SMART HOMES The way we nest now Suhasini K Vamsi Priya V Sushmitha K

What is a smart home…… “A home incorporating a communications network that connects the key electrical appliances and services, and allows them to be remotely controlled, monitored or accessed.” Remote control can either be from within the house or from anywhere outside the home.

Goals of smart homes The key goal for home automation is to give the occupant total control over the house from anywhere. To govern the intelligent use of light, heating and kitchen appliances and thus monitoring energy consumption. To make life more comfortable, secure…… To provide a smart environment.

Smart Environment Combining technologies in pervasive computing, artificial intelligence, and sensor networks makes smart environments a reality. Smart environment is defined as an intelligent agent which acquires and applies the knowledge about the environment and its inhabitants to improve the quality of life. A smart home is nothing but the physical implementation of a smart environment.

Difference b/w a home & a smart home An ordinary home contains various systems and devices that are in total isolation from each other. A smart home incorporates systems and devices that have the ability to pass information and commands between them to perform a variety of tasks.

Features All blinds in the house are centrally controlled. Lights can be adjusted to various levels. Garage door can be opened or closed from work. Motion sensors detect the presence of a person and allow them in. The pool temperature can be set on your drive home.

When the phone rings the caller ID is displayed on the TV. Smart sprinklers turn off when it rains. Sensors detect when the medicine cabinet opens. Can detect the location of important misplaced things. Monitor different locations in the house for security purposes.

How does a smart home work ? A smart home expands the use of computers into parts of the home creating a network that can be easily controlled. The use of computer controls allows the elements of the home to be controlled remotely or respond automatically.

In a normal house lights are controlled by a switch which interrupts the flow of electricity.

In a smart home, switch sends signal to the communication network. A controller fitted to the light fittings receives the signal and responds.

Multiple lights in different rooms could be controlled and dimmed to different levels.

Devices in the home could change status in response to a signal on the network. Some devices connected to the network can send messages to control other devices. For e.g.. The porch lights can be programmed to respond to a light level sensor signaling that it is dark and a movement detector saying that there is somebody in the porch. Network control in the home extends beyond the simple activity of turning lights on and off.

With several devices connected to the network the previously discrete systems are able to share resources and information and to respond more appropriately to the commands.

Detection of Objects RFID systems play a very important role in detection. RFID system consists of an antenna, transceiver and a transponder(tag). Antenna and transceiver read radio frequency and transfer information to a processing device. Tag is an IC containing the RF circuitry and information to be transmitted

A smart home

Means of communication The efficiency of a smart home depends upon the ability to distribute the information and transmit commands around the home. This can be achieved using wired or wireless methods. We can use dedicated either wiring bus, power line communication, infrared communication, radio frequency communication or a combination of these.

Communication Protocols Lonworks – Commercial and industrial purpose. Capable of being used over all communication mediums. Konnex – European standard for communication X-10 – Simple, low cost for power line communication. Limited scope.

Device Control All doors, curtains and windows have motorized opener fitted to them that can be operated by remote control unit. All the taps in the home are controlled. Heating and lighting can be maintained at different levels by programming through a controller.

Remote controls have their buttons programmed to emit a specific signal or series of signals, as the main interface for users inside the home. The addition of a web server to the home would allow a visual representation of the home to be created as a web page and accessed from a web browser. This could be used to control the home either from inside over a local area network (LAN), or remotely, if an internet connection was always on in the home. Computer screens allow large, easy to recognize visual representations of the home and can be used to send messages to, and receive messages from, the smart home

Infrared Radio frequency

Externally a detector measures wind, speed and light level. Internally each room has multi function detector head which measures smoke, temperature, light level, movement and carbon monoxide. A 360deg digital camera is fitted. Fire alarms, security alarms and door entry systems can operate in conjunction with other devices to provide safety and security.

Benefits of a smart home Smart home saves energy and helps the environment through intelligent control. It can protect your family and possessions through sophisticated security and surveillance systems. It offers a safe and independent life to physically challenged and elderly people.

Limitations Requires incurring initial investment to enjoy the benefits. May pose a threat of increased lethargy.

If you have a smart home, ‘You’..… can make your home look occupied when you are away never come home to a dark house prevent your valuable equipment from over heating can enjoy a toasty bathroom on cool mornings stop running all over the house to turn off the lights

can enjoy fresh brewed coffee when you get up add more security to your automatic garage door opener don’t let your guests stumble in the dark and many more………

References sion.home/index.html, by Julie Clothier for CNN Tuesday, May 31, 2005 Posted sion.home/index.html rthomes/ Smart House Your So-Called Sci-Fi Life - Popular Mechanics.mht