MegaCities - Intelligent Buildings
Phones that Open Doors
Today, users can already operate kitchen appliances via their cell phones or even automate their household systems. But the home of the future will have even more to offer: network technology, comfort, entertainment and security. Adequate transmission capacity, however, is still a problem.
Entertainment systems and computers arent the only things that are networked in an intelligent house. Household appliances and equipment of all kinds can also be linked. With serve@Home from Siemens, for example, refrigerators, stoves and washing machines can already communicate with one another via the electricity network. Appliances can even be remotely-controlled via a cell phone
Tom Peters is planning to spend a relaxing evening at home. Hes gone online and downloaded a romantic comedy he wants to watch with his girlfriend Anna, but hes still waiting in suspense for a video mail with the results of a tomography examination that he underwent in the morning because of his unexplained headaches. Then, suddenly, Annas image appears on a section of the wall monitor. The security system has recognized her even before she had a chance to ring the bell. Tom opens the door by pushing a button on his phone...
This isnt a vision of the distant futureall of these technologies can be used today, even though they are still expensive. According to forecasts, the market for home automation will register double-digit growth rates in the coming years (see graphics). "An important target group is the early adoptersthe people who are very open to accepting new technologies," says Roland Hagenbucher, Managing Director of Siemens-Electrogeräte GmbH. And the Steiner family surely belongs to the early adopters: Since November 2000, theyve been testing the Futurelife Internet house in Hünenberg, Switzerland (see www.futurelife.ch). And in Germany as well, a fully networked house went into operation in April 2001the Innovation Center Intelligent House in Duisburg (www.inhaus-duisburg.de). At the Duisburg house, scientists are observing the test residents and gaining insights into the user acceptance, usability and functionality of the intelligent living solutions. Their work is necessary because studies show that the acceptance and actual usefulness of these technologies in the future will depend on how well the systems work in harmony and how easy they are to use.
Clusters for Infotainment and Control. Today, a home generally has four separate networks, which cover information and communication, entertainment, automation and control, and security. According to a study jointly conducted by Corporate Technology (CT) and the Siemens Groups, in the future there will be only two clustersone for infotainment and one, the control cluster, for automation, control and security equipment. Both are based on the Internet protocol, and in the future they should be able to communicate with one another with ease, thanks to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP).
So-called residential gateways will manage the interfaces between internal and external networks. "Put in very simple terms, three things are needed for a successful implementation: standardized platforms for applications, a flexible residential gateway and simple usability due to optimized human/machine interfaces and UPnP," says Dr. Willfried Wienholt, head of the strategy area Information & Communications & Automation.
The infotainment cluster is a fusion of todays world of the PC and the Internet, the mobile world of notebooks, cell phones and handhelds, and the multimedia world of televisions, games consoles, video recorders and hi-fi equipment.
To give just one example, its already possible today to receive digital, interactive TV broadcasts with MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) receivers. While watching a travel program, for instance, the viewer can download additional information, mark it for later use and load it on his or her PDA to create a personal travel guide.tryt
Growth of Smart Home Technology in Europe
According to a study by the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the market for intelligent home automation is beginning to developfrom $172 million in 2002 to an expected $400 million in 2009
In the near future, well be seeing not only home cinema with wall-sized flat screens, but also cordless phones that serve as control and entertainment centers. The phones will function as both input and output devices. Text information such as messages, menus and reports on household systems will be shown on extremely large displays. "In the future, each of our Gigaset phones will be capable of communication with visitors at the front door," says Dr. Kurt Aretz of the Cordless Phones division at Siemens Information and Communication Mobile. As soon as a visitor presses the doorbell, all of the cordless phones will ring and the message Front door will appear on the display. The phones will be used to talk to the visitor, and a press of a button on the phone will open the front door. In the works is an OPCAP-DECT (Open Platform for Cordless Applications) module that will even be able to display a picture of the visitor.
Networked home appliances. All functions can be operated by means of a tablet PC (left). Users can regulate the freezer temperature at home by sending a message via cell phone from any location (right)
The control cluster encompasses the networks for the heating, ventilation and lighting systems as well as the solar-energy collectors, windows, doors and blinds. Security systems such as surveillance cameras, smoke detectors, intrusion alarms and window contacts, or biometric access control systems will also communicate through the control cluster. This comprehensive networking is already possible today, thanks to the instabus EIB (European Installation Bus) system from Siemens. Customers can use it to network various household appliances and sensors, such as intrusion alarms, smoke detectors or devices to monitor water penetration.
Communication through the socket. In December 2003, Siemens introduced networked household appliances as part of its serve@Home system. Requiring no additional cables, they are connected to a control center via the power socket and allow remote queries and operation. For example, owners can use their mobile phones while on the road to check whether the stove was accidentally left on and even to turn it off if necessary. In an apartment house, a cell phone can notify a user on the top floor that the washing machine in the basement has just finished its cycle. And a shopper at the supermarket can call home and set the temperature of the freezer. Within the house, nearly all functions of the on-line appliances can be operated with a tablet PC. The technology is based on Powerline, and the data transmission is done through the electrical network.
At first, this new feature will be available in top-line stoves, refrigerator-freezer combinations, dish washers, washing machines, dryers and air conditioners. The appliances have a small plug-in slot into which a box is fitted. This box contains a type of modem that modulates the data onto the electricity network via the power socket.
A residential gateway about the size of a cigar box filters the data from the power network and takes over the communication with a tablet PC, laptop or cell phone via a W-LAN or other radio link. The users can access all of the on-line appliances through a Windows interface. Because serve@Home is based on an open standard, other components such as air-conditioning systems or automatic blinds can also be linked up with the system in the future.
Remote Reading. Radio transmission technology is playing an increasingly important role in building automation, such as lighting, heating or alarm systems. It is simple to install and easy to upgrade. "By the year 2010, radio technology will dominate building automation," says Helmut Macht, Chief Technology Officer at Siemens Building Technologies. Radio communication is already being used in heating-cost distributers and water and heat meters that can be read remotely.
Siemens is currently negotiating with meter manufacturers and meter-reading companies about the introduction of the OPCAP-DECT module, which is intended for use with cordless phones in the future. The comfortable operation of lighting and air-conditioning systems can be easily ensured via uniform radio communication between the lighting, heating, ventilation and blind-regulation systems in the home. In the future, users will no longer have to flip a light switch; instead, theyll be able to simply order soft lighting or reading light via remote control.
The Data Highway into your Home. All of these options will significantly increase data traffic. In particular, the entertainment of the future, such as 3-D films that can be downloaded from the Internet or realistic interactive games played with mobile units, require bandwidths of up to 20 Mbit/s. Thats simply beyond the reach of traditional copper cables and present-day access technologies such as ISDN, with 64 kbit/s, or DSL, with a few megabits per second. Glass-fiber (fiber-to-the-home) technology, with 25 Mbit/s, performs significantly better.
Of course, running different services in parallel means that available bandwidths can be exploited with increasing efficiency, while compression processes are becoming more and more intelligent. However, experts expect that within five years, bandwidths of 20 Mbit/s will actually be used. Today, private customer demand is still well below this level. Thats why the glass-fiber line generally leads to an Optical Network Unit, to which several users are connected by means of copper cables. But the market is growing fast: According to one study, at the end of 2003 around 315,000 U.S. households had glass-fiber connections, and experts estimate that by 2006 the figure will increase to 2.65 million.
Tom already has glass-fiber technology. Just as the film is about to start, a video-mail arrives from his doctor. "Youre fit as a fiddle," is the reassuring message. The examination revealed nothing to worry about. A pleasant evening is about to begin.
Sylvia Trage