From smart home to internet of things

2014-2015 confirmed the established trends in the automation system. All major companies have formed their product line and built interfaces for controlling light, climate, and various mechanical devices. There are no problems with controls from wearable devices. All systems have a user interface and remote SMS informing systems. Therefore, the price/functionality scale becomes the main selection criterion. An important role is played by the appearance of devices and controllers. More than 90% of the players in the smart home systems market

In the budget segment, this is Smart bus from HDL and digitcom. The advantage of this system is open source, flexible settings, and the budget cost of the main components. However, HDL is the largest Chinese manufacturer of various electrical devices. Therefore, there will be no problems with either the element base or support. The system uses smart modules and does not need a central processor. In the guise of analogues

Many companies operate on average. On c-bus elements, and knx, lonworks protocols. Dali and. etc. Everything is quite complicated for self-development, so there are various training and certification centers for working with such systems.

In luxury, this is beckhoff, amx on these controllers, you can perform any solution, but the complexity mounting is proportionally high.

However, if we look at the development perspective, then the following can be distinguished among the main trends:

1. Reducing the barrier to entry into the technology. If five years ago, in order to set up a smart home system, it was necessary to have programming skills, build electrical circuits and extensive knowledge of the field of network technologies. Now, to install a smart home system, it is enough to understand the basics of electrical engineering and be able to read instructions. Of course, we are talking about the base segment.
2. Shifting the automation paradigm from the idea of a smart home to the idea of the Internet of things. Not the system, but the devices now set the general background. Which is ultimately correct, since the user is not interested in understanding engineering subtleties, it is important for him that the device is as ready to work as possible out of the box.
3. It follows from the second. All major companies in 2015 announced their intention to release their operating system for smart home management. This gives us the right to assume that in the next five years the market for automation systems in the lower and lower-middle price segment will move away from complex solutions and the user will be offered a kind of analogue of the Iphone. That is, systems of the most ready-made devices that do not require any manipulations with engineering and electrical networks. For example, a thermostat that has temperature and humidity sensors in its body and a wireless communication protocol. It can transmit a signal via Bluetooth protocol to the controller connected to the air conditioner and turn it on or off according to its performance. And according to the wireless communication protocol, it can be available on a common house server and have a remote control interface. Complex solutions will remain for complex stadiums, various shopping centers, warehouses.
4. GOOGLE and HDL create their systems open source, which allows third-party companies to create their devices based on these systems, thereby further increasing their number. An analogy with Android is appropriate, when many manufacturers received a free operating system and in less than five years this system became a key one in the market.

All of the above gives us a clear segmentation between home and industrial systems. And if solutions for industrial facilities have already been formed and presented by large companies, then the solutions of the Internet of things are still in their infancy. If we are talking about a smart home system from the point of view of the corporate segment, then all protocols can be interconnected. All major manufacturers, HDL, Schneider Electric, ABB, Crestron, Siemens and others, produce solutions based on various protocols for various price segments.

For example, the Swiss company SBC has its own developments in the field of closed source controllers and its own communication channels. This allows not to depend on vendors, but limits flexibility and customizability of the system.

Vimar focuses on design, solving tasks on the KNX protocol, based on its own wall panels and input devices.

As one of the largest electronics suppliers, ABB has its own smart home solution. ABB-free@home. A feature is a boxed solution on their own controllers, and as a result, the maximum simplification of the system for self-assembly.
Many companies offer their solutions for ventilation systems both indoors systems (Ensto) So on common protocols.
The same focus can be made for any engineering systems.

Conclusions

1. It is necessary to follow the paradigm of the development of the smart technology market and not miss the moment of "a quantum leap in this industry"
2. Until that time, offer the simplest solutions out of the box and not engage in the production/programming of your own devices.
3. Since all protocols in their price range are about the same, it's easier to focus on 1-2 rather than scatter in all directions.

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