By this time of the decade, I hope all you must be well aware of ‘Smartphones,’ after all it’s becoming a necessity in the current generation of technology. But do you know by the next decade, we will be proud owners of ‘Smart Homes’?
Let’s start with what are Smart Homes?
A very generic answer would be, ‘A Smart Home is a residential house setup that uses the technology of ‘Internet of Things (IoT) ‘to interconnect devices, gadgets, and appliances that are centrally connected to a different master device and could be remotely controlled and accessed from anywhere across the globe.’
So let’s delve into further details:
Appliances like refrigerator, air conditioners and coolers, televisions, home theatre systems, thermostats, RO purifiers, security cameras, lights, safes, and gadgets like smartphones, smartwatches, laptops, desktop PCs, tablets, gaming consoles – all these devices are installed in a house and are connected to the internet, interconnected within themselves and and also with a master device: which might be a smartphone belonging to the master of the house.
They are assembled in a way that they can be securely accessed and remotely controlled while staying at any corner of the world. This system is also known as Home Automation System.
Just imagine you had a long tiring day at work which is followed by getting sandwiched in the public transportation or getting stuck at long, seemingly infinite traffic jams. When you go back home, you’d probably want peace and rest because you would already be saturated enough to do further chores.
How about entering your home already cooled for you, your coffee and toast ready at the coffee maker and toaster respectively, your geyser waiting for you to have a shower with water warmed to your preference and the web series you have been watching on Netflix already loaded on your device, sounds surreal isn’t it?
Well, precisely this is one of the many instances of the lifestyle we are going to experience in the near future-all thanks to the technology of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Internet of Things – A Brief Explanation:
The first mention of the Internet of Things was done by Kevin Ashton, co-founder of Auto-Id Centre, MIT at a presentation of Proctor and Gamble ( P&G) in the year 1999. Internet of Things can be defined as a system of interdependent and consociated computing of mechanical and digital devices and entities which may be objects, animals or human beings that are allotted Unique Identifiers (UIDs) and have been set up with the ability of transferring data and communicating with each other without any physical interaction between the centralized device and the subordinate devices in the network.
Why the Internet of Things?
The ‘things’ in the Internet of Things may refer to anything ranging from a microwave oven, a thermostat sensor, a pet with a biochip transponder or a pacemaker implanted in a person’s body.
Though the first mention of IoT was in 1999, the first Internet appliance of its kind, was a Coke Machine in the 1980s, where the programmer could track the machine and check its status whether there is enough soft drink in the machine or not, using the web.
Smart Home Projects:
Almost every tech company are trying their hands but only a few have found success in this industry that has been expanding rapidly since its inception and according to Strategy Analytics, it is predicted that home automation system is going to be one of the top generators of employment through IoT device deployment by the next decade and by the end of 2020, almost 50 million devices would be connected using the IoT Technology.
Smart Homes in UAE’s Sharjah:
You cannot disagree with the fact that the United Arab Emirates is one of the most progressive nations in the world when it comes to infrastructure development. Now a UAE based developer has announced that it will develop smart homes which will be a part of ‘Dhs24bn’ Megaproject based in Sharjah, Al Jada.
The Misk Apartment buildings will be incorporated with Home Automation Technologies into every unit with features like 24-hour video security, remote door access and you can even change the lighting conditions and temperature of your home by merely pressing a button on the remote. It will have voice activation control and motion sensors enabled to detect activities.
Puravankara’s Smart Homes:
Puravankara, a Bengaluru based real-estate developer has collaborated with Google to launch a new league of the residential line named BluNex Life meant for customers who are in search of next-gen homes across the country. It will set up Google Home devices so that their living space is transformable into voice-controlled smart homes.
