Home Automation
The entire concept of Home Automation was, for all but a few, only a dream until late in the nineties. And for those who could afford it, their house might have resembled the set of an early episode of Doctor Who! Luckily for those with even a modicum of aesthetic conscience, modern technology can not only bring your home to life, it can do so without you believing you reside in the ‘Big Brother’ laboratory!
In many instances where we face multi-discipline projects, there is often a need to integrate a dominant control system that communicates and instructs the various sub systems. This does away with the need for the client to endure the ‘wall acne’ phenomenon caused by multiple switch plates and system control keypads. A simple elegant touch panel acts as the interface to all of the house systems, allowing access to and control of things like room light settings, heating/cooling levels, video entry-phone functions and multiroom stereo music selection.
But firstly, a brief explanation of the phrase ‘Home Automation’: it does not mean moving your house from one location to another! It actually describes the process by which one or more aspects of your house can be ‘enabled’ to be controlled from secondary locations and, commonly, from portable handsets. Take the humble curtain; we have all got used to closing them with a stroke of the arm or the pulling of a cord. But what if you had over 10 sets of curtains or blinds around the house? And who shuts them when you are away on holiday or out late prior to returning home to be greeted by reflective black holes through which outsiders could be watching? The simple answer is that you could. Curtains and many other functions within your house can now be controlled at the push of a button; they can be ‘Automated’!
Beyond this example, the sophistication and reliability of modern electronics means that the realm of home automation can encompass much more than just closing curtains. Many ordinary household functions such as opening and closing gates, viewing the security cameras, controlling music in each room and adjusting air conditioning can all be linked together by a carefully designed cable network and integrated for seamless control through a variety of user interfaces. Touch-panels can be programmed and customised to individual requirements for ease of use. And with information and control screens now even built into the doors of fridges, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of a warm stove to surf the web or see who is at the front door. Running around your home carrying out routine chores and even having to walk from the Kitchen to the Drawing Room just to change the CD can now be a thing of the past. All of these typical every-day activities can be amalgamated and automated to any level of integration that you choose. And while touch panels and neatly integrated keypads like the ones above present the easiest and most flexible user interface, the Internet has opened up new opportunities for houses equipped to exploit them. We are all getting used to the concept of communicating with each other via email; why not do something very similar to stay in touch with your house while enjoying your annual holiday in sunnier climes? With advances in the distribution of both sound and vision and the ability of many whole-house control networks to link to the Internet, the world of ‘remote control’ has taken on a whole new meaning. Should you be away from those fearsome teenagers and yet keen to make sure your drawing room has not become the latest hot nightspot in your absence, just log on to the Internet and have a look around your house through a network of small, hidden digital cameras. Movement-sensitive models could even trigger an alarm and alert the police should burglars treat your absence as an open invitation! And just to return to our curtains; why not close them and turn on the Drawing Room lights before you even leave the office? Many Scandinavians do these things on their way home with a simple coded call from their car phones!
Yesterday’s future is today’s reality and while these pages might wet the appetite, they only scratch the surface of what is possible in modern houses and the extents one can go in the quest to live in fully automated and intelligent homes. The Holy Grail of all Custom Electronic Installation specialists is wireless technology and for all domestic electronics to reliably share useful information without the need to run kilometres of new cabling. But as anyone that has tried using a Bluetooth Headset knows, until wireless technology proves as reliable as a piece of copper, Home Automation can most easily be achieved by letting specialist designers help turn your electronic dreams into practical and workable realities.
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