What are the must have features of a Smart Home?
I appreciate if anyone has a Smart Home infrastructure, please share with me what are the features you already have and what are you missing and would add in future?
Some examples: Fiber Cabling in every room, Wifi-n, voice controlled lights, controlling every details from touch screen command units, IPTV...
Good Answers (7)
First, it is necessary to understand What is a concept of Smart Homes. You enter your society compound, the security gate scans the number plate of your car and automatically opens to let you in and closes once you are inside. Then you use a smart card to open the front door of your apartment and as soon as you enter, dim lights come on and your favorite music starts playing. Next morning you have to go out for a month’s vacation and as soon as you reach the airport, you realize that you have forgotten to switch off the geyser. So you send an SMS to your smart home and all the lights and electrical appliances get switched off automatically. It sounds like a scene from a science fiction movie but now it is becoming a reality these days.
Features –
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• Universal Phone- This phone shall replace a standard PSTN phone instrument. All calls on the landline will be diverted on this phone. This phone shall work as a cordless phone.
• Single button emergency call- An emergency call (or send SMS) can be made using this single button device and wireless pendent.
• Digital Answering Machine with personal voice message boxes- The DigitalHome server shall also work as answering machine. Each family member may have a separate voice message inbox.
• Smart Card based access to home- A valid smart card holder shall have access to the front door. In case of any forced entry, the owner is made alert by sending SMS, e-mail or even through a phone call. The security person at the gate is also informed automatically.
• Main gate security and visitor tracking system- A camera fixed at the security gate takes the visitor's snap. The security person sends it to the concerned flat owner with a single key operation. The photo images of all the visitors are stored.
• Stand-alone Video surveillance- A camera is fixed at the main door of a flat takes images of a person standing at the door and it is viewed on the LCD display of the server box.
• Keeping visitor's log when the DigitalHome is locked- When a visitor rings a bell while the main door is locked, a camera takes a snap of the visitor and stores in DigitalHome server along with time. One can find out who all had come to their residence in their absence.
• Event tracking.
• VoIP phone- A server box shall provide a simple and easy way to connect to international phone numbers and chat with the near and dear ones.
• Receiving SMS without owning a mobile phone
• Video surveillance- To know the whereabouts of children playing in the play area/park, a set of cameras shall be fixed at various places and display the view on the LCD display of the server.
• Music and Videos- The server is MP3 enabled that allows playing MP3 music on a TV or music system.
• Switching on/off lights, fans- Controlling lights and fans remotely is made possible using the server. This control can also be done remotely even from the office through the Internet or by SMS. While leaving the house, all appliances can be switched off automatically.
• Fire alarm- The server shall also raise an alarm and send messages to the concerned people in case of fire.
Limitations – Cost Factor
The biggest limitation to the propagation of this concept in India is the cost factor. Digital homes are perceived to be expensive and only for the rich. However, depending on your budget you can get some aspect of automation and connectivity at a low cost.
Eg-A remote controller to change the mood of the lighting which would cost you Rs 300. If you have multiple computers or notebooks at home, then a wireless router would help you stay connected anywhere in the house. This would cost another Rs 4,000. For IP surveillance, a wireless IP camera costs about Rs 8,700. However, the real automation will still cost you at least Rs 40,000 to 1 lakh. Furthermore the highly advance features come at a cost of Rs 3-4 lakhs.
Angela M
Owner, Notorious4 - Full Service Creative
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My fiancee and I are both computer geeks and just LOVE our gadgets. We don't have the bandwidth yet to connect our home to the network of our dreams, but we're not far off. We have a keyless entry system with a digital numeric keypad linked in to our security system to all doors and windows. We have multiple Logitec universal remote controls that operate our entertainment systems include audio, visual, recording and gaming elements. Remote lights and fans in each room. Digital humidifiers in each room that can sense the dryness and adjust accordingly. We have 10-15 computers in the house at any given time including towers and laptop with a server room in the basement. Our DVDs are stripped of their casings and entered numerically into a database and then index into books by book/slot number. We keep all of our MP3's on a shared drive and have iTunes connected wirelessly to an Apple Mini located in the trunk of our car. We have an RF remote to control it from the re-wired GPS display inside our car that we use as a monitor for the Apple Mini. We have a wholly digital washer and dryer that we've thought about hacking to send messages to our cell phones when they've completed their cycles. We're both wired into our office computers so we can both work from home if necessary. Ah we have so many more ideas that I don't even have time to write down!
Stefan B
International Sales Director at Bewan, European Home Gateway Best Practice
Best Answers in: Telecommunications (2)
Dear Tahsin,
Our gateway include:
- Home centre to access photos, music, videos stored on a hard drive directly connected via a USBhost to the gateway. You can access the content via your PC, TV or remotely via a web interface.
- WiFi connection sharing via a multi SSID. We implement 3 SSIDs: one for a laptop, one for a dual mode wifi/GSM phone and a third one for guests (hotspot). We can limite the bandwith allocated to hot spot users.
- Home automation. Remote manage electrical devices like lamps, air condition via a mobile phone.
- Webcam surveillance (wifi webcam with TR069)
- Caller id on TV screen
and more...
Please contact me for more information or references.
Best regards,
Brandon M
Owner, FVT Solutions • Tivoli/EM Consultant
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In the spirit of The Graduate: just one word... conduit.
You don't know what tomorrow's technology will be, and it's a lot of work to have everything pre-wired for something you may not use. So run conduit to all the important locations: by the entry doors, kitchen, bedrooms, phone and cable tv outlets, server/wiring closet, etc. If you're not wiring anything now, make sure you can easily find them later, e.g. one stud over from the light switch.
Also, make sure the runs aren't too long or include too many bends, otherwise you'll never get the wire through. A junction box in the ceiling of a strategic closet will help here. Don't forget to put an outlet in those closets and near each termination.
Must Have
This depends on the usage of the term "must have"
If it translates as "essential" then of necessity the first step is defining the desired outcome. In other words what is the objective or desired action/result - only by defining this can we specify a "Must Have" component.
If translated as "fashionable" well that becomes quite a broad field again. By it's very definition it is some technology visible to others or used in the presence of others. A lot of fashionable smart devices will relate to entertainment, video and sound, however many devices designed for convenience such as remote control of home lighting, remote visual and audible communication with the home, intelligent alarm systems may classify as "must have"
Specific features aside, what I really would like to see in the Smart Home is interoperability between different "domains" and smart collection of stimuli. Today we're seeing "islands of excellence" .Gadgets and systems perform in a good way on their own, but they're not really interacting yet. In some areas it is getting there (like programming your PVR via the associated EPG on the web). But I want more!!
Why not re-use the burglar alarm system to help save energy and help control other stuff associated with presence of someone.
Measure electrical power consumption on whole or part of the system to deduce wanted behaviour or early detection of failing equipment. One example could be that the freezer is starting to fail and this could be detected early by an uncharacteristic change of power consumption (a challenge to filter out when adding stuff to freeze).
By collecting various stimuli from different systems and sensors and giving back this information to different sub-systems and gadgets it is perhaps possible to achieve a SMART home and not only a "technical" home. With an aggregated view of all the stimuli to be found in a home it is only your imagination that is the limit to what you can do. Another important point is that the smart home should be adaptive and require to much technical knowledge. My old mother should be able to reap the benefits of a smart home, current technology has a tendency of brewing frustration.
It will have to have a VoIP Videophone (not a webcam). Being able to see who you are talking to is a must. It will be like going from the hearing the radio to seeing your tv.
I have one now and it is great!
