Monday 17 July 2017

Home automation and the Internet of Things

The fast expansion of connected devices, or the Internet of Things technology as is often called, is extremely exciting. By connecting the devices, we gain more control than ever before. For instance, one could adjust the thermostat at home from the office, check security cameras from a movie theater or turn lights off from just about anywhere, whether one is just next door or across the globe.

As daily devices are increasingly finding their way on the web, there is a plethora of things around the home that are becoming smarter, mainly owing to a new-found ability to connect to the web. Home automation is a process of automatically controlling appliances at home with the use of different control system techniques. The electronic and electrical appliances in a home, such as outdoor lights, lights, fans, fire alarm, kitchen timer and many more could be controlled using different control techniques. There are several techniques to control home appliances. One great example is an IoT based home automation over the cloud, home automation under WiFi via Android applications from any smart phone device, and more.


Internet of Things

As more and more manufacturers, like LG, Samsung, Panasonic and many more build connected products, the intent is to help simplify lives. Nonetheless, while it is the ultimate goal, it becomes hard to achieve once you realize that these devices are not actually connected to one another. This is where home automation steps in to deliver the promise of simplifying people’s lives. Connecting devices via an operating system not just simplifies control over various devices, but actually connects the devices to each other as well, regardless of the brand. With IoT, a single application from a smart phone enables one to control everything. And the real magic occurs when these devices are programmed to do a function that is based on the location or actions of another device. Getting out of bed in mornings could trigger music to start playing and the coffer maker to start brewing coffee.

The growing usage of home automation technology through IoT has the potential for considerable energy savings and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. A study finds that the widespread adoption of home automation products such as circuit, temperature and lighting control, when used for energy savings intents, could collectively prevent up to 100 million tons of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, it could lower primary residential consumption of energy by as much as 10 percent.

Research proves that innovation consumer technology could deliver into the homes via IoT could significantly lower the carbon footprint. With a simple touch of a button or screen, one could control and manage home more effectively and more easily than ever, virtually from just about anywhere in the world. Home automation technology delivers potential benefits to utilities too, like for instance, an enhanced demand response capacities and intelligent homes segmentation. Actual energy savings will depend on how a user strongly opt to control the automated home equipment and devices. When activated, intelligent features enable greater savings. For example, smart thermostats could learn when certain rooms in a home do and do not need conditioning to save energy without having to sacrifice comfort. Furthermore, energy savings could potentially be higher when the devices are used together, just like with a whole-home control.

The sales of a lot of home automation technologies are projected to grow in the next few years. Consumer trends showed that the key motivator behind buying automated products, like smart blinds, thermostats and light fixtures, has been for convenience, entertainment and/or security. Further boosting the marketability of the products to homeowners through promoting energy savings potential can lead to more energy savings anywhere.

Complete home automation systems have a lot of security benefits. They allow a homeowner to check in on the home from another location, providing genuine peace of mind. Some systems allow for interacting with a home security system, providing one the ability to arm and disarm the home remotely. Some complete automation systems would alert a homeowner by text, phone or email if there are unusual movements within the home. Home automation products offer convenience and save both time and effort when doing household chores. With proper energy management, one could reduce energy consumption, which or course could help save money. Possibly and perhaps most importantly, complete home automation enables a homeowner to customize the home to fit the unique needs and lifestyle of the family. Complete home automation may sound costly and complex, but a lot of systems surprisingly are affordable and are simple to install.

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