"Smart Technology Series Day 1" - IoT: The Concept of Smart Home Technology (Domotics)

Hello dear Steemians, I am very excited about how the last few days turned out and I'll like to share few insights about it.

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It started on Sunday when my post on “The Cerebrospinal Meningitis outbreak in Nigeria” was mentioned by @air-clinic as one of the “posts that impressed them the most” during the week. I was so happy and honored to get such recognition.

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Then came the biggest news of the week when @suesa rolled out the list of her “chosen ones” for her mentorship program. I was blown away on seeing the announcement for a great exposition and relationship is underway. I thank you @suesa once again for the kind gesture, I am looking forward to working closely with you.

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In the light of these good happenings, I’ll be kick-starting my "Smart Technology Series" project. It will be on a field of technology that has been an interesting read since the start of the week for me. Today, I will begin with an insight into the concept of Home Automation (Domotics) or simply a Smart Home.

Have you heard about IoT?

Well, if you have, thumbs up to you. But if you haven’t, worry no more cos I’ll be sharing with us beautiful topics under it in my “Smart Technology series”. Let's start!

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INTRODUCTION

What is IoT?

IoT simply means a network of “things” which could be home appliances, vehicles, physical devices, cameras, biochips and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators and connectivity which enables these “things” to connect to one another and exchange data. Yes, you read it right! IoT makes it possible for “things” to communicate with one another. Isn’t that crazy? What language could they be using? English? French? Spanish? Or German?

Internet of Things

The idea of IoT is mainly to collect useful data from each connected item on the network with the help of various existing technology and then autonomously flow the data between each other so as to make it possible for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems. This definitely results in improved efficiency, accuracy, great economic development and reduced human intervention.

IoT is a technology of the class of cyber-physical system and includes branches that touch almost every part of our daily activities. Under IoT, we have technologies such as virtual power plant, smart grid, intelligent transportation, smart cities and many more.

THE CONCEPT OF SMART HOME/HOME AUTOMATION

What is a Smart Home?

Smart home, Domotics or simply Home Automation is simply a technology that builds an automation for a home. It involves the integration of a control and automation system for monitoring and controlling home functional activities such as lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, security and many more. These systems of “things” – the home appliances, are usually connected to a central hub called the “gateway” which integrates a user interface that is either connected to a wall-mounted terminal, a tablet computer or simply a mobile phone from which the activities are monitored and controlled.

Home Automation

HISTORY OF SMART HOME

The technology of home automation was first introduced in the 1900s. It began with labor-saving machines and later the introduction of the gas-powered home appliances, the washing machines, cloth dryers, refrigerators, and dishwashers.

In was until 1975 before the general purpose home automation network was developed. It was referred to as X10 – a communication protocol for electronic devices which uses electric power transmission wiring for signaling and control. It evolved through time and the lamp module, appliance module, switch modules, and the timer was added.

In 2012, according to ABI Research, about 1.5 million home automation systems were installed in the United States [1]. According to Li at al. (2016), Home Automation was categorized under three generations as below; [2]

First generation: those are the wireless technology integrated with a proxy server

Second generation: these one are integrated with artificial intelligence(AI) for controlling electrical devices e.g. Amazon Echo

Third generation: here a robot buddy which interacts with humans was introduced

MAJOR APPLICATIONS AND IMPORTANCE OF HOME AUTOMATION

Up till now, the technology is still evolving and many additions are being integrated into the system. The major home functional activities which use the home automation technology includes:

• Lightning control system

With the aid of sensors and actuators, the lightning is controlled from the gateway user interface without the need to physically operate the switch.

• Heating, air-conditioning and ventilation

Through home automation, it is possible to control the heating and ventilation devices over the internet and the user interface. So regulation of the indoor environment condition can be done easily and automatically through a remote control

• Security

Home security is further enhanced through the integration of the household security system into the home automation system. Surveillance cameras and central locking devices can be automated for top security and alertness,

• Leak and smoke detection

Faults such as a leak in the piping system can be easily monitored through the automation system. Smoke or related dangerous gases resulting from fire or chemical release can also be monitored through the user interface and enhances safety and health.

• Automation for Elderly or Disabled occupants

Another beautiful application of the technology is in home automation for elderly and disabled people who don’t have the strength of capability of walking around the home to perform some basic functions. Through the system, sensors and actuators make it possible for them to monitor and control the activities of the house through a remote and interaction through the user interface enabled by the automation system

CONCLUSION

The advent of technology is increasing in implementation and relevance. The world is opening to unprecedented innovations and achievements which the Internet of Things (IoT) is one to look out for. Its intervention in critical world functions and infrastructure makes it widely impacting as it would help change the world and make work and implementation of some work function very fast, accurate and effective.

The smart Home technology aims to help automate every function of the home and makes life very easy for us. As adapted from research and market publication, the home automation market was said to worth about 5.77 billion US Dollars in 2013 and has a market value projection of 12.81 billion US Dollars by the year 2020.[3]

So, embrace technology, think technology and implement a technology. The world is moving, don’t be left out!

REFERENCES

1. "1.5 Million Home Automation Systems Installed in the US This Year" . www.abiresearch.com. Retrieved 2016-11-22.

2. Li, Rita Yi Man; Li, Herru Ching-Yu; Mak, Cho Kei; Tang, Tony Beiqi. "Sustainable Smart Home and Home Automation: Big Data Analytics Approach" (PDF). International Journal of Smart Home. 10 (8): 177–198.

3. "Research and Markets: Global Home Automation and Control Market 2014-2020 - Lighting Control, Security & Access Control, HVAC Control Analysis of the $5.77 Billion Industry". Reuters. 2015-01-19. Archived from the original on 2016-05-05.

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_automation#cite_note-5

Thanks very much for following my post. I hope you enjoy today’s series of the “Smart Technology Series”. I hope to deliver an equally educating content in the next series. Watch out!

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