Integrating the home with the community
Man used to dream about conveniencesof the future: one can turn lights on or off with just a clap of the hands, and we can switch the power on or off at home with a simple telephone call. Today, these dreams are realities. All this exciting progress makes one wonder how far man will travel towards futuristic lifestyles made of brilliant ideas and magical conveniences.
Interview and editing by Ming; Photography by Shih Chi-Hong
“My house will be built with wood, glasses, cement and stones, and it will be built on a hill with most of the glass windows facing Washington Lake and overlooking Seattle to the west. It will provide a breathtaking view of sunsets and the magnificent Olympic Mountains. My house will also be built with silicon chips and software. A device with silicon microprocessor and memory chip powered by software will furnish the entire house with features of an interactive network and these features will be common to millions of houses to be built in the next few years. The technology I am using today is experimental; but afterawhile, part of it will be widely accepted and adopted by the general public; it will also be cheaper than it is at present. My entertainment system can almost simulate actual usage of media in the future and with it, I can foresee the coexistence of different technologies.”
This is Bill Gate’s description of his mansion (which was under construction at the time) in his book Embracing the Future. The book was translated and published in Chinesein 1996. Looking back at his initial vision today, one decade later, one must admit that his visions have gradually become realities.
If we look at residential construction in Taiwan, the number of projects that are now incorporating digital and automated infrastructures have significantly increased in recent years. Some have been completed already. A couple of recent examples that have been completed include the Jia Xin Li Shui Garden and Bao Lai Garden Square. Each represents a fine example of a well-known construction project. Although most of these involve luxury mansions, the trend is actually similar to the introduction of a new product in the IT industry: innovative products are adopted gradually; most new concepts begin at the top of a consumer pyramid and then gradually become more affordable, percolating down to the broader social strata.
What is the smart eHome?
It is 9:00 in the morning and Maggie is running late for work. She opens the door and dashes out of her house and waves for a taxi. When she finally settles down in her car, she recalls that she has forgotten to turn off her stove, on which she was boiling water. Calm and collected, she reaches for her mobile phone and connects to the network in her home through 3G and turns off the main switch for the gas stove instead of asking the driver to turn around and head back home (which used to happen a lot in the past).
At 10 A.M., Maggie’s mobile phone rings. She glances at her phone and the face of her newly hired housekeeper shows on the phone’s screen: her housekeeper is standing before the intercom at Maggie’s front door. As she presses the doorbell, the system installedat Maggie’s home immediately connects to the 3G network and notifies Maggie of her visitor’s identity. After verifying the identity of her visitor, Maggie opens the lock on her front door to let the housekeeper in. As her housekeeper tidies the place, Maggie supervises her progress by accessing the surveillance camera in front of her house via the company computer.
Work is finished, and today is Maggie’s birthday. Maggie plans to invite a few friends over and to prepare dinner herself for the occasion. She looks up the recipes for a few dishes on the internet and transfers the data to her digital system at home. The system then checks the fridge according to the list of ingredients stated in the recipes and discovered that some ingredients are not found. Then, the system sends a list of the required items to the supermarket andthe items are delivered to Maggie’s house before she gets home from work.
As Maggie enters her house, the groceries have just arrived, and the control panel of the intelligent building system on her wall alerts her of new messages left by her friends. She checks the messagesto see a video left by her housekeeper. The housekeeper suggests that Maggie order new laundry detergent, and reminds her to buy some the next time she places order for the supermarket. After seeing the message, Maggie gets ready to cook. Before she begins, she picks up the remote and presses the Music button and the home system switches her computer on, and plays the new songs she downloaded only yesterday. Maggie’s friends arrive after she finishes cooking. Maggie presses the Dine Mode button on her remote and the lights in her living room switch off instantly while her dining room lights dim down. Light jazz music comes on.
After a pleasant dinner, Maggie invites her friends to view the photos she took in Nepal. She presses “Video Viewing Mode” on the remote; the curtains close and the projector turns on immediately. The system accesses Maggie’s computer at the same time and accesses her files in the designated folders. Breath-taking views of Nepalese Mountains appear on the screen.
After seeing her friends off, Maggie heads for the bathroom to brush her teeth before going to bed. She used to be rather forgetful and would sleep without turning the lights off somewhere in the house (either in the bathroom or the living room) and this always made her electricity bills too high almost every month. Butsince she moved into her new place, she only has to press the “Sleep Mode” button on her bedside table. Everything is taken care of. All the electronics in her home will be shut down from the central system.
Simplifying complicated chores makes for a more casual lifestyle
A Smart eHome is inclined towards automated controls that integrate three main utilities (water, electricity and gas) through a combination of hard-wiring and a wireless network. The concept for comprehensive control extends to all household systems, including: air-conditioning, lighting, home appliances, entertainment systems, internal communications, telecommunications and security surveillance systems. In the past, control of various household appliances were performed separately. But with the Smart eHome solution, users can create customized scenario control modules that precisely match their needs and can be managed from new, innovative daily life applications. For example, in Maggie’s new system, the Movie Viewing mode is an option available on her controller: it combines control over television, lighting and curtains.
Apart from this kind of detailed control over interior scenarios at home, the Smart eHome system can also be used as an important medium for transmitting messages and information within the community; thisconvenience helps people to break free from the confines of concrete walls and creates a living space without boundaries. It also adds an extra layer of security that everyone can share. If we look at the structure of Advantech’s eHome system, we see that the messaging and property management systems are similar to those that Maggie used in the scenario. Since construction of the system involves both elaborate interior wiring and an external cable layout, the system must be designed together with the building prior its construction. In other words, if Maggie moves out later, she wouldn’t beable to take the system along with her. This fact distinguishes the Smart eHome from other digital and 3G systems so popular today: the Smart eHome is not portable – it’s built into the residence.
Exterior design is crucial
Since the products used for constructing the Smart eHome system is usually integrated into buildings or home environments, they are usually dubbed: “intelligent building materials.” To properly complement interior designs, the aesthetic value of the components is another key consideration. Take Advantech’s UbiQ eHome for example: its all-white design is stylishly succinct; it is instilled with a simple aesthetic concept: the product blends in perfectly with almost any type of interior décor.
Installation is a sideshow compared to post-installation maintenance
Since the Smart eHome system is not portable, there are bound to be obvious problems; nothing is moreimportant than post-installation maintenance. While no product can last forever, an integrated system built with parts of varying quality will be prone to even more problems. It is notable that the expected useable life of a residential building is typically over 50 years. However, the typical usage life of IT products currently on the market is only 2-3 years before they become obsolete or breakdown. So, what can be done if a relatively new residential system malfunctions? This problem can be tackled in two ways. The first way is to look for established companies willing to offer long-term warranties for parts, a company like Advantech, a globally recognized industrial PC manufacturer. The company is a proven manufacturer of industrial-standard control devices that offer a higher stability compared with other consumables. Advantech provides a minimum five-year warranty on spare parts, so users won’t need to worry whether or not replacement parts will be available if the system malfunctions.
The second method for anticipating problems is to work on better designs. Generally speaking, conduits for electrics that are built inside walls are not likely to suffer any problems; items which are likely to be damage-prone include the various panels mounted onto walls and light switches.
One notable exception to the longevity rule is that the operation interfaces of the Smart eHome are expected to have a shorter lifecycle. Why? Because touchscreens and mounts can be upgraded more easily than the cabling behind the walls. Therefore, eHome interfaces and the wall panels within which they are mounted must be custom-made and easy to disassemble for quick maintenance. Incidentally, industrial PC manufacturers have the capacity to provide such services. Viewing current trends in this market, it’s evident that industrial PC manufacturers are the main promoters of Smart eHome systems, so it is quite likely that their lead in this field of expertise will continue to grow.