Mobile Communications and Computing
Name:
Instructor:
Mobile Communications and Computing
Smart Home
Through a computer server, the smart home is configured to start activating several devices and appliances before the family wakes up. The thermostat is automatically turned on to warm up the room and heat the water to be used for shower and washing dishes. When it is time to get up, the lights at the mater bedroom are turned on and gradually increase in brightness. The alarm is set off to wake up the parents. The alarms located in other bedrooms are configured to ring at a later appropriate time. The house’s security system is automatically deactivated. Since it had rained last night, sensors detected that there is plenty of water on the lawn and prevented the sprinklers from spraying. Unnecessary sprinkling enables the family to save on water usage. If it had not rained, the home server would have activated the sprinklers to spray the lawn and automatically shut off after a few minutes. By the time the parents get to the kitchen, they find a hot pot of coffee prepared by a pot that started automatically. At a much later time, lights in rooms are automatically turned on and the alarms set off to wake up the teenagers and grandmother. The water heater automatically shut off after all showers have been taken and breakfast dishes washed. The lights in the parents and children’s rooms are turned off. By turning of these appliances, the family saves on energy consumption.
As the parents drop off their children to school then go to work, grandmother and the dog are left alone in the house. Nobody has to be assigned to look after them. The dog’s dish is configured to automatically re-fill itself when it runs low. A number of conventional and non-conventional sensors are activated to monitor a smart home (Al-Qutayri & Jeedella n.d). Conventional sensors include fire, smoke, humidity, light and motion detectors. Conversely, the non-conventional sensors include biosensors such as fingerprint detectors and face recognition. These sensors prevent continuous involvement of the grandmother in monitoring and controlling devices and appliances. A pet-immune security sensor, such as the DSC BV300DP, can be mounted at the door (Wells 2009). It is configured to detect the coded signal on the dog’s collar, and opens the powered pet door without triggering the alarm.
The smart home can perform telemedicine and telehealth services. The system continuously monitors grandmother’s health condition, such as heartbeat and level of medications. It automatically re-orders for medicine when it runs low. The system also collects information relating to grandmother’s health, which can be used during clinical visits. Conventional and non-conventional sensors allow the father and mother to monitor the position and posture of grandmother. They are able to periodically monitor these while at the office via web software linked to the smart home system. Posture and motion detector will communicate with the home server in the event that the grandmother has fallen. The home server will automatically inform the father, mother and hospital of the medical emergency. During lunch hour, the system automatically request for food deliver. The grandmother doest not have to cook lunch or personally request for a delivery. CCTV cameras provide the grandmother with images of the premises. The home server enables her to use her mobile phone or laptop to open the door or main gate for guests, like the delivery person, who are not recognized by the biosensors.
As evening approaches, the system automates several appliances. A sensor in the refrigerator determines the items to be bought and the items that are almost expired. A massage of a shopping list is sent to the mother of the groceries and other materials to be bought before she gets home. The water heater is automatically turned back on to warm the water for shower. Biosensor allows the father, mother and children access into the compound as they arrive from work and school. The system automatically orders for food delivery if deemed necessary. The security system is once again activated to guarantee maximum security at night. Despite the beefed up security, pet immune security sensor allow the dog to roam around the house without setting off the alarm. The lights are automatically turned on at the exact time they are configured to. As the family sits down to watch the television, the brightness of the lights are automatically reduced to a level preset for watching movies. Because of the digital subscriber line (DSL), one teenager can use the internet for research even as the other uses the telephone. While at the kitchen, the mother can remotely control the volume of the stereo located in the family room.
Through Bluetooth or wireless LAN connection, the father uses his laptop to configure the elements of the smart home. The water heater is automatically turned off after everyone has taken a shower and the dinner plates washed. Through motion and posture sensors, the smart home can detect when everyone has gone to sleep. This is because there will be no movements around the house. The lights are automatically turned off and are gradually turned back on when any person wakes up in the middle of the night. These movements are also detected by the motion posture sensors. All windows, doors and gates that were mistakenly left open, are automatically shut.
Smart Home Architecture
Wireless networks provide
portability and mobility for users. From their paces of work, the parents used
internet enabled devices, such as mobile phones and computers, to communicate
with the home server. Through an internet protocol address, they can send
control and monitor commands to the home server via short massages services
(SMS). The GSM/GPRS modem allows home server to receive the messages and send
back results via SMS. Wireless routers and Bluetooth adapters are connected to
the Home server. It is through these devices that mobile phones and laptops are
able to connect to the home server. The wireless local area network has
coverage of 100 meters (MISRA 2009). This means that only devices
within this range can connect to the home server via this network. While at
work, the parents will have to use devices that are connected to a wide area network.
WAN has a much wider coverage of 10 kilometers (MISRA 2009). Bluetooth,
which is a personal area network, has a much lower coverage of 10 meters (MISRA 2009). The piconet
consists of one device that acts as a master to a maximum of seven slave devices
(Schiller 2000). A group of piconets
form a scatternet. It is through the peripheral
interface controller (PIC) that the masters in the piconets control the salve devices.
Reference:
Al-Qutayri, M & Jeedella, S n.d., Integrated Wireless Technologies for Smart Homes Applications, Khalifa University of Science, Technology, and Research, viewed 30 August 2013, <http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/9629/InTech-Integrated_wireless_technologies_for_smart_homes_applications.pdf>.
MISRA, S 2009, Wireless communications and networks: 3G and beyond, Tata McGraw Hill Education, New Delhi.
Schiller, H 2000, Mobile communications, Addison-Wesley, Harlow.
Wells, Q 2009, Guide to digital home technology integration, Delmar Cengage Learning, Clifton Park, NY.