SMART HOUSE
Table of Contents Executive Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．2 Executive Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．3 House Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．4 Products and Services．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．5 Market Analysis Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．6 Strategy and Implementation Summary．．．．．．．7 Strategy and Implementation Summary．．．．．．．8 Web Plan Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．9 Web Plan Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．10 Web Plan Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．11 Web Plan Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．12 Management Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．13 Management Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．14 Management Summary．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．15
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Executive Summary The overall objective of this proposal is to grow and sustain convergence and interoperability of systems, services and devices for the Smart House that will provide the Citizen with access to increased functionality, accessibility, reliability and security that a Smart House, with common and open architectures. The specific objective of this second phase of the Smart House mission is to deliver a “Code of Practice� for all actors, systems, networks, protocols, applications and services involved in the Smart House, specifying functionalities, methodologies, recommended standards and working practices that ensure convergence, interoperability and interactivity of multiple (and competing) products, applications and services in and to the Smart House. This paper describes its recommendation to create a program of state incentives to increase the supply and variety of housing. To address the municipal reluctance to zone for all needed housing types, the task force recommends a voluntary state program that rewards municipalities that adopt higher density zoning for housing that is well-located (ideally near transit or existing communities), compact, energy-efficient, and includes a mix of opportunities for low-, moderate-, middle- and upper-income households. Zones can include a mix of uses, encourage both home ownership and rental options, and incorporate design standards to ensure attractive, walk able neighborhoods. The proposed program provides municipalities with three specific financial incentives: planning and visioning grants; financial payments for new housing units zoned; and financial payments for new housing units built. The program will seek to offer priority access to other existing funding programs such as transportation and land preservation, and will seek facilitated permitting. The task force is working on a separate track to improve the regulatory process for well located, sustainable projects. The task force will ensure that the Department of Environmental Protection’s new Permit Efficiency
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Review Task Force addresses this issue (through members who sit on both bodies) and will explore permit reform with the Department of Transportation and Department of Community Affairs, as well. The Smart Housing program will provide numerous benefits. By offering incentives to generate local support and fund community planning, this program will act as a catalyst for housing projects that might otherwise never happen. The projects will strengthen host communities and bolster our state’s economy by housing workers, families and young professionals.
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House Summary A Smart house is a dwelling that incorporates a communications network that connects the key electrical appliances and services and allows them to be remotely controlled or accessed. Electrical appliances and services would include, items such as environmental controls (heating and lighting), security devices (alarms, motion detectors, etc.), home entertainment, cooking appliances, cleaning appliances, and communication systems. The Smart House can be considered as the combination of three elements: home automation, a communications network and intelligent control. The communications network can be by physical cable (copper or optical fibred) or a wireless network or a combination of both. The intelligent control can be a centralized computer or it can be distributed intelligence consisting of several local and remote computing devices. Remote access and control of the system may be possible through a ‘gateway’. This could be used by the home owner and/or by service providers. This work will be produced according to ISO 9001. It is likely to be required information to anyone involved in any work in the Smart House that involves electronics, white goods, A/V equipment, electrical systems and lighting, computers, networks and communication, telecommunications, sustainable energy management and local generation. This population will include Builders, Electricians, HVAC engineers, Lighting engineers, Networking and Computing systems engineers, Local government planners and building regulation experts, Architects etc‌ If this Code of Practice is accepted by the EU then the likely utilization will be very significant.
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Products and Services We think that current standards do not cover in an adequate manner the safety of connected appliances/devices. We believe that he success of Smart Houses will depend on the Home Control System ability to operate appliances/devices and the potential to cause harm to the occupants of the house. The issue of faulty system communication and data corruption seems essential. This will result in the need to ensure compatibility of appliances through interoperable standards and to extend the safety audit to cover the related additional risks. Four general “consumer interests and communications preferences” can be identified: entertainment, computer, mobile and utility centric1 approaches. However, it should be noted that consumers’ needs are not homogeneous – they vary widely, with respect to age, occupation, abilities, etc. This leads to the need for adaptable user interfaces/ solutions, based on underlying standards, to meet a very wide range of consumers’ needs and abilities. Standards must ensure ease of installation and operation according to Design for All principles.
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Market Analysis Summary This Housing Market Analysis is produced in order to provide data for the ongoing development of the Aberdeen City Council Local Housing Strategy. By looking at various issues including economic change, demographic change, housing supply and demand, owner occupied trends, social rented trends, private rented trends, and community care trends, it should be established whether Aberdeen City has a balanced housing market. Various aspects can impact the balance of a housing market, and as described in the ‘Local Housing System Analysis: good practice guide’, assessing if a housing market is balanced is neither an art nor a science, but a combination of the two. This implies that the assessment is partly due to the perception of the reader/author of the report.
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Strategy and Implementation Summary Developments in home electronics indicate that all houses in the future could be Smart Houses. Provided that consumer aspects are properly addressed, this can mean increased comfort, convenience, security and energy savings for most groups of consumers. Different groups of consumers may achieve different benefits (e.g. physically disabled people can use remote control to operate all devices in the home, as opposed to having to move to individual devices round the home to control them). There is a trend towards the consumer being increasingly interested in secure and safe houses, especially in the most rapidly growing consumer group, the elderly. Most elderly people prefer to live in their own home as long as possible (as opposed to being placed in care), and security, safety and comfort are important issues for independent living of elderly people. Smart Houses can help achieve these issues, and thereby contribute to individual consumer satisfaction. In addition to this individual aspect, society at large can benefit through the increased independence and satisfaction of the elderly. Care services are experiencing increased pressure to deliver care to the dependent elderly. Smart houses can decrease the pressure on the care services, provided that Smart House systems are flexible, standardized and easy to use. But Smart Houses represent an entirely new way of using the electrical installations and appliances in a house, which the consumers are unaccustomed to and unfamiliar with. If the technology is difficult for consumers to operate and maintain, some consumers will be disadvantaged, i.e. will not be able to enjoy the potential benefits (energy savings, integrated alarms, etc.) offered by the system. Ironically the groups (elderly) that might gain the most benefit from such systems might be the very ones that cannot operate them. If Smart House technology is going to be beneficial to the consumer, standards must ensure ease of installation and operation.
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Consumers are a major stakeholder in Smart Houses, and yet they are under-represented at the industrial and political levels (with a few exceptions). In the short and medium term, consumers will have to decide whether they want to embrace this technology or whether they will opt-out. It will not be a simple decision such as purchasing a new appliance. There is unlikely to be any financial benefit to completely re-equipping and re-wiring their house to convert it to a Smart House. The fully functional Smart House will most likely be a newly built home. However, they could decide on a retrofit solution employing computer control and radio frequency networking. Such Smart house solutions are likely to be made financially attractive by a consortia of companies consisting of equipment, software and service providers who will bring Smart house technology into the home by subsidy and subscription. It is therefore important to establish technical standards so that these different systems offer the consumer interoperability, compatibility and simplicity. From a consumer’s view, solutions should not be proprietary, because companies "owning" the infrastructure will dictate the preconditions. In reality, the cost and complexity of a Smart House system will inevitably result in a number of proprietary systems together with a degree of commercial vertical integration. Consumers may therefore find themselves financially or physically ‘tied-in’ to a system. It is important for operational and technical standards to exist to ensure that a consumer can change their system or service without major redesign and appliance replacement for their home.
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Web Plan Summary Key aspects for standardization Standardized definitions of basic services. It is easier for the consumer to choose desired services and options according to desired functionality and personal wishes if there is a standardized list of choices. This is particularly true because the concept of a Smart House is new. Consistent user interface for different BUS systems This is necessary if consumers are to choose confidently between the different BUS systems. Standardizing the user interfaces of the Smart House systems Assuming that Smart House systems are compatible, the main consumer issue is ease of use. This can be achieved by standardizing the user interfaces. Interoperability between BUS systems Interoperability should be standard between components, appliances and between systems. This should also include ordinary home electronics that could be BUS compatible. Otherwise the consumer must buy conversion devices or software that sometimes cost as much as the product itself. Flexibility and modularity The technology needs to be easily upgraded, modified and reprogrammed, (preferably by the user him/herself with average PC knowledge) as needs change through a life cycle. Modularity is one of the benefits of Smart Houses that provide flexibility. If the user cannot do it himself, service contracts should be standard. Standards for installation aspects of Smart Houses This will ease the decision processes in each project, and ensure the basic requirements for a consumer friendly installation with a minimum of ugly components showing. This is particularly important when installing
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BUS systems with cables. A standard position for the conduits (either by the floor, by the ceiling or at a certain height on the wall) makes the cable accessible for future installations and servicing. Standardized training for installers This should include understanding user aspects and co-operating with user representatives. Control devices Consumers have different requirements regarding the control devices necessary to operate their Smart House. The variations can be in vision, dexterity, reaction time and ability to understand interfaces (cognition). The control devices are vital for the consumers perception of function and ability to use Smart Houses, because they are what the user meets. Different suppliers deliver completely different switches and other control devices, and they have shown little interest in standardizing them. There should be standard basic switches that are tested and easy to understand and use for different user groups (universal design or design for all). Standardized (local language) text and or symbols to indicate functions on switches and on displays would assist. These should be compatible with other consumer electronic symbols. Reliability Consumers are often (and quite rightly so) skeptical to new systems that they have not used before. The systems should be fail safe, to allow the consumers to rely on their systems and components. This is of importance to homes as well as for commercial buildings. In case of a power failure, uninterrupted power supply (UPS), or other backup system, should be installed as a standard to secure heating, light and other vital functions. This is particularly important in hospitals, nursing homes and houses for elderly and disabled people. In addition manual override must be standard. Safety Of particular concern, is how individual products will function when linked into a complex control system. At present, no one ‘standard’ form of communication or system control has been agreed upon, so although individual items may be safe in themselves, their safety systems may be compromised when they become connected to a particular control system. The risk areas that appliances and devices controlled by a Smart House
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may present are as follows: Heat (burning and scalding) Water control (flooding/scalding) Gas control (explosion, asphyxiation) Mechanical (unexpected operation or movement of appliances/devices) Fire (alarm control) Physical access (door and window lock control) Safety systems from unauthorized access (e.g. hacking into a domestic gateway) needs to be standardized. Interference The system as a whole, and its individual components, should not cause electrical interference and should be immune from electrical interference to a level that guarantees satisfactory and safe performance. Performance Standards Performance standards for signal transmission quality over cabling, hand-held remote controls, radio links, etc. need to be enforced so consumers can be confident that an installation will work as expected. Standardized and compulsory quality assurance procedures before systems are set in operation This includes standardized procedures for testing each function and component before the system is delivered to the consumer and for testing each component for compatibility with other manufacturers systems or components. The providers and installers of the systems should have interest in and knowledge about the particular consumers user needs, and respect these throughout the planning and implementation process. These professions should require such knowledge as a standard part of certification requirements. Consistent and user friendly documentation and service procedures Information, documentation and training in user aspects and operation of the systems must be standard procedure on implementation and before operation. This is particularly important to the consumers because Smart House technology represents an entire new way of using your electrical appliances.
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Standardize the interface between remote receptors and environmental controls This can save expensive double installations in homes of people who need IR environmental controls (e.g. physically handicapped), because the BUS installation can communicate with the IR sender. Mechanical Access 1) External: Smart Houses may incorporate a mechanical system to allow the delivery of goods without the occupants being present. For example, this could be a locked compartment accessible from the outside by the suppliers and accessible from the inside by the occupants. The system could be operated with a simple locking system or with some alternative interlocking mechanism that provides a secure system. A standardized system needs to be defined. 2) Internal: Internal door and window locks may be controlled automatically (e.g. bathroom door may automatically lock when a person is present). Such systems need to be standardized for fail-safe use and allow for emergency access. Personalized controls Smart House systems and appliances may be personalized for individual occupants. Standardization in the means of occupant identification, configuration of the system, security and privacy of the occupant’s data will be required. Such systems should also be fail-safe, for example if an occupant loses their identity tag. Standardize the control and metering of gas, water and electricity supply This can make it easier to save energy through using Smart House systems. If metering is done remotely, standards are a help. Energy Standards or targets for total energy consumption need to be set for the Smart House system as a whole (not necessarily for individual components). Transparency of Costs and Contracts A standardized form of presenting costs and services provided is necessary to allow consumers to compare systems, in an easy to understand form. -12
Management Summary This paper introduces the management and interactive entertainment system of a smart House. The management system is designed to be modular and extensible as well as easy to use and customise. An expert system approach is adopted to ensure that there are no inconsistencies in the system. The entertainment system for the smart house is based on interactive digital TV. New user interfaces for a text chat based system are presented and evaluated. As technology changes and improves, there is a drive towards more convenient living and use of technology to create a home that is smarter and more sophisticated. This has resulted in the creation of “Smart Homes.” Simple examples of home improvements include homes that house automated entertainment and alarm systems. Its goal is to create a home that possesses human-like intelligence to manage and perform everyday tasks within the home. It is aimed primarily at those who need help with mundane tasks - the physically disabled and elderly. The Smart Houses will allow such individuals to improve their quality of life, deal with their physical limitations and allow them to retain their independence longer. This paper will discuss the approach taken in the design of the Smart House Intelligent Management System – the portion that will be responsible for the supervision of the Smart House as well as the entertainment system, based on interactive digital TV. The Intelligent Management System is responsible for the overall supervision of the Smart House in a discrete, non-obtrusive manner. It provides a means of communication between the occupants and the Smart House – speech. The idea is to allow computers to enter the human world, instead of binding the user to a monitor, keyboard or mouse to communicate. Intelligence is made available through applying rules to the input
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received, as well as perform automated commands set by the user. In addition, the user may also speak to the Smart House as if speaking to another person. Extensible – It is important for the Management system to be extensible. It is unlikely that a house will always be exactly the same. New rooms and appliances may be added. The opposite is also true. Barriers may be broken down and appliances removed to accommodate lifestyle changes. The occupants of the house should be able to modify their home and be confident that the Management System will be able to absorb these changes without too much inconvenience. Customizable – Home owners should be able to tailor their home as they please. Different people will have different personalities and different preferences. They should be allowed to feel “at home” in their own house. They should be allowed some input in terms of rules for their house. They should not be forced to completely conform to preset rules designed by someone who is not familiar with them or the home they live in. Customizability is therefore important for the management system. Ease of use – It is important for the management system to be user-friendly. The user interface between the user and the management system needs to hide the complexities that occur in the background from the user. Ease of use also means easy installation/removal of the system. Installing the management system without having to completely renovate the whole house or rewire it from the ground up would cause less intrusion and inconvenience. It also means that the system is transferable and not tied to one particular location. The Management System works in conjunction with other systems within the Smart House. These are the Bluetooth Enabled Watch, the Speech Recognition/Generation System and the Ethernet Switching System. Single Person tracking – As this is the first attempt in the creation of a management system for the Smart House, it has the simplest scenario – tracking a single user within the Smart House. However, this does not hinder the other occupants of the home from communicating with the Management System. They will still be able to give speech/text commands to be implemented. The commands will just need to be more detailed – for
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example, they will need to specify their location for the Management system to know where the command will be implemented if it is to be done in their current location. Explicit Input – It is suggested that most human communication is accomplished through non-verbal means. Implicit communication such as the facial expression, tone or gestures of a person complements hat they say. The management system only processes explicit input – speech or text received without consideration for the tone or the user’s current motional state.
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資一甲 郭怡均 A9828003