things is a phrase that refers to the objects and products that are
interconnected and identifiable through digital networks.Smart homes or home
automation uses the same principle for the interconnecting the home appliances
to enable them to communicate with each other.
Typical schematic for Smart home
History of home automation can be traced way back to 1975,much before the evaluation of IOT and advanced communication protocols.
The genesis of many smart home products was 1975, when a company in Scotland developed X10. X10 allows compatible products to talk to each other over the already existing electrical wires of a home. All the appliances and devices are receivers, and the means of controlling the system, such as remote controls or keypads, are transmitters. If you want to turn off a lamp in another room, the transmitter will issue a message in numerical code that includes the following:
- An alert to the system that it’s issuing a command,
- An identifying unit number for the device that should receive the command and
- A code that contains the actual command, such as “turn off.”
All of this is designed to happen in less than a second, but X10 does have some limitations. Communicating over electrical lines is not always reliable because the lines get “noisy” from powering other devices. An X10 device could interpret electronic interference as a command and react, or it might not receive the command at all.
SETTING UP A SMART HOME
In 2003 the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) came up with the following definition for a smart home: “A dwelling incorporating a communications network that connects the key electrical appliances and services, and allows them to be remotely controlled, monitored or accessed.”
Smart homes use ‘home automation’ technologies to provide homeowners with ‘intelligent’ feedback and information by monitoring many aspects of a home. For example, a smart home’s refrigerator may be able to catalog its contents, suggest menus, recommend healthy alternatives, and order replacements as food is used up. A smart home might even take care of feeding the cat and watering the plants.
X10, Insteon, ZigBee and Z-Wave provide only the fundamental technology, called protocols, for smart home communication. They’ve created alliances with electronics manufacturers who actually build the end-user devices.
Here are some examples of smart home products and their functions.
Cameras will track your home’s exterior even if it’s pitch-black outside. Using IP based cameras same can be transmitted to your mobile and Tabs.
You can control a thermostat from your bed, the airport, anywhere your smartphone has a signal.
LED lights let you program color and brightness right from your smartphone.
Motion sensors will send an alert when there’s motion around your house, and they can even tell the difference between pets and burglars.
Smartphone integration lets you turn lights and appliances on or off from your mobile device.Door locks and garage doors can open automatically as your smartphone approaches.
Auto alerts from your security system will immediately go to your smartphone, so you instantly know if there’s a problem at home.Many devices also come with built-in web servers that allow you to access their information online.
Conclusion:
Smart homes may make life easier and more convenient. Whether you’re at work or on vacation, the smart home will alert you to what’s going on, and Security system can be built to provide an immense amount of help in an emergency. For example, not only would a resident be woken with notification of a fire alarm, the smart home would also unlock doors, dial the fire department and light the path to safety.It will alert the residents incase of burglary using intrusion detection system.
