Alive in a smart world

The unbelievable disparity in living standards around the world continues to baffle the mind. As most of us here in the so-called Third World struggle to maintain a roof over our heads – if we have been fortunate enough to have been blessed with one in the first place, that is – the developed world enjoys an array of luxuries for granted that here would be, well, luxuries. Nevertheless, as prosperity slowly but surely makes its way to the Land of the Pure even in the face of some of the harshest odds in the world, we are beginning to see the finer things also arrive in its wake.

One such thing with practically endless scope of application is home automation, alternatively known as ‘smart’ homes. You are not entirely to blame if these words conjured in your head images similar to scenes from Back to the Future, with a talking house that does everything on its own. That is actually pretty much exactly what we are talking about here. How fitting, since the era depicted in that 1985 classic was the one we are in now.

To put it very simply, automating your home or office means that you employ smart, interconnected machines to do things that you would otherwise do manually. This includes everything from opening your garage door when you reach home to turning off all the lights when you leave. The extent of the automation is really only limited by your budget, because you can choose to automate only one thing or you can stretch it to virtually everything in your house if you can afford it.

Automating your home can be done in one of two ways. You either splurge and automate everything from your wall sockets to your front door, or you slowly build up one or two things at a time, which is the more practical option for most.

At the heart of most home automation systems is the central hub, which is a sort of router that liaises with automation devices based on your instructions, which you issue from an app on your smartphone or tablet. Automation devices are many and varied, depending on the functions you need them to perform. They can be smart deadbolts which lock and unlock your front door remotely, or smart lights that can turn themselves on and off at a preset time or provide preset ‘mood’ lighting at the touch of a button. Smart sensors and cameras report activity around your house to you, so you instantly know if off-limit areas have been accessed or if there are intruders in your house when you are not there.

In homes with central cooling or heating, automation devices can manage the thermostat for you and save you a lot of money with efficient use of energy. You can basically control all of your electronic devices and fixtures from anywhere, whether you are at work or relaxing in your bedroom. With the right app on your phone, your lights can even flash in sync with the beat of the music you have on, which I need hardly point out, is seriously cool.

Since most automation apps are loaded with an unbelievable range of things you can customise, the only limit is your imagination. Just to give you an idea of the scope, you can basically set things up so that you will be notified the second your dog leaves the yard!

Smart devices use a variety of different protocols to communicate with each other and with the central hub. Protocols are basically like languages that allow devices to understand each other, so a good automation system uses devices that all speak the same language or are at least ‘multilingual’, i.e. they can operate in multiple protocols.

This means that automation devices from a whole host of different companies will effortlessly fit into your home system so long as they operate on the same protocol – whether it is Wi-Fi or Z-Wave or ZigBee is up to you – giving you the liberty to pick and choose and add devices as and when you see fit.

Sounds like the future is finally here.