Today in Minsk you can find a lot of offers from companies that are engaged in the automation of residential and office premises on a turnkey basis. But the widespread implementation of new technology is still far away, because most of these solutions have a high price. Minsk programmer Alexander Bogdanovich independently designed and installed “smart automation” in his house with the help of the Belarusian manufacturer Nootekhnika. He shared his experience with the readers of KV.
- Alexander, tell us how much time it took you to design and install the "smart home"?
I don't really like the name "smart home". In my opinion, this is more of a marketing ploy that does not really reflect the very essence of the system, but the essence lies in smart automation.
It all started with the fact that after long wanderings around rented apartments, my wife and I decided to build our own house. Already at the time of the purchase of the site, I began to think about smart automation systems. I wanted something unusual, and besides, it was a great opportunity to apply my knowledge, because I am a software engineer by education.
I understood that even at the construction stage, it was necessary to lay the possibility so that in the future it would be possible to "screw" something, to automate where it would be reasonable.
About three years before construction started, I started designing everything on paper. I experienced a lot of things, roughly speaking, on my knee, collected, wrote code. Works good. Set it aside as a worked moment and move on.
Construction went on for three years, and about a year and a half ago we moved into our house, in which at that time only two rooms were ready. And so, when it came to practical implementation, some of the ideas “fell off” by themselves as unnecessary.
- What are the main elements of your system?
To date, my smart automation system includes four main elements.
Firstly, it is a remote control of light using the solutions of Nootechnika Noolite. This is a very important moment for me. For those who live in an apartment, it may not be clear, because the areas are completely different.
The possibility of wireless light control (Noolite systems control the lighting via a radio channel) immediately intrigued me, plus the price tag bribed me. From the very beginning, I wanted my smart automation to be budget-friendly in addition to comfort.
The switch, which, in fact, is a remote control radio transmitter, is battery operated. It can be placed anywhere, it can even be glued to furniture, the main thing is that the surface on which it is installed is non-metallic. One luminaire can be controlled by several switches at once.
Now we have absolutely no familiar mechanical switches at home. Sometimes the Noolite transmitter just lies somewhere in the room, and only six months later, when we decide that we really need it in this place, we glue it. At one time, I even had such a switch in the car so that I could turn on the light even at the entrance to the house.
The lighting is not controlled by the electrical network, so there is no need to lay wiring under each switch. The executive unit, which is used to turn on / off the light, is neatly mounted in my wall, you can also hide it under a false ceiling.
It is also possible to control the Noolite lighting system via a USB adapter, as well as, in principle, any load. And by controlling the load, you can control almost any electrical device, up to the fact that with the help of Nootekhnika solutions you can turn the TV on or off.
Another plus was that the guys from Nootekhnika are located in Minsk, this is a Belarusian manufacturer. So during the design of my system, I talked a lot with them, and in general I was satisfied with everything. In the summer, Nootekhnika should release blocks with feedback, which I again plan to use at home.
Next, I needed to know the temperature readings by room. I started looking for solutions. Wireless? At that time, to realize it, we needed a lot of money. One such sensor cost about 30 dollars, but you need more than one in the house. In the end, I found a bidirectional 1-Wire bus, which I ordered in England. With a line up to 200 m, it works even without any additional power.
Immediately from the computer, the wires exit through the USB adapter. Further, I bought DS18B20 temperature sensors in China for a dollar apiece, a DS2408 chip for controlling 8 channels for 8 dollars.
Another important element of my system is automated lawn watering. When I watered 5-6 acres from a hose in the summer, I realized that automatic watering was necessary. While it, of course, is in a semi-assembled state, but has already been tested - everything works. It is controlled through an 8-channel microcircuit and a key board that opens the solenoid valve.
Video monitoring. During the year I tested several video surveillance systems. I chose Xeoma: I won a key for 8 cameras from them for a promotion, and again I managed to save money.
- How is the system managed?
The system consists of a regular system unit, a server with Ubuntu. All this works and communicates through a USB adapter using 1-Wire topology. From programming languages, I used Python plus MongoDB and the Flask microframework.
Several times I rewrote everything, made the system simpler, more convenient. Now you can manage it through the Web interface, which is used mainly for adding scripts, and the Windows Phone application - directly for management. I sketched it in a couple of days, and now I have all the necessary information displayed on my phone.
Any script can be run manually or automatically. Soon I'm going to connect to the Internet system, and it will be possible to control it from the outside.
What happens if the electricity goes out in the house?
If the electricity goes out, everything goes out. And in order to “re-raise” the work of smart automation after that, there is the Monit system, which monitors all processes, like a parent for children. If suddenly something “falls”, freezes, it simply restarts the service. Of course, Monit itself can “fall”, this is not excluded. But for almost two years of test work there were no problems. When the light is turned on again, the server itself automatically "rises". In a minute or two everything is up and running again.
- How realistic is it for a person who does not have an engineering education to assemble such a system?
When we buy a box and sensors for it, install the application, and everything works - this is one thing. In my case, the do it yourself system, and in it everything rests on the software. The 1-Wire protocol involves writing special software, through which communication with the devices of the system takes place, and not everyone can write it. Most likely, there are some frameworks based on 1-Wire. But these will be generalized solutions that need to be “finished” for themselves.
- What important requirements does “smart automation” meet in your home?
I have two criteria: my system should be comfortable enough and at the same time budget-friendly. The main elements - Noolite switches, temperature sensors - I can buy on my own without any problems. In addition, I was able to achieve the flexibility of the system because I designed, soldered, installed and wrote the code myself. I needed automation that would be convenient not only for me, but also for my family and guests. As a result, I can easily add new elements, change the system as I wish, which you will not get when buying ready-made expensive solutions.
Interviewed by Nadezhda Abramchuk
"were used in the last century. Like some other technical innovations in household use, they passed from military competence, where they were actively used in secret bunkers and military bases.
Smart home is an automated coordinator of all technical devices that your home is equipped with.
For a long time, housing with technically advanced control systems remained an incredibly expensive whim of the elite. And it is only in the last decade that concepts that were previously known to us only from science fiction films are actually being implemented and become available.
What technical devices are commonly used in a modern apartment?
- Lighting systems;
- Air conditioning, purification and humidification systems;
- Audio-video equipment;
- Security equipment and other functions.
The capabilities of a smart home, like the functions of a conductor, ensure the coordinated work of all the constituent elements and allow the owners to conveniently control the "orchestra".
"Brains" of a smart home
They are really technically advanced - microprocessor controllers provide information processing and control of specific elements. Uninterrupted power supply is provided by power supplies and UPS, information is transmitted via IR transceivers, relay models turn on and off household appliances, dimming modules regulate the smoothness of lighting control.
- General management of all smart home functions occurs using remote control panels.
Such panels exist in the form of stationary and portable models. Portable video panels are the most convenient to use due to their mobility and the ability to visually control the necessary processes. The control panel function can also be performed by a computer, Internet tablet, smartphone, and similar devices.
- You can manage the technical equipment of your apartment and carry out general control from anywhere in the world using the Internet.
With the help of a microprocessor controller, the owners of the apartment can program the execution of the tasks (scenarios) they need.
Scenarios can be simple - turn on the air conditioner when a certain air temperature is reached, or complex - turn on the TV while closing the curtains and adjusting the local lighting.
Smart home subsystems
A smart home is divided into separate subsystems, the main ones being lighting, home theater, multiroom, climate control, and security.
Let's consider each in more detail.
Lighting system
Controls individual lamps and their groups, sets the desired mode of operation, regulates the degree of illumination. Using the remote control, you can turn off currently unused light sources and, conversely, turn them on in the right places. Remotely, you can create the illusion that the owners are in the house by setting the scenario for turning on the lights in some rooms.
System Capabilities:
- control of all light sources in the house from a single control panel;
- creation of control scripts depending on time, date, specific event;
- adjustment of switching on and off of lamps;
- brightness percentage adjustment;
- saving the resource of lamps;
- automatically turn on the lights when entering and turn off when leaving the room.
Climate control
The system controls devices intended for air conditioning, heating, purification, humidification, and air ventilation. Coordinated operation of all devices in a given mode is ensured. Provides remote control of the climate in the apartment, for example, the possibility of establishing a comfortable temperature for the arrival of the owners.
System Capabilities:
- control of heating and air conditioning devices using a single control panel;
- control of heating and air conditioning devices depending on the season, time, date, specific event;
- the presence of temperature and humidity sensors, depending on the readings of which, certain mechanisms that regulate the climate are triggered.
Home theater and multiroom
The system controls devices for playing video and audio signals (TVs, Blu-ray players), as well as related equipment: blinds, curtains, lighting in the viewing room, creating a special comfort when watching movies.
The multiroom system is responsible for the condition of all audio and video equipment in the entire apartment. With its help, you can watch TV shows and movies, listen to music and radio channels anywhere in the house, equipped with the necessary set of equipment.
System Capabilities:
- control of all AV equipment in the house using a single control panel;
- control of the "home theater" system by pressing one button;
- smooth control of lighting on and off;
- turning on and off AV equipment depending on the date, time, a specific event, the operation of sensors, pressing the bell.
Safety system
A multifunctional system that promptly responds to all "alarms" in the house, provides remote control of events occurring in the house, turns on the alarm system, controls fire safety, as well as security in the field of communal house systems.
System Capabilities:
- burglar and fire alarms, which can turn on automatically after the owners leave the house;
- remote control or cell phone;
- notification to a remote computer or mobile phone about emergency situations;
- protection of several zones;
- control of access to the premises, including remote control;
- alarm system to prevent water leakage and flooding;
- alarm system to prevent leakage of electricity and gas.
Preparing to install a smart home
Installing a complex smart home system is not an easy task. It is necessary to start solving it as early as possible, preferably at the stage of designing a future home. Thinking through the future system must be done in cooperation with the owners of the architect, designer and designer of the smart home system. It is very important to think over in advance the necessary functions to be automated.
- what lighting schemes do you intend to use?
- how many luminaires are you going to use in different areas, what types of luminaires?
- what scenarios are supposed to be used (night lighting, air conditioners stop working when a window is opened, etc.)
- which rooms will be included in climate control systems or multiroom?
- where will the smoke detectors and leaks be located?
- where will the surveillance cameras and intercom be placed?
- How will it be more convenient for you to control: from a mobile or stationary remote control?
Smart home system equipment
Main manufacturers:
- AMX, Crestron (USA)
- ABB, Gira (Germany)
- Legrand, Schneider Electric (France)
The equipment can be used as wired (reliable, safe, expensive, pre-installed) and wireless (less reliable, the possibility of signal distortion and interception, installation after repair).
When purchasing equipment, you need to pay attention to the manufacturer and quality, which largely depends on the assembly. Luxury configurations are much more expensive, but they differ in specialized programming, individual design, and a convenient and functional control panel.
Joint work with the installer of the smart home system will not end after its installation. In the future, it is quite possible that you will want to upgrade it with new products.
Since the installation of a smart home system is carried out at the initial stage of a major overhaul, it is very important that all work is done accurately, efficiently and on time. It is this high-class work that you are guaranteed in the construction company "TopDom".
Materials on the topic of the article
Hello to everyone who reads this material! In it, I will talk about the currently fashionable thing - the Smart Home system. I must say that the first such systems appeared in the eighties in the United States. But they were then available only to very rich people, such as Bill Gates. Time goes by and technology does not stand still. The development of the electronic industry has led to a sharp reduction in the cost of equipment necessary for organizing such systems. These days, any middle-income homeowner can afford to have such a system at home. This article aims to give you the most general understanding of what a smart home is and how it works.
What is the Smart Home system?
The Smart Home system is a system for automating the management of engineering networks at home. It can control heating, ventilation, turn on the light, and also act as an alarm about unauthorized entry into the house or water leakage to the floor. All these functions are implemented using special sensors connected to the hub (control device). The hub processes signals from sensors and sends commands to executor devices. Executors are called actuators.
The following devices are called actuators:
- Three-way valve with servomotor.
- Controlled sockets and switches.
- Sirens.
- Lamps.
- Programmable thermostats.
- Controlled door locks.
- Video monitoring.
And this is not a complete list of such devices.
Sensors and actuators are connected to the hub using wired or wireless interfaces. For example, I will give some of them in the form of a list:
- EIB - European installation bus. An old wire standard developed by European companies in the nineties. Currently not applicable.
- EHS - European home systems. Another old wired interface. It was a further development of the EIB.
- Z-Wave is a wireless protocol designed specifically for organizing Smart Home systems and similar systems. Z-Wave based systems are more immune to interference than WiFi or Bluetooth systems. Operating frequency for Russia 869 MHz, USA 908.42 MHz, Europe 868.42 MHz. Another advantage of this protocol is the low power consumption of modules running on it. There is data encryption.
- ZigBee is a wireless communication protocol similar in properties to the previous one. Also designed for low power consumption and low data transfer rates. For Russia, the frequency range is 2400 - 2485 MHz. This protocol supports encryption.
- WiFi is a wireless data protocol designed to quickly transfer large amounts of data. Differs in high power consumption, in comparison with two previous. Its main advantage is the ability to connect devices to computers and smartphones without "intermediaries".
You can continue the list further, but for the first acquaintance it will be quite enough. The main thing to understand is the complete rejection of wired connections in modern Smart Home systems. This makes it easy to expand the capabilities of such a system - to add and change devices in the system. Wireless technology allows you to control your home from an application on your smartphone or tablet anywhere in the world where there is Internet
Now let's talk about control systems in more detail.
Smart home for climate control and heating.
As you know, the heating system includes a boiler (one or more), pipelines and heating appliances. The "Smart Home" system can control heating through the regulation of the boiler. The equipment is connected to the input on its control board. In addition to room thermostats, a smart home can control servo drives on radiators or convectors, turn circulation pumps on and off, and so on. Watch the following short video:
The same features are available for controlling air conditioners - the system can turn them on and off, automatically maintaining a comfortable temperature for you. It is possible to program weekly and daily temperature schedules throughout the house and in each individual room. In general, the possibilities here are the widest. Everything depends only on your imagination and budget.
Smart home and security.
"Smart Home" helps to secure your home in several ways:
- Water and gas leakage sensors - the system will react to the leakage of water or gas and shut off their supply using controlled taps.
- Intrusion sensors - various sensors that register illegal entry into your home. Most often, these are sensors for changing the volume of a room or motion sensors.
- Video surveillance system - includes not only cameras, but also software that processes the received video.
- Smart locks are controllable locking devices that make it harder for thieves to move around the house if they break in. There is also the possibility of remote control of the garage door.
The list does not pretend to be complete, there are many more options and solutions for the security of your home. Go ahead.
Control of lighting and power supply with the help of "smart home".
"Smart Home" provides ample opportunities for organizing lighting in the house. For instance:
- Automatically open or close curtains (blinds).
- Turn on and off the light by motion sensors or voice command.
- Do dimming (brightness change) of light as you wish.
As for the power supply, all sorts of “smart” sockets and “smart” switches have been invented to control it, which are equipped with a wireless or wired connection to the hub. For example, they will allow you to remotely turn off a forgotten iron or TV from your smartphone or tablet without returning home.
Ready-made sets of equipment for creating a "smart home".
The high cost and inaccessibility of home infrastructure management systems has long made them a luxury item for millionaires who no longer know how to spend their money. But people with a much lower level of income also want to use comfort. For them, electronics manufacturers have developed ready-made sets of equipment that do not require complex qualified installation and configuration. Most often, such a smart home kit looks like this:
If you are interested, you can see an overview of the equipment of one currently popular manufacturer:
Summary of the article.
The smart home system simplifies the management and monitoring of all vital processes in your private house or apartment. The widest possibilities are provided by a professionally made system, made to order for your object. But the price of the issue here can reach hundreds of thousands of rubles. For most residents of the Russian Federation and the CIS, this is too expensive a pleasure, but you can always use a ready-made kit. It will cost from 10 thousand rubles or more. That's all for now, waiting for your feedback
Building a smart home with your own hands can be difficult for a person who does not have a special education. Of course, everything can be made much easier by buying ready-made smart home modules. However, it is better to create the system yourself.
What is a "smart home"
Before starting work on the independent creation of various amenities, you need to figure out what a smart home system is and what it is capable of.
A smart home cannot be characterized by two or three functions. For a shorter definition, it should be said that in such a system all communications are connected to a computer and controlled with its help. The system carefully monitors the temperature in the rooms of the house, observes and captures images from video cameras. With the help of computer technology, you can adjust the light, the temperature of the floor or batteries, turn on various electrical appliances and much more.
The degree of equipping the house with various modules is determined by the connected equipment or the imagination and creative skills of the master.
Why is it better to start arranging such a system in the house yourself? Because at the same time, the owner himself will be able to regulate various modules, complicate and modify them. He will have in his hands the open source code of the system, which he will be able to correct at his own discretion. Ready-made modules and kits do not give such freedom of action. They are completely dependent on the developer company.
Another plus of self-development is that the master will not spend a lot of money either on installing modules or on repairs. If a ready-made kit is delivered, then any refinement will cost quite a lot. In addition, the kit itself will also become a significant expense item.
What the smart home system can do depends largely on the imagination of its creator.
Where to start
It is necessary to start the arrangement of a smart home with the most basic things.
- You will need a computer.
- You will have to create a website for your home, which will reflect various functions.
- It will be necessary to install special software (programs). To do this, you will need to clarify the compatibility of the software with the computer.
- Make a diagram.
- The first hook functions can be the simplest. You can start with a home monitoring system and room temperature control.
Arrangement details
- Installing a local server on Linux.
- Apache server setup.
- Using Linux, you can organize a video surveillance system. This will require ZoneMinder.
- On Apache, you need to create a website for a smart home.
- For monitoring, you can install various alarms, USB cameras. You also need to install temperature sensors and install the appropriate software.
This is the minimum set from which the arrangement of a smart home can begin. Having understood the details of such operations, you can move on to more complex things. In order to inexpensively create a full-fledged control system for various communications and equipment functions in the premises of the house, there is no need to invent something. On the Internet you can find a lot of solutions to create comfort and coziness.
Some masters have been posting their developments for a long time and offering users to try them out.
Creating a website for your home can seem like one of the hardest things to do. In fact, a ready-made website module can be found today on the Internet. For those who want to do development on their own, you need to do the following.
- Understand php and learn how to work with MySQL.
- Various scripts will form the basis of the smart home function control system. They do not need to be developed, most of them are available to users. You just need to understand the installation sequence.
- The scripts will run regularly and update information about the state of the system.
- The jQuery library will also come in handy. You can even create a great looking site with it without having to learn Cascading Style Sheets.
- Working with databases can be made easier if you use an engine to manage the site.
Smart home features
The functions and possibilities of a smart home are almost limitless. Therefore, only a few of them will have to be considered.
The light can be adjusted using several devices. For example, dimmers can be installed to control the light level. Such devices, however, will only work in certain cases. They will not work in fluorescent lamps.
The disadvantage of dimmers is a constant light background noise.
Switches are installed in the place where light switches are usually located. With their help, the light can be turned on and off.
Appliances
Household appliances can be turned on and off using the same switches as in the case of dimming.
Do not make all systems at home fully automatic. It is better to leave the possibility of conventional manual control. Otherwise, in case of malfunctions, you will have to work hard.
Observation
The surveillance system can be equipped in such a way that it will be possible to monitor the cameras located in the house even from the workplace. It is not very difficult, a video camera system can be installed as the first function of a future smart home. The essence of this technology is that the signal from the cameras is transmitted to a specific computer. Data from sensors and cameras can even be received on portable devices.
Simultaneously with video cameras, motion sensors can also be installed. They will work on the same principle. To set up software on a computer, you only need to download the appropriate open source modules. In order to be able to regulate and modify the code in the future, you will have to understand a little about the structure of such systems. It's easier than learning to program.
Desire and hard work will help overcome obstacles in mastering the fascinating science of creating a smart home. You just need not be afraid of the new, and over time, even enthusiasm for the process will appear.
Video
We bring to your attention the following videos on the topic of creating a smart home: