[ Spotlight: Smart homes ]
Some smart home control panels feature user-friendly touchscreen interfaces
home, and others, such as KNX, remain popular. More than 170 internationally certifi ed manufacturers are members of the KNX Association, while more than 22,000 qualifi ed KNX partners plan, install and integrate these systems worldwide. Hager’s York says: ‘Our Domovea IP server links our KNX building automation networks on to IP. Via the IP server we can control the circuits in our homes and also monitor the output state on these circuits.’ Eaton, meanwhile, has a radio frequency (RF)- based building automation system called xComfort, which uses sensors and actuators installed in a mesh around the building. This provides multi-function control capability all around the building for a number of elements, including lighting, heating and air conditioning, blinds and shutters, energy status and control, and security systems and cameras.
has signifi cantly steered the direction of many manufacturers’ research and development programmes. One such company is Crestron, and Phillip
Pini, system design engineer for its residential development team, says: ‘This is part of a wider demand to streamline systems in the home and, at Crestron, we have always driven this, from transitioning from analogue to digital with our DigitalMedia platform and Sonnex audio distribution system, as well as integrating with building management systems (BMS) directly from our processors using BACnet over IP.’ BACnet is just one of a number of diff erent protocols that can be used to confi gure a smart
Smart homes represent a real opportunity to diversify and gain a new revenue stream
Meter reading For those wishing to monitor and manage their energy usage, the smart metering rollout is of signifi cant interest. It is estimated that the average household spends more than £300 per year on energy that they don’t actually need and, according to the Energy Saving Trust (EST), trials in other countries show that simply having a smart meter in the home can cut bills by fi ve to 10 per cent. Some energy companies have already started
to install smart meters, but the offi cial national smart meter rollout will start in 2015, requiring the replacement of 53 million gas and electricity meters in 30 million homes and small businesses. The move has been broadly welcomed by the smart homes sector. Crestron’s Pini says: ‘Any form
The market for smart home technology is expanding rapidly
34 ECA Today March 2014
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