Home automation ordomotics[1] isbuilding automation for ahome. A homeautomation system will monitor and/or control home attributes such as lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It may also includehome security such as access control and alarm systems.
The phrasesmart home refers to home automation devices that haveinternet access. Home automation, a broader category, includesany device that can be monitored or controlled via wireless radio signals, not just those having internet access. When connected with theInternet, home sensors and activation devices are an important constituent of theInternet of Things ("IoT").[2]
A home automation system typically connects controlled devices to a centralsmart home hub (sometimes called a "gateway"). Theuser interface for control of the system uses either wall-mounted terminals, tablet or desktop computers, a mobile phone application, or a Web interface that may also be accessible off-site through the Internet.
In 1975, the first general purpose home automation network technology,X10, was developed. It is a communication protocol for electronic devices. It primarily useselectric power transmission wiring for signalling and control, where the signals involve briefradio frequency bursts ofdigital data, and remains the most widely available.[4]
By 2012, in the United States, according to ABI Research, 1.5 million home automation systems were installed.[5]Per research firm Statista[6] more than 45 million smart home devices will be installed in U.S. homes by the end of the year 2018.[7] From 2018 to 2023, the number of U.S. homes equipped with smart devices grew at 10.2% per year to reach 63.43 million by 2023.[8]
The word "domotics" is a contraction of the Latin word for a home (domus) and the wordrobotics.[1] The word "smart" in "smart home" refers to the system being aware of the state of its devices, which is done through the information and communication technologies (ICT) protocol and the Internet of Things (IoT).[9]
Applications and technologies
Home automation is prevalent in a variety of different realms, including:
Lighting control system: a "smart" network that incorporates communication between various lighting system inputs and outputs, using one or more central computing devices.
Occupancy-aware control system: it is possible tosense the occupancy of the home using smart meters[12] and environmental sensors likeCO2 sensors,[13] which can be integrated into the building automation system to trigger automatic responses forenergy efficiency and building comfort applications.
Appliance control and integration with thesmart grid and asmart meter, taking advantage, for instance, of high solar panel output in the middle of the day to run washing machines.[14][15]
Home robots and security: a householdsecurity system integrated with a home automation system can provide additional services such as remote surveillance of security cameras over the Internet, oraccess control and central locking of all perimeter doors and windows.[16]
Pet andbaby care, for example tracking the pets and babies' movements and controlling pet access rights.[19]
Air quality control (inside andoutside). For example,Air Quality Egg is used by people at home to monitor the air quality and pollution level in the city and create a map of the pollution.[20]
Smart kitchen, withrefrigerator inventory, premade cooking programs, cooking surveillance, etc.
In 2011,Microsoft Research found that home automation could involve a high cost of ownership, inflexibility of interconnected devices, and poor manageability.[21] When designing and creating a home automation system, engineers take into account several factors including scalability, how well the devices can be monitored and controlled, ease of installation and use for the consumer, affordability, speed, security, and ability to diagnose issues.[22] Findings from iControl showed that consumers prioritize ease-of-use over technical innovation, and although consumers recognize that new connected devices have an unparalleled cool factor, they are not quite ready to use them in their own homes yet.[23]
Historically, systems have been sold as complete systems where the consumer relies on one vendor for the entire system including the hardware, the communications protocol, the central hub, and the user interface. However, there are nowopen hardware andopen source software systems which can be used instead of or with proprietary hardware.[21] Many of these systems interface with consumer electronics such as the Arduino or Raspberry Pi, which are easily accessible online and in most electronics stores.[24] In addition, home automation devices are increasingly interfaced with mobile phones through Bluetooth, allowing for increased affordability and customizability for the user.[9]
Criticism and controversies
Home automation suffers fromplatform fragmentation and lack oftechnical standards[25][26][27][28][29][30] a situation where the variety of home automation devices, in terms of both hardware variations and differences in the software running on them, makes the task of developing applications that work consistently between different inconsistent technologyecosystems hard.[31] Customers may hesitate to bet their IoT future onproprietary software or hardware devices that useproprietary protocols that may fade or become difficult to customize and interconnect.[32]
The nature of home automation devices can also be a problem forsecurity,data security anddata privacy, since patches to bugs found in the core operating system often do not reach users of older and lower-price devices.[33][34] One set of researchers say that the failure of vendors to support older devices with patches and updates leaves more than 87% of active devices vulnerable.[35][36]
Concerns have been raised by tenants renting from landlords who decide to upgrade units with smart home technology.[37] These concerns include weak wireless connections that render the door or appliance unusable or impractical; the security of door passcodes kept by the landlord; and the potential invasion of privacy that comes with connecting smart home technologies to home networks.[38]
Researchers have also conducted user studies to determine what the barriers are for consumers when integrating home automation devices or systems into their daily lifestyle. One of the main takeaways was regarding ease of use, as consumers tend to steer towards "plug and play" solutions over more complicated setups.[39] One study found that there were large gaps in the mental-models generated by users regarding how the devices actually work.[39] Specifically, the findings showed that there was a lot of misunderstanding related to where the data collected by smart devices was stored and how it was used.[39] For example, in a smart light setup, one participant thought that her iPad communicated directly with the light, telling it to either turn-off or on.[39] In reality, the iPad sends a signal to the cloud system that the company uses (in this case, the Hue Bridge) which then signals directly to the device.[39]
Overall, this field is still evolving and the nature of each device is constantly changing. While technologists work to create more secure, streamlined, and standardized security protocols, consumers also need to learn more about how these devices work and what the implications of putting them in their homes can be. The growth of this field is currently limited not only by technology but also by a user's ability to trust a device and integrate it successfully into his/her daily life.
Impact
Utilizing home automation could lead to more efficient and intelligent energy-saving techniques.[40] By integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) with renewable energy systems such as solar power or wind power, homes can autonomously make decisions about whether to store energy or expend it for a given appliance,[40] leading to overall positive environmental impacts and lower electricity bills for the consumers using the system. To do this, researchers propose using data from sensors regarding consumer activity within the home to anticipate consumer needs and balance that with energy consumption.[41]
Furthermore, home automation has a large potential regarding family safety and security. According to a 2015 survey done by iControl, the primary drivers of the demand for smart and connected devices are first "personal and family security", and second "excitement about energy savings".[42] Home automation includes a variety of smart security systems and surveillance setups. This allows consumers to monitor their homes while away, and to give trusted family members access to that information in case anything bad happens.
While there are many competing vendors, there are increasing efforts towardsopen source systems. However, there are issues with the current state of home automation including a lack of standardized security measures and deprecation of older devices without backwards compatibility.
Home automation has high potential for sharing data between family members or trusted individuals for personal security purposes and could lead to energy saving measures with a positive environmental impact in the future.
The home automation market was worth US$64 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to over $163 billion in 2028.[citation needed]
^Rye, Dave (October 1999)."My Life at X10".AV and Automation Industry eMagazine. Archived fromthe original on September 30, 2014. RetrievedOctober 8, 2014.
^Jin, M.; Bekiaris-Liberis, N.; Weekly, K.; Spanos, C. J.; Bayen, A. M. (2016-01-01). "Occupancy Detection via Environmental Sensing".IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering.PP (99):443–455.doi:10.1109/TASE.2016.2619720.ISSN1545-5955.S2CID4600376.
^Rehman, Aqeel-ur; Rehman, Sadiq Ur; Khan, Iqbal Uddin; Moiz, Malaika (December 2016)."Security and Privacy Issues in IoT".International Journal of Communication Networks and Information Security.8 (3):147–157.
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