Home automation often assigned as Smart Homes. A smart home is a residence that uses the devices which are connected to the internet to enable remote monitoring and management. That means you can reach your home appliances from anywhere, anytime.
Smart Home or Home automation are symbols of comfort, convenience, energy efficiency, and security. A smart home enables us to see consumer usage data and automating actions based on homeowners’ preferences.
This will help you in monitoring your home and also scheduling the tasks from anywhere. For example, you can schedule to turn on the heating system for your office leaving time. So that when you came back home, you get a warm welcoming environment.
This happens just because of the automation of electronic home appliances. So, what is home automation?
Quick History of Home Automation System
At the very beginning, home automation began with labor-saving machines. Back in the 1900s, electric and gas-powered home appliances became popular.
In the 1900s, electric powered washing machines, water heaters, refrigerators, sewing machines, dishwashers, and clothes dryers were invented.
The first home automation network was invented in 1975. It was a communication protocol for electric appliances which uses the electric power transmission wiring for the signals and control. After that, in 1978, the wall switch modules also introduced.
In 2005, a modern home automation technology came into the market which is called Zigbee and Z-Wave. This technology can communicate in two ways, unlike the previous one. We can still see the older technology installed in many homes which were installed back in 1975.
In 2011, Nest Labs, which was founded in 2010, introduced the first smart home product. This product assists to control the temperature of home in a better way, called the Nest Learning Thermostat.
Later, the company also created smart smoke detectors, security cameras, and much more. In 2015, Google acquired this company.
In 2012, SmartThings Inc. launched a starter campaign. It raises $1.2 million to fund its brand new smart home system. SmartThings Inc. came on the market in 2013 and acquired by the Samsun in 2014.
Now, many companies are introducing their smart products, which are solving many everyday problems and helping us to make our day a better one.
According to ABI Research, 1.5 million smart homes were installed by 2012. These numbers raise to 45 million smart homes at the end of 2018.
What is Smart Home Automation System?
It is a technological solution that allows automating the bulk of electrical and technology-based tasks within a home.
This is done through a mixture of hardware and software technologies that enable the command and management of appliances remotely.
Devices within the home automation systems connect and communicate with each other over a wireless network. The entire automation requires management software to monitor and manage appliances remotely.
This management software can be installed on a smartphone that will be connected with smart home technology appliances.
In short, all the devices in your home are connected to the internet and can be controlled remotely through a mobile app. You can control advanced features with the mobile app and can change basic settings manually.
What is a Smart Home?
Building automation for your home is called home automation; as result, you get a smart home. A smart home comprises internet-connected appliances.
A smart home has smart lighting, climate, automated home security, and an entertainment system. These devices come with modern technologies and many advanced features.
In a Smart House, typically all the devices connect to a central hub or gateway. The user can access and manage it with the help of a mobile phone application, desktop computer, tablet, or web interface.
These devices are also accessible off-site through the internet.
You may like to read:
- HOW DO ROBOT VACUUMS WORK?
- DO ROBOT VACUUMS WORK ON CARPET?
- HOW DO ROBOT VACUUMS WORK?
- BEST LIGHT BULBS FOR BATHROOM WITH NO WINDOWS
Examples of Smart Home Automation
Technology is already a part of our domestic space (light bulbs, dishwashers, and so on). Building a smart home is just to replace our existing technologies into home automation products.
There are so many ways that you can use and add some automation into your home.
Here are some easy home automation alternatives for traditional home technologies:
Smart Home Security: A smart home needs a smart security system. Smart security systems can detect motion in a particular restricted region. After detecting motion, it will send you a push notification to your mobile so you can take action on time.
Smart Lighting: A home cannot become smart if it hasn’t a smart lighting system. A smart lighting system will allow you to adjust the lighting of your home according to your preferences.
For example, you can adjust light bulbs to dawn and dusk mode, you can change their colors and color temperatures, and you can control them from your mobile app.
Smart Lock: Smart Locks are a magnificent addition to smart a smart home. You can get a complete keyless entry with the help of smart locks. There are multiple ways of unlocking the door with these locks.
For example, you can connect it to your smartphone so that whenever you come near the door, you will find an unlocked door for you.
Smart Doorbells: These types of doorbells have multiple exiting features. For example, you can talk to the person is at your front door with two-way communication technology by using your mobile phone, even if you are not at home.
Smart Thermostats: These types of thermostats will allow users to schedule, monitor, and remotely control home temperatures. These devices also learn the behavior of homeowners’ and automatically adjust settings to provide maximum comfort and efficiency.
Smart Home Pros and Cons
The biggest benefit of home automation is providing peace of mind to homeowners’, a better security system, allowing them to monitor remotely, and controlling the home energy more effectively.
The next biggest benefit is: you can set all the devices according to your preferences.
For example, lights will only light up when you arrive at home, the door of the garage will open automatically when you arrived, and the smart door lock will detect your smart mobile and you will get an unlocked door.
A smart indoor monitoring system will allow you to do more. It can assist you in monitoring your baby, any elder in the home, or your pet while setting away from your house.
When all the devices will turn on only when you arrive or when it is needed, it will save energy. This is the reason home automation or smart houses are energy efficient.
For example, instead of leaving the air conditioner on all day, a modern home system can learn your behavior and make sure the house is cooled by the time you arrive home from work.
However, all these features can seem to be complex for some people. An intelligent home system can be complex to manage for people who already struggle with technology.
Smart product manufacturers are already working on it. They are trying to reduce complexity and improving their user experience.
The major issue that comes with a smart home is security and privacy concerns. Because of connectivity with the internet, it is easy for hackers to hack into your home.
If any hacker gets access to your house, he can do all the stuff that you can do without letting you know. However, famous brands already worked a lot on it. You can reduce the chances of hacking by using recommended products.
Consider checking 13 Best Tips on How to Maintain a Robot Vacuum Cleaner.
How does home automation work?
Home automation is a network of communication between the device and user through any management software by using the internet.
Each device has multiple sensors and is connected to the internet through a WiFi connection or local Ethernet. This enables to access the device remotely.
So, all of your devices are connected to the internet and you can control them by using mobile applications anywhere until it also connected the device with the internet.
Usually, Home automation or IoT works in two ways:
- Scheduling: With automation, you can schedule the tasks of devices. For example, you can schedule to turn on or off any device at a particular time throughout the day.
- Triggers: In this way, actions in one connected appliance trigger actions in another. For example, the smart plug will automatically turn on the heater when smart lock unlocks.
For further understandings of how smart home works, we need to understand more elements of the home automation systems. There are three basic elements sensors, controllers, and actuators. Because of these elements, all the automation works.
Let’s see the work of these elements:
- Sensors: Sensors are used to detect any change and then convert into electric signals. For example, sensors can detect changes in daylight, temperature, or any motion. After detecting a particular change, a smart house can adjust settings according to your preferences.
- Controllers: Controllers can be a mobile phone application, desktop software, or any web interface. This is used to communicate with the device by using the internet. This is the interface users see.
- Actuators: Actuators control the whole mechanism. It can be a light switch, motorized valve, or any function of the home automation system. These are programmed in a way that it can be controlled remotely.
What are the benefits of Home Automation?
The principal purpose of home automation is to streamline and make the user’s daily life more easy and enjoyable. Smart houses are full of features and benefits. Let’s discuss some of these benefits here:
- Remote Access: you can control all of your modern devices from anywhere, anytime. Just you need your smartphone and a working internet connection.
- Comfort: When you programmed all of your essential devices and tasks according to your preferences, this will lead you to more comfort in your house. You just need to relax and the smart house will take care of all.
- Convenience: Imagine if you forgot to turn off your lights while coming to the office. With this advanced technology, now you have access to turn them off while setting into your office.
- Increase Safety: Smart fire detectors, pressure sensors, and other kinds of smart sensors can protect your home from disasters. The intelligent Security system also helps in increasing the safety of your house.
- Energy Efficiency: If you are a conscious person regarding energy usage, then home automation is for you. When your devices will turn on for a particular time according to your preferences, this will save a lot of energy.
What features are available through the home automation system?
Here is the list of common features that comes with a smart house:
- Voice Activated Control
- Keyless Entry
- Real-time text and email alerts
- Smart Alarm Systems
- Advanced security system
- Remotely Appliances control
- Fire and carbon monoxide monitoring
Interesting:
Why Smart Homes are good?
Smart Houses consist of modern technology based on AI. It is the best and modern solution to our daily life problems.
Here are a few benefits of smart houses to give you an idea about why smart homes are best.
Save Energy and Money: Creating automation into the house will keep you away from wasting energy. It will reduce the power consumption of unattended devices that are left behind.
It will turn off all unnecessary appliances when you are away from home. In this way, your house will not waste electricity.
Boost Your Home Security: An automated home system provides you automatic motion detection doorbells and security cameras. It will detect any motion within the restricted area and send a push notification to your mobile so you can take action on time.
Further, through these doorbells, you can talk to the person is at your door while sitting away from the house using two-way communication technology.
Saves Your Precious Time: Since you can control all of your devices remotely, so you won’t have to go back to open the door for your children.
Smart Houses Automation is also convenient for a person on the go. You can schedule tasks or start any appliance while on the go.
For example, you can give the command to your robotic vacuum cleaner to clean the floor when you are coming back home by using your smartphone.
Complete Access to Your Home: Don’t worry if you go on vacation frequently or love to travel. You can get complete control over your house with the help of home automation.
So, you can run and manage all of your home devices while sitting out of town.
Smart Home Implementation
You can construct a new home according to the smart home infrastructure according to your place. First, you can design and plan all the automation and then start constructing your house accordingly.
While older homes can be retrofitted with smart technologies. We recommend starting with automating one part of your house. This will also help you figure out, is smart is for you or not.
To convert your home into a smart home, you need smart home devices that will use your home WiFi for connectivity. After purchasing any smart appliance, you can connect it with the home WiFi and set up its mobile application.
After setting up the application, you can control all the smart features through the mobile app. Because of this, you can access your smart appliance remotely.
Further, smart appliances are also voice assistant compatible. It means you can command and control your smart devices by using voice commands. For example, you can ask Alexa, “Hey Alexa, show me my front door”.
It is very handy and gives you wire-free control over your smart devices. You even need not reach your smart appliance to change settings or turn it on or off.
Here is a complete guide for HOW TO BUILD A SMART HOME SYSTEM.
Consider Checking:
Conclusion
We hope you got some insights on what is home automation and how does home automation work under the home automation guide.
Smart Homes are the home of this modern era of technology. These homes are full of modern technologies which make our life easier. We need to understand how this all works and how we can take advantage of it.
SmartHousesTech commits to provide all the information regarding home automation so that everyone can adopt some level of automation into their homes. We review smart devices and write informative blogs.
If you found this article interesting or helpful, you can also share it with your friends.
Good – I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs as well as related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. Nice task..