Intelligent Buildings and Smart Homes
ECA ITEC have worked for over 20 years to help develop the Smart Home industry through BSI, CENELEC, and industry groups including the Intelligent Building Group (IBG).
We have a number of Smart Home publications which are available to the public, but many more publications we produce are available to their members only and help to ensure that ECA members continue to be perceived as Europe’s Smart Home Industry leaders.
ECA ITEC offers information and guidance on some of the popular categories of Smart Home that have been developed. For those who are interested in having 'smart' features installed in their new or existing home we also give some assistance in helping to specify some of the popular features and facilities in our leaflet 'Guidance on Specifying your Smart Home'.
If you are interested in understanding more on this technical side of Smart Homes then see our leaflet 'An Introduction to Smart Home Standards and Systems'.
Smart Home types
- The secure Smart Home
- The Small Office Home Office (SOHO) Smart Home
- The Audio Visual Integrated (AVI) Smart Home
- The modern Smart Home
- The green Smart Home
- Special needs Smart Homes
The secure Smart Home
Many of us are increasingly concerned about the security of our homes when we are out or even when we are in them. An increasing number of people are installing security-based Smart Homes, which have burglar alarms and panic buttons that are linked to companies who check on the authenticity of the alarm and then either send help directly or call the police to the scene.
Some systems have lights that automatically switch on and off giving the impression that someone is at home. This may be augmented with the curtains opening and closing, or the TV also switching on and off. Perimeter security is often installed using CCTV and proximity switching of lighting at night time.
Other features that are becoming increasingly popular are window and door shutters, electric window and door locks, electronic barking dogs, remote alarmed panic rooms and safety boxes.
Whichever electronic devices are fitted in a home to improve security can only assist a good generic safe structure in protecting people's property and ensure that criminals do not enter or vandalise the property.
Some insurance companies give discounts against good electronically protected homes or for home owners who own a dog or have other features.
The Small Office Home Office (SOHO) Smart Home
With many people around the world increasingly working from home or running a small business from their home, there have been a number of Smart Home solutions aimed at providing for their needs with respect to telephones, computer systems and the internet.
Simple SOHO systems may only contain a link between the main combined domestic telephone and internet connection to a specific room set up to be an office. More complex solutions involve installing telephone networks and computer networks in almost every room in the home with multiple outlets in particular rooms, even more so for the main room intended as being an office.
Systems in the home may be cabled with IT network cables, fitted with a wireless system or have a combination of both. An increasingly popular option is to use the power supply cables for IT networking and communications. This system is called Powerline Communications or PLC.
The Audio Visual Integrated (AVI) Smart Home
In the marketplace today we have a number of TV/entertainment packages to choose from including satellite television, cable television, digital television and soon-to-be wireless broadband and high definition television. When we couple this with broadband, telephones and super sound systems including Dolby solutions, we have a gastronomic feast of entertainment for the home.
As most of us now have several TVs in the home, many of us increasingly want our enhanced options to be available in a number of rooms and not just the main sitting room.
The AVI solution offers us a range of options again – cabled, wireless, powerline or a combination of each. Usually these solutions are only limited by the amount of money one wishes to spend and are never limited by one's imagination.
The modern Smart Home
With life becoming increasingly demanding, many of us find our plans can change at a moment's notice and have need to be able to change settings in our home whether is it the heating system, telephone system, security system or the ability to choose not to start the washing machine or cooker at a previously chosen time.
Some Smart Home solutions give you these options and many more including the ability to see and speak to someone at your front door whilst you are elsewhere. These systems offer mood lighting and graded volume control for HiFi and other AV systems. Most modern Smart home systems include IT and telephone networks.
The green Smart Home
'Green' Smart Homes usually contain more than just electronic controls and networks; they usually contain advanced building fabrics with excellent thermal properties for walls, ceilings, floors and windows, tight closing external doors and windows and more.
They will always contain an advanced heating and ventilation system often making use of solar, wind or geothermal energy. The control systems would usually include presence sensors that switch off lights, turn down heating/cooling and switch off other devices not required in order to minimise energy usage. Electrical lights and appliances are chosen to ensure maximum energy savings and often take other environmental factors into consideration.
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Special needs Smart Homes
The European Government has advised that there is a much larger percentage of the population in Europe living to an older age and, as a consequence, it places strains and an increasing financial burden on the working population of Europe.
The way in which aged people live varies substantially from country to country. This is due primarily to cultural differences. In some countries such as the UK, Denmark and Germany, nearly 100% of the elderly population continue to live independently in their own houses whilst in Spain and Portugal, ageing people tend to remain living with their families.
In response to this, the European Government have invested a sizeable sum of money in developing Smart Home technology and standards in such projects as the European Application Home Alliance (TEAHA), SMARTHOUSE 2 and Advanced Powerline as well as other generic Smart Home projects and standards.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation researched and developed advice for homes for the aged or disabled people and published their results in a book entitled Homes for the Future.
Another specialist solution which was being researched by the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering is for Alzheimer's disease sufferers. This research used a large range of techniques to help remind and advise the sufferer of things they may have forgotten, or provide controls to prevent accidents. These include bath level controls, cooker pressure switches, recorded voice messages triggered by particular events, colour association techniques, sound devices attached to house keys and remote controls, etc. Further information on this study can be obtained from the Bath Institute of Medical Health.
As Smart Homes and solutions continue to develop, they promise change in our lives, mostly for the better, continuing to provide more options and choices in how we work, spend our leisure time, shop and even pay for our home equipment such as cookers, washing machines, TV, HiFi, etc. Many electrical equipment manufacturers are developing systems which will be based on "pay for use", a bit like slot meters on gas, electricity and TV, but electronically enhanced to debit your bank account or your credit card instead.
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