Internet of Things (IOT)-Smart homes

Abstract

The globe has seen remarkable growth and changes based on the increase in telecommunication technology during the last decade. Various applications of the Information and Technology innovations have ascended to induce changes to how humans live, play, and work, think and interact; therefore impacting humans on various spheres of life. Of much interest for this paper is the conception of Internet of Things technology and smart homes which have altogether brought forth opportunities and possibilities. This research is a construct of smart homes seeking to dig into its prospects and implication in the sphere of human life. The study will rely on the secondary sources of in its methodology to inform submissions of results, before discussing them and conclude.

Introduction

Smart homes comprise of the agglomeration of computing whereby the home environment is characterised by monitors with ambient intelligence which offers context-aware services and enables remote home control. According to Alam, Reaz, and Ali, (2012), smartness is integrated into dwelling houses for comfort, safety, security, and healthcare and energy conservation. Remote control monitoring systems are typical elements of smart homes, which use web technologies and telecommunication to offer remote home control and support patients remotely from specialised assistance centres (Taymanov, and Sapozhnikova, 2018). This paper is a construction of the Internet of Things and smart homes.

According to Aldrich (2003), the Internet of Things has come a long way to revolutionise the mannerisms under which governments, businesses and consumers interact with the physical world. The extent of disruption will impact the world by making it better through improved life quality. IoT system may encompass essential parameters such as M2N gadgets, M2M communication technologies. IoT platform, significant data processing and management, User interface, end to end security and Gateways. IoT is a global infrastructure for the information society which facilitates advanced services by interconnecting virtual and physical devices based on existing interoperable communication and information technologies (Schiefer, 2015).

There about 50 billion connected gadgets in the world, with computers including tablets, Smartphone and personal computers representing approximately 17% of total internet connections. The other 83% results from devices using different vertical of IoT domain. The advent of smart homes was conceived long before the conception of IoT (Paetz, Dütschke, and Fichtner, 2012). The world has since then experienced several changes with the invention of devices to automate household activities and processes.

Demiris and Hensel (2009) present smart homes as an integral part of smart cities. Connected devices related to Smartphone are predicted to grow from 295 million to more than 1billion in three years. Smart devices amidst the smart home are the most significant representative part of the connected portion. Smart homes and smart commercial buildings represent 45% of total connected things in use in 2015. Base on investment and service opportunity, Datta et al., (2015) in his research estimates that this will increase to 81% by 2020. Homes are likely to shift from being interconnected to becoming information-and smart-enabled, with an integrated services environment which not only offers value to the house but also creates individual-driven ambience. From a future perspective, homes intend to become personal space which assists individuals in myriads of ways (Dohr et al., 2010).

Lobaccaro, Carlucci, and Löfström, (2016) maintain that smart homes are primarily inspired by the insatiable demands for convenience, security and energy efficiency. The sensitivity and awareness about smart homes are high amidst customers mainly from the threshold of the upper economic segment and those from the urban setting. Low entry barriers such as open source technologies are motivating more players to search for innovation and offer a better value proposition for their customers (Li et al., 2011).

The value obtained from smart homes are not anchored on luxury but as a requirement in the current dispensation to save the users from energy overconsumption, provide lighting, security, media entertainment and other miscellaneous services such as E-health and Tele-medicine. The new dispensation equally invites the usage of smart homes based on the challenges of climate change, depletion of energy resources and pollution (Miller, 2015). The concept of smart house has diffused many applications as tabulated below;

In the realm of a smart city, water, energy, , transportation, safety and public health, and other vital services are controlled and managed in a coordinated manner to support smooth operation of critical infrastructure while offering for a clean, safe environment and economic latitude in which to live, work and play (Sripan et al., 2012). Thus, the perspective in Infrastructure Design for any city has undergone a paradigm shift with conception of convergence and networking technologies, communication, solutions for information, entertainment, surveillance and security; which are starting to constitute a robust effect on our human perceive buildings’ design both residential and town planning (Ding et al., 2011).

According to Chan et al., (2009), the smart home paradigm’s real evolution and proliferation rely on End-to-End interoperability just as in the case with the conventional electrical plugs, switches and sockets, lamp holders and networking types of equipment. Any component of one make can be replaced by the same part from any other manufacturer by the consumer without any issue of compatibility arises. Each application ecosystem such as smart cities, smart home, and the smart grid has been unanimously considered as of high potentials in their various applications.

The research harnesses secondary literature sources to explicitly summon the research topic and bring into limelight the various arguments presented by different scholars. The paper will equally seek to remain with the bounds of moderation, and remain selective of the materials. This work takes cognisance of the limitations of the secondary source; such as out-dated data provisions, variations in times of research for the sources and limited validity and surety of figures presented. The work in response will strife to remain moderate concerning relevance of the used materials.

A smart home has various objectives justifying its constant demands by the global populations. Such targets include (Hui, Sherratt, and Sánchez, 2017);

1. To Make Homes more efficient in energy and resource usage
2. To Make Homes Smarter and more reactive to User Requirements
3. To make homes more livable, safer and comfortable

Internet of Things is a network of connected objects (Things) with embedded electronics which permits to sense, report; regulated and controlled remotely and sometimes able to take correct decisions. Internet of Things intends to link every gadget (things) which we associate with, such as those generally not connected to the network. While the proposition of linkage to the internet increases with a reach of IoT, it also presents particular challenges. One such problem is that many IoT nodes have limited storage, memory and computation capacities. Besides, they are unable to connect to IP based networks directly (Chen, Nugent, and Wang, 2012).

The application of the Internet of Things in smart homes has allowed users to control and monitor home appliances and security devices and conserve energy when the tool is not needed. Besides, wirelessly connected meters have capacitated remote meter reading in conjunction with applications such as two-way metering and differential tariffs, Monitoring parameters such as ambient light and traffic helps in controlling and conserving energy.

Energy availability and quality are vital and the smart home chips in not only lowering the consumption patterns but also in the generation of plentiful; which can then be fed back into the grid for usage. A smart home ought to be eloquently full of green energy sources monitored through the smart energy metering solutions which control loads of electrical infrastructure.

Safety and security is the prime reason for not only a smart home but a smart city since the two are entwined ion the basis of objectives. Interactivity and technology of the smart home ought to enable the emergency service provider to trigger quicker response upon the face of fire outbreaks, distress calls or medical emergency. An automated response system to the triggers should be able to locate the actual position, sort of distress which the request sender calls for attention to.

Water scarcity and management is an alive and well challenge. The smart home contribution to water management and conservation is crucial. Water sensors installed at the water meter sensors intelligently do collect data on water usage which can be used for home decision making policies for water use. Besides, rainwater harnessing systems are crucial, and in case the rainwater can be recharged by sensors to increase the adoption of rainwater harvesting systems. The water discharge from homes ought to be measured concerning quality and quantity to determine the pollution rate before being treated and discharged.

The connected home of the future will organically be an advancement of the present connected home, which is built on the fundamental basis of broadband Internet access both in the house and on the move, with the latter typically provided by Smartphone and other portable devices. Several customers are accommodating connected home and there intend to be a paradigm shift from isolated domains to cross-domain functionality and interoperability.

CONCLUSION

The paper focused on the meaning of smart homes and the Internet of Things; and dag into the details of the factors characterising a smart home. The research realised that smart home is merely beyond a house controlled by the central evaluation unit and a computer, and established the numerous incentives a smart home can bear a user. Besides, a device is “smart” if it is integrated with transceivers, sensor, motors and other actuators and Communication interfaces. Considering different aspects unravelled in this research, it is evident that the conception of the smart home was an idea which has bred forth myriads of positive implications to the users. Smart homes are excellent choices for people ventures into safety, comfort and energy saving. In the future realm, smart homes are likely to become more universally accepted as the forces of science and technology keeps on revealing more smart devices for a more comfortable and convenient living (Taymanov, and Sapozhnikova, 2018).

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