Enviromental
Control -
House
operated by your PC
The
age of leisure through technology talked of during
the sixties has yet to come to pass, but certain labour-saving
solutions have been successfully developed and, with the use of an
average home PC, it seems we can take a significant step in the right
direction. ~With a bit of cash and a bit of PC know-how you can have
a `house of the future' today, controlling everything in your home remtely..
Known as automation, the phenomenon is beginning to take seed here in
Europe. The basic idea is that with a mixture of software, hardware
and maybe a bit of extra wiring, you can integrate all your home
esentials, such as telephone, lighhting security and entertainment
systems and access them all directly from your home PC via various
remote controls, such as handheld units and any phone lines.
If you think that converting your home, however, is going to be
messy, and costly, then think again. Most systems available are based
on something called X10 technology and a PC-based start-up kit can
cost as little as
£110. The big boon is that X10 is a computer language that
communicates via the existing mains wirring in your home.
|
Automation is here But how does X10 work? A series of plugs - known as modules in the power points around your home. These x10 plugs are themselves connected to a central control box which inturn connects to your PC via a seriel port. But how does X10 work? A series of plugs - known as modules in the power points around your home. These x10 plugs are themselves connected to a central control box which inturn connects to your PC via a seriel port. |
|
You can then control your environment from your home computer. There’s no prising away skirting or floorboards either, as all the appropriate data is passed along mains wiring that is already in place. All you have to do is attach a new module to the plug of the appliance of your choice and let your computer do the work.
This means that you are turning your home into the kind of network that allows you to control everything remotely from your PC. Assign a different address to each unit you attach by setting the switches on the module and let the program recognise each address as an individual appliance.
Using the home management software, you can then program specific instructions as to which appliance does what and when, or you can even create complex macros that initiate a whole series of household events. You can schedule various appliances to perform their tasks at specific times during the day or night whether you are there or not.
So, for example, you can make sure that whether you arrive home from
a hectic day at the office or from a week away in the sun, the lights
of your home are already on, the kettle has just boiled, you’ve
got a full tank of hot water for a long hot bath and your stereo is
playing your favourite CD.
Call that your the day’s over’ macro and start to relax.
All you have to remember is to leave your computer turned on at all times.
Safe and sound
If this sounds all nice and easy, but just a little frivolous, then consider the implications that such a system could have for home security. Take a series of J modems connected to your PG that scheduled to take pictures every few seconds, add some motion detection software and you’ve got a complete security system to protect all your precious technology and your treasured possessions from unwanted intruders.
You can even program your PC to telephone for help if it detects anomalous movement. Even without technology, you can achieve something similar as Simon Doyle will tell you. Simon, a 42-year-old businessman and father from Ipswich uses a webcam to check up on his children when he’s caught at the office and can’t get home. “I run my own company, so my PC is switched on all day, but I’m not always there when my kids come home from school.”
To prevent his children from tampering with his PC. Simon has installed a small video camera that sits atop his monitor and works through the serial port on his PC. Meanwhile, with a little help from Norton’s PC Anywhere software, he can “perform the odd check up” to see what’s going on at home from his PC or at the office.
|
|
Okay so the equipment may look a little uninspiring, but you really can use it control your home |
Cost and effect
If you've got kids, then home automation can kill off a few of those
everyday headaches. Electronic equipment that
only turns on when you've scheduled it to, can also mean that
domestic costs are kept to a minimum.
The Home Manager software that comes with Home Control's X10 PC-based
starter kit includes a facility that
monitors the kind of statistics that can give you a little more
insight into what's happening with your monthly electricity
bill, for example. The ability to schedule what happens when will
enable you to analyse your outgoing enabling you
to cut don on unnecessary expenditure.
An added bonus with Home Control's PC kit is that you don't actually
need a PC at home in order to use it. If you
have a computer at work, you can use the software to set up all the
macros and scheduled events that yon require.
And download them to the main unit, which can then be taken and
plugged in to the mains at home.
It's
up to you
Even though X10 equipment is only now seeping through to consumers in
the UK, it has been around since the
seventies. There are plenty of companies in the US which have been
marketing X10-based systems for, while (see Contacts
box) and apparently there are more than five million homes in the US
and Canada that use X10.
Techno-giant IBM has a product called Home Director that uses X10 in
conjunction with its own software to automate your home. Another
popular X10 system in the US is ActiveHome. which comes with a nifty
key chain remote that allows you to turn things on and off as you
pull your car into the driveway.
In the UK. Home Control is marketing its home automation systems of
the same name which use X10 There are three basic starter packs, a
CD-ROM-based system, a remote control and transceiver as well as a
standalone timer.
All the systems can be used independently or in conjunction with each
other, and additional appliance and lamp modules can be purchased
separately for around £30 each as and whet they are needed, up
to an almost limitless total. The actual units aren't much to look at
unfortunately, so those of yon expecting space age glowing orbs are
going to be a little disappointed.
Is
It all worth It?
Upgrading anything is a commitment Technology being what it is; the
threat of immediate obsolescence is always a worry. What if you
decide to go with something like X10 technology and then it is made
redundant by a better and more affordable option? Let's face it. that
is always going to be a problem, but is this why in the UK we are
wary of trying out new-f angled technology?
In the US, home automation systems are being successfully marketed as
toys for the DIY enthusiast which might explain why it has taken off
better over there. Also, there is more of a trend across the Atlantic
to build your own home from scratch than there is here in the UK.
making it easier to integrate home automation kit from the beginning.
We might be a little slow to catch on in the UK. and we might not all
be able to afford a Bill Gates-style techno-castle (see ‘Master
Bill’s House’ on page 35), but home automation is a
phenomenon that can only expand.
If you think that we’re just dreaming all this up, then listen
to what Tim Venables from the Science and Technology Re search Unit
at the University of Sussex has to say. “I would suggest the
future of home automation looks pretty bright.”
Tim was involved in a project that actually built and tested some
working smart homes. Far from being a luxury,
home automation already holds significant implications for the
disabled and the elderly and is only limited by the user’s
imagination. Looking specifically at aiding elderly and disabled
people, Tim’s team found that “all of the functions
we installed would be of some benefit to most people”.
Tim’s only concern is with poorly designed and installed systems
that are nor only “more trouble than they are worth”
but could cause major problems if components began to malfunction.
His recommendation is to always ensure that
you have specialist assistance when installing any kind of home
automation systems.
Crystal
ball gazing
Looking even further into the future, it is impossible to ignore the
possibilities of an intelligent house controlled
not by boring old grey boxes, remote control units, or even
touchpads, but simply by voice command alone.
Bill Gates has said publicly on a number of occasions that speech
recognition is going to be the way forward for all
PC technology. His company, Microsoft. has poured millions of dollars
of its research budget into this field.
They’re working on a virtual walkthrough of the house of the
future where every appliance can be operated by voice command.
“Kettle on!", “Dim lights!” “Shields
up!” — now we're really getting space-age. It looks as if
this kind of advance is still a relatively long way off, however. A
thorough rethink of the way in which we interact with machines —
home PCs in particular — is required, not to mention systems
that are crash-proof discrete and affordable.
In the meantime, what current home automation systems have to offer
the consumer is by no means the halfway house of the future. If you
already own a home computer, the security and energy saving aspects
alone are particularly pelsuasive and easily compare to non-PC based
variations as far as the cost goes. The beauty of the X10 systems is
thit they can be constantly upgraded to suit your household’s
growing needs by adding on extra modules and plugs to make them
fairly future-proof.
It may be a few years yet before technology such as this is embraced wholeheartedly by the general public but now that home automation systems are becoming real possibilities, who knows — maybe soon we’ll be living ir those waterproof houses after all.
Useful Contacts
|
Electronic House Online magazine for those interested by this kind of technology www.electronichouse.com
|
Home Control: The main distributor for XIO home automation
products in the UK- 01603 879080 X10: US home page for more information on home automation technology and products www.x10.comx |
