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Smart Homes: Steps, Components, Utilities and Challenges

Article in International Journal of Engineering & Technology · March 2018

DOI: 10.14419/ijet.v7i2.7.10858

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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (2.7) (2018) 436-440

International Journal of Engineering & Technology

Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET

Research Paper

Smart Homes: Steps, Components, Utilities and Challenges

Velivela Gopinath*, Arigela Srija2, Dr S Krishna Rao3, Avula Madhuri4
1Assistant
professor
2Prefinal
Year Student
3Professor,Head of Department,IT
4Prefinal Year Student

*Corresponding author E-mail:[email protected]

Abstract

Smart Home is a flourishing technology of 20th century. It integrates of many new technologies through home networking for improving
quality of human’s life. Intelligent Home trade has drawn goodish attention of researchers for quite a decade. Smart Home technology is
a combination of network and services and much more consequently, this paper focuses on various topics in smart home technologies
from surveying for smart home research projects and presents a survey of all such systems and covers advantages of smart home systems,
smart steps and simple components to install smart homes. So, the presented paper can be cookbook of ideas for who ever want to learn
this blossoming technology.

Keywords: Smart Home, Sensors, Smart Home Appliances, Home Automation and Smart Home Technologies.

3. Home automation – products within the home and associations

1. Introduction to services and systems outside the home [4].

When we assembled a collection of smart devices under one roof, In smart home system design,it employs microcontrollers to
and we facilitate them to connect to and commune with one monitor ovens,refrigerators, washing machines, lighting and
another, what we end up with is typically called the “Smart VACH facilities (Ventilation/Air-Conditioning/ Heating) with
Home”.Some people call it home automation, because all of your respect to temperature or humidity and to regulate consequently to
smart devices work in concert to auomate a diversity of household meet the home owner’s necessities[3]. Consequently, it is
chores and operations.When the electronic gadgets are plugged in, noticeable that home automation has some extent to take
but not in use ,still there is a some amount of electricity flow.Here accountable for the indoor energy management and supervision
there is consumption of resources.Moreover there is a chance of with the directions of domiciliary owners. The computer which is
short circuits.To reduce this type of problems we have an move user-friendly and seamless control unit in the household
towards implementing a technology called Smart Homes [14]. enviornments[1].Today's home automation systems are more
probable to dispense programming and monitoring control among
The concept of development of a smart home system is not an
a devoted device in the home, like the control panel of a security
isolated case it has been existed since the term "smart house" was
system, and a user-friendly application interface that can be get
first coined by the American Association of House builders in
into via an Internet-accessble PC, smartphone or tablet[5]. The
1984 [11]. The main desirability of any automated system is tum-
system which accomplishes the connected thermostat and smoke
bling human labor, effort, time and errors due to human abandon.
alarm to create a two-way association with the users where both
Smart phones have become a necessity for every single person on
benefit and communicate each other. So it even sound like a
this sphere. Smart home automation is not about controlling the
“acquainted home.”
lights, fans and motors. Of course, it is about that, but it’ s analyz-
es the data that is collected from sensors, machines and humans
and do according to the automating functions along with control- 1.1. Advantages
ling energy saving functions [2]. It provides comfort, security to
the user. With the increase in consumption of energy and popula- There are so many advantages for having a smart home. some are
tion, there is a grave need to conserve energy in every way possi- mentioned below.
ble. So, the implementation of Smart Home Technology is to be
finest. Implementation of these systems will not just increase the
1.1.1. Convenience
comfort level of modern generation but also help elderly and phys-
ically disabled people [1] [13]. All researchers are trying to put
some handheld device (e.g. mobile or some battery-operated de- The principal assistance of smart home technology is that of Con-
vice) in hand on people to increase level. Home needs three gears venience; by programming basic actions, don’t have to be anxious
to brand it as smart: with them. A smart Home is further convenient than a regular
1. Inter-Networking tools like wires, cables, and wireless Home. The capability to governor the whole thing in your home
2. Smart controlling devices like gateway to manage the featured from your Smartphone or computer-or to have the whole thing
systems.

Copyright © 2018 Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestrict-
ed use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
International Journal of Engineering & Technology 437

prompted inevitably based on constraints set in development. It’s

an tempting panorama. 2.5. Prompting Activities and Answering Questions
Here the system prompt the activities based on the re-
1.1.2. Security quirement which intern have the intelligent system. An individual
that keep questioning the system and getting answers like “What
Smart home security systems add a lot more options to this type of appointments do I have today?”
basic systems such as webcams throughout the house that can
monitor from your smart phone or computer. It goes beyond bur-
glar alarms. There’s the security of knowing that everything in a
house is working correctly or not.

1.1.3. Efficiency

Smart Home knows about more than human about saving energy.
Automatic lighting turns on and off not only in response to the
amount of light outside, but also to whether there’s anyone actual-
ly in the room or not. Smart appliances are scheduled to run when
energy rates are their lowest and not at all when water or electrici-
ty are scarce. Some lights are even programmed to operate at a Fig 1: Working of smart home things
slightly lower wattage than normal, so that one can save energy
without even knowing it. 2.6. Automating Tasks
The residual contents of the paper is prearranged as follows.Unit 2
describes the smart steps to smart home,unit 3 describes the Home system will automatically schedule necessary maintenance
simple components for a smart home,unit 4 includes the and repairs for all its component pieces and parts, recorder medi-
automation of a smart home,unit 5 describes the popular smart cations before anyone can run out, prepare grocery lists, run the
home projects,unit 6 describes the challenges to design a smart robotic vacuum cleaner and do anything automatically. It is ap-
home and final unit concludes the paper. propriately wired and necessarily informed, making its own deci-
sions, and performing all manner of menial and important tasks.
2. Smart steps to a Smart Home
The systematic development of smart home is very complex. 3. Simple components for a Smart Home
There are six steps to develop a smart home.
There are so many components involved in designing a smart
2.1. Basic Communications home. Then number of components depends on the complexity
and features used in smart home.
The first step in creating a smart home is enabling members of the
household to communicate with other people outside the home.
Basic to achieving this step is some sort of communications tech-
nology, ranging from landline telephone service to mobile phone
service to broadcast television reception to an internet connection.
It enables data communication in addition to voice communica-
tion.

2.2. Simple Commands

Ability to issue some sort of commands to perform basic opera-

tions like locking or unlocking a door, turning lights on or off ,
checking for mail, even summoning helps when someone falls and
can’t get up. In this step, the house will also respond to commands
from outside the home.

2.3. Automating Basic Functions

In this step, manual control gives way to automatic control, via Fig 2: Components of Smart home
programmed instructions through a smart application. One can
check the needed groceries are there in the refrigerator for make a 3.1. Buses
dish, check the conditions of electric appliances and which are
controlled by a remote. A bus is the communication system that transfers data between
devices, in a smart home. Different types of buses transfer data
2.4. Tracking and taking Actions according to different protocols; for devices within the home to
communicate with one another, they must all be compatible with
In this step, a home can act on unusual data from sensors through- the same bus type.
out the house. It uses programmed algorithms or basic artificial
intelligence to make decision based on the data. For example, the 3.2. Interfaces
car has a repair and it finds and sends the data to mechanic so that
he has to come and repair the car and make car ready to the owner. An interface enables the communication between different devices
Camera is the monitoring device which is used for tracking the or between humans and devices. In device-to-device communica-
actions. tion, the interface is just a digital protocol. In the case of human-
438 International Journal of Engineering & Technology

to-device communication, the interface typically includes some 3.5.3. X10:

sort of controller and display, so that the person doing the control-
ling can see what he is doing. X10 is grand daddy of them all. It operates over your home’s ex-
isting power lines. Just connecting to an electrical device to an
3.3. Sensors
X10 Appliance module, this then plugs into a nearby wall outlet.
Sensors are used to determine the status of our environment and of With a similar X10 transceiver Module plugged into another outlet,
various devices. To detect temperature, humidity, light, noise and use the controller to wirelessly operate any plugged-in device. It is
motion. Specialized sensors detect smoke and carbon monoxide a low- cost module.
levels; proximity sensors detect doors and windows are open or
shut. They can also detect status of devices and location of devices
and people and so on. 3.6. Networks

Table 1: List of sensors and purposes All the communication within the home takes place over some
kind of network, either wired or wireless. In wired network the
S. No Sensor Purpose paraphernalia is fitted to the walls and associated to main power
1 Light Sensor Measures the intensity of light. supply, so that the data will spreads to activate or deactivate the
2 PIR Sensor Identifies the user position. purposes of things. Wired home automations are associated using
Temperature Measures the room temperature and optical fiber, twisted pair, power line, bus line etc. One of the
3
Sensor body temperature periodically. owing technologies is X10 which cost is very low and it is an open
4 Pressure Sensor Measures the pressure of gases or liquids. standard. That is communication of binary data using the Ampli-
5 Switch sensor Detection of Door open or close status. tude Modulation (AM) procedure. Most home automation today is
6 RFID Sensor identification of Object and people done wirelessly, using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or similar proprietary
Ultrasonic Sen- networking technologies.
7 Tracking of Location
sor
8 Current Sensor Measures the usage of current
9 Power Sensor Calculates the usage of power 3.6.1. INSTEON:
10 Water Sensor Measures the volume of water usage.
It is a leading developer of networking technology for the con-
3.4. Actuators nected home. Its devices connect via a combination of wireless
radio frequency and wired power line technologies. Insteon’s RF
networking operates in a mesh configuration. Because of the way
An Actuator is stereotypically a mechanical or electrical device
mesh networks work; Insteon systems have no need for a central
that triggers a given bustle. Like motors and switches. Such as
controller. Setting up an INSTEON system is as simple as plug-
those in electric light switches, motorized valves, and the like.
ging each device into a special power connector. This is automati-
Deprived of actuators, nothing gets done. Examples are home
cally connecting the new devices to all existing devices in a home.
doors, window draperies, garage door openers and closers, win-
dows, involuntary light switches etc[10].
3.6.2. Z-WAVE:
3.5. Controllers
It is a wireless technology operates in the 900MHz band.It’s a
These are necessary to send signals to other devices to initiate low-energy technology, so Z-wave devices can operate on battery
some sort of operation or be a part of a larger device to control power alone. A single Z-wave network can handle up to 232 de-
multiple devices [9]. High-end full house systems are shaped by vices, with an average maximum range between devices of 300
traders such as Crestron controller and Control4 controller and feet and so on.
low-end systems a like X10.

3.6.3. ZIGBEE:
3.5.1. Crestron:

It offers a variety of smart home devices, to control TV and music It works similar to Z-wave and is supported by similar number of
home automation companies. It operates in the 915MHz band. The
playback, lighting, window treatments, temperature, door locks
mesh configuration enables a 30 to 60 foot connection range be-
and other home security. With everything connected to Crestron’s tween devices. It is incorporated into tens of millions of smart gas
main hub, one can press one button on a remote or Smartphone and electricity meters ideaa.
app to enable a specific “scene.”

3.5.2. Control4:
4. Automating the Home
It supports a number of smart devices from other manufacturers A typical home composes of kitchen, living room and bed room.
and also offers its own line of devices. These include touch screen To design a smart home, one must discriminate the each and every
Controllers, wall keypads, multi-zone audio amplifiers, light function of kitchen, living room and bed room.
switches and dimmers, smart thermostats, and the like. To com-
4.1. Kitchen arena
municate with connected devices, the control4 system uses either
TCP/IP over the internet or Zigbee’s wireless mesh networking The most things or smart appliances found in kitchen like smart
technology. refrigerators, micro ovens, dish washers, coffee makers etc. If a
person has wake-up routine at morning and take a coffee. In this
Note: homeseer, iris, mcontrol, quirky, Wera, vivint, vemo, wink case, the automatic alarm rings, the coffee maker makes coffee
are other type of controllers. and gives an alert to user that his coffee is ready [6]. The smart
refrigerator tells about the food he/she take (about diet and inhale
International Journal of Engineering & Technology 439

of calories), the groceries are to be needed and gives a quick link Smart homes afford services and utilities to enhance user necessi-
service to the vendor who brings all the groceries. ties. One of the chief purposes of smart homes is the optimization
of user luxury by tumbling communications between the occupant
and home devices [3]. Smart homes can able to control the basic
4.2. Living room arena ecological constraints such as light, temperature and heat. Home
appliance monitoring and control from isolated places is a wide-
The smart TV will explore over the entertainment one is interested. spread service that can effortlessly be provided via smart homes.
The smart TV will have numerous purposes like desktop personal Smart home technology has attained substantial developments in
computer. So, this leads to interactive TV and added interactive the field of healthcare industry, such as patient monitoring, tele-
content will turn out to be accessible. medicine, and wellness nursing. Healthy people should be anxious
about their wellness and take safety measures in contradiction of
illness [5]. Self-monitoring systems vividly assess the wellness
4.2.1. Smart Living with Smart Furniture:
disorder of the inhabitant.
Furthermore, the smart devices are used in numerous facets, for
The furniture has in-built mirror technology which makes the user instance,
so excited and make he/she satisfied.
1. Welfare industry:
Health monitoring, personal trainer, remote diagnosis
4.2.2. Smart Environment with smart Lightning:
2. Entertainment field:
The lights which work smarter, as they maintain their brightness Television, video, games, Smart Home Theatre, Multi-Room Au-
according to the daylight and gets switch off when someone leaves dio, HD Video Distribution
the room. By giving the good lightning, ventilation that satisfies 3. Environment facet:
the user. Remote controlling of light, heat and air conditioning.
4. Security field:
4.2.3. Smart Living: Smart Security, simulated habitation, assets monitoring and pro-
tection, exposure of fire, gas leaks and water leaks tale- aid.
The camera detects and informs to the household owner that the 5. Communication facet:
guests are arrive with a face detection technology and makes all
Video phone, home calendar, prompts and communiqué inside and
the services get prepared to the guest by tracking and analysing all
outside the house.
the guest data.
6. Go Green facet:
Table 2: Utilities and services of smart home Reduce Electricity and heating fuel consumption.

Category Services Function If a person goes on vacation, he simply doesn’t worry about his
Ease To provide com- Lighting, controlling the tem- home because he wants to monitor and controls everything he
fort perature. Arrange the home needed in his house from outside [7].
environment according to the
inhabitant’s wish. Home appli-
ance controls the its very com-
fort to identification of intro-
duction, presentation, game and
siesta TV program selection,
cooking recipe presentation and
elapsed possessions facility [8].
Remote Remote access, Appliance monitoring and
Access monitoring and control through mobile devices
control and computers from remote
location, Appliance monitoring
and control over web browser
from distant location.
Home Automation Automate Home Voice-operated(speech) appli-
appliances con- ance control, Intelligent appli-
trol ances monitoring and control- Fig 3: Smart home networks
ling. Optimization of energy.
Conservation of energy. Reduc- 5. Smart Home Projects
tion of Energy Wastes.
Healthcare Wellness Graphical illustration of well-
monitoring ness, Respiratory and sleeping Smart Home technologies are being developed by various usages
disorder valuation. of new and tremendous technologies. Due to rapid growth in
Activity tracking and alarm Technology, Bluetooth has brought a revolutionary change. Vari-
Generation system, Sleeping ous smart projects are developed based on Bluetooth which is a
stage appreciation process. low cost and affordable. Another type of low cost technologies is
Z-wave and ZigBee. Smart homes are all about efficient usage of
4.3. Bedroom arena available resources [12]. For this reason, various energy efficient
renewable resources projects have been developed. With the ag-
gregation of clod-computing, there are so many cloud- based
The room has nifty climate control which the users can customize smart home projects are developed which are extensible and pro-
the scene in bedroom through single-touch heating system and can vides many applications like entertainment, ecological, security
pick an inimitable night-time temperature and illumination silhou- systems, domestic purposes, information systems, communication
ette for each and every bedroom. The bed is also fortified with and healthiness systems.
sensor that can monitor movement of a person in bed for perceiv- Another project is that the Computer-aided design CAD/CAM
ing health condition concerning sleeping in emblematic tedious of software for smart home device. The software is developed based
human beings. on cloud computing facility project. It helps the designer to choose
a smart home device and design and develop a smart living space
 440 International Journal of Engineering & Technology

[12]. This project offers pictorial simulation by smearing the inter- modules can be discriminated by kitchen, living room and bed
face to construct a real smart home. The procedure of smart home room. Each module has its own utilities and services to be imple-
device has four smart triggering modes including passive, respon- mented. The study includes the three best smart home projects in
sive, active and interactive. Consequently, it is much more oblig- the world. There are so many challenges in designing a smart
ing in make financial arrangements and estimates. home like security, cost, device compatibility and data flood.
In Egypt, a project was developed for the purpose of energy sav- Here and now smart home is more than just a home, controlled by
ing. The project titled as ‘Energy saving through smart home’. The the essential assessment unit like a mobile, tablet, handheld devic-
project aims to utilize the sensors to diminish the native energy es and computer. The quality of human life will obviously be in-
waste. One more project was done by Kong national university. creased through the smart home technology. Through the smart
Smart home energy management system using IEEE802.15.4 and home, humans get more comfort in accessing home essentials.
Sigsbee [12] [13] is developed. It was developed to control the Nevertheless, smart home technology is a decent choice for inhab-
smart home based on Energy savings and user cheerfulness, which itants who care about security, comfort and energy savings.
are two focal design considerations. In this system, they eradicate We conclude that the smart homes are the future homes. We ex-
the wires from the lighting panels. so that it offers further assis- pect that a typical home is constructed by bricks, cement and sand
tances, together with better and substantial savings in setting up by but in future bricks, cement and sand may be one of the smart
avoiding the expense and distraction of electric wiring. home devices or sensor or fully replaced by other devices.
Besides, there is adaptation of the smart technology in various
aspects of home utilities. Such a venture is developed and named Acknowledgement
as Calendar oriented services for smart home [1]. This project is
the extension of service model built on home calendar to support
ambient intelligence in home, subsequently the service will delib- The efforts were directed and supported comparatively by man-
erate the family activities forecasting and afford added intelligence, agement & principal of sir c r reddy college of engineering, eluru,
and supplementary smart vision of the smart Home. a.p, and India.

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