Smart home devices are all the rage these days as they make it easy to control wireless, video, data, security, climate and lighting applications, or home appliances and lifestyle devices with a single command. Home automation ranges from simple activities like setting a light bulb to turn on and off as you please, to advanced surveillance cameras, home cleaning robots, and Wi-Fi routers. You can automate actions across a variety of touch-enabled accessories. music and see who is at your door, turn off the power in the living room while watching a movie, close the garage, lock the doors and adjust the temperature in your home. , or vacuum the floor, among other things.
Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), a key component of home automation, everything… computers, smartphones, clocks, speakers, lights, doorbells, cameras, windows, blinds, hot water heaters, appliances, kitchen utensils… they can work with a simple press of a button (or your voice command). With connected door locks, video doorbells, security cameras, and monitoring systems like water leak detectors, energy management systems, and connected thermostats, you're never far from easy access to your home's control and security. .
Setting up a smart home
Homes are becoming smarter every day with the help of technology integration. In a SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) home setup, everything from appliances, lighting, heating and air conditioning, TVs, computers, audio and video systems to cameras are able to communicate with each other.
Figure 1: Representative Image of a smart home using cell phone
Setting up your smart home can be as basic as placing a smart speaker in your living room or as complex as an intricate network of connected devices. Monitoring systems built into smart home devices can calculate and record the usage of all connected devices, empowering the owner to increase awareness and knowledge to make necessary changes.
This technology allows users to control and monitor their home devices from smartphones or other networked devices. Oftentimes, homes do not come with these appliances and systems integrated. Therefore, the most common and affordable approach is to retrofit smart products in your home.
These devices are unified by a smart home system that makes them talk to each other. A comprehensive command center that controls your individual devices and will provide necessary information or talk to connected devices. Apple, Google and Amazon are the main players providing smart ecosystems. To your benefit, these high-tech, real-world connected home systems are mutually compatible, as home accessories from a core platform synchronize and work seamlessly with rival systems running on a common communications protocol.
Certain useful devices for a smart home
Fig. 2: Representational Image of Home Automation
There are tons of home gadgets, from locks to switches to speakers, to turn your dumb house into a smart home. Let's take a look at some of these popular smart home devices that go a long way in improving and instead transforming your lifestyle:
Smart Speaker
Fig. 3: Smart speaker image
The smart speaker is affordable and stylish, with new fabric finishes to match your home. It can be installed in the kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, rooftop deck, etc. It can play your favorite music, turn on the TV, make calls or send messages, answer questions, and set alarms for you. It connects to other smart products in your home, so you can use it as a link between them without needing to leave your couch.
Smart lighting
Because they are controlled and customized remotely, smart lighting systems can detect when occupants are in the room and can adjust themselves based on the availability of natural light. They can even change colors to mimic a sunrise or sunset . They allow you to control both light intensity – decreasing or increasing brightness on command – and the color of your lights. You can create special color-coordinated moods (i.e. choose a specific theme for a specific room you're in or sync it to your music). You can also set color-coordinated alarms, ensuring you wake up every morning to a bright pink bedroom.
S market thermostat
The smart thermostat works by injecting machine learning into your home's heating and cooling. Can be installed in upper and lower corridors. Retains most functions even if you have a state-of-the-art multi-stage heating or cooling system compatible with your setup. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi, allowing users to remotely schedule, monitor and control home temperatures. The smart thermostat can also report energy usage and remind users to change filters, among several other things.
Smart Switch
Fig. 4: Image of the smart switch
You may have decked out your home with smart LED bulbs, but you have to get up every time to turn them on and off. Now you can have some adorable smart switches that turn on lights when your home's motion sensors detect movement. You can use your voice to control whether the physical light switch is on or off. If you say you are “watching TV downstairs,” the switches will automatically turn off all the upstairs lights.
Smart security camera
Home security is an important thing to consider and you can ensure it with a connected security camera. It is a very reliable motion detection that starts recording when it detects a moving object. You can also access recorded images via your smartphone or tablet. It records high-quality video and audio and is also capable of identifying the difference between residents, visitors, pets and burglars, as well as notifying homeowners if suspicious behavior is detected. The camera can automatically record when you're not at home or work on a time-based schedule for when you're at work.
When you want to check on your kids, pets, or an exotic jewelry collection, a home security camera proves to be a great tool for keeping an eye on things when you're not there.
Smart Plug
Not just a means of controlling devices plugged into it, the smart plug can also monitor your energy usage and get estimates of how much it will cost to power certain devices in your home. The smart plug also connects to a wide range of smart home platforms.
Smart lock
There are many smart locks designed to completely replace your old lock in favor of a new keypad or deadbolt. They can also detect when residents are nearby and unlock doors for them. Some of the smart locks fit over your existing lock and allow you to continue using your old key whenever you want, while still giving you the benefits of a smarter lock.
Smart Smoke Detector
Fig. 5: Image of the smoke detector
The smart smoke detector has built-in smoke alarms that can be connected to the rest of your home. It will alert you if there is a fire, allowing you to take timely action.
Smart Grill
This tool notifies you on your smart device when the grill is preheated, what the internal temperature is and when the meat or fish is fully cooked.
Smart Baking Recipe
This smart device allows you to enter what food ingredients you have and then generate recipes from those items. The recipe can be automatically scaled according to the number of people or even the amount of ingredients you have. You can measure the ingredients as you pour them – the smart bowl tells you when you can stop pouring them.
Smart Coffee Maker
The smart coffee maker can brew a new cup as soon as the alarm goes off.
Smart vacuum cleaner
It integrates with smart home systems and other apps, offers manual steering and effortlessly cleans surfaces.
Recommendations
Home automation has gained enormous popularity among homeowners due to its wide range of innovative and smart services that offer greater energy efficiency, comfort, control and ease of use. Smart technology also contributes to improved health and well-being by accommodating people with special needs, especially the elderly.
Although the overall effect of smart devices is positive, it is necessary to take certain precautions to avoid any kind of risk when using such devices.
1. You should block cameras because remote access tools and other similar malware allow criminals to see through the webcams of compromised smart home systems.
2. Almost all smart home devices come with passwords. Change these default passwords for these devices on your smartphone or laptop manually or using the option of a password manager that can easily see and change weak passwords.
3. Smart technologies are new to the market. It is essential to secure smart home devices to keep their software/firmware updated to the latest version available.
Conclusion
In this era of digitalization , affordable home automation is quickly becoming a global trend. With the current pace of technological advancements, this trend will evolve rapidly and many more smart features will attract demand among end users. Although it took years to develop an innovative home setup but the concept of smart home has definitely arrived.
Engineers have a crucial role to play in designing and maintaining these life-changing devices. Its strength lies in building application-specific IoT communication methods to ensure seamless integrations between different sets of accessories, leading to improved user home automation experience. They need to create a better, simpler experience, even for users who may not be technically proficient.
