Demotics or smart homes or building automation is the automatic centralised control for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting and other systems through a building management system or building automation system (BAS). Bangalore-based Farheen tells us more about smart homes that are the new magical wand, in the weekly column, exclusively in Different Truths.

Have you ever thought how would it be if you gave that one command by voice, remote control, tablet, or smartphone for your home to react accordingly?

Demotics or smart homes or building automation is the automatic centralised control for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting and other systems through a building management system or building automation system (BAS). The objectives of building automation are improved comfort for the people staying at home, efficient operation of building systems, reduction in energy consumption and operating costs, and improved life cycle of utilities.

Any device in your home that uses electricity can be synchronised with your home network and at your command. You can either give that command by voice, remote control, tablet or smartphone, the home reacts. Most applications relate to lighting, home security, home theater and entertainment, and thermostat regulation.

We did grow up reading or listening to stories that had some magical element that would let the protagonist to achieve great things to succeed. Whether it was getting inside a demon’s cave or it was to kill an animal or a villain. Smart home can be considered as your magical wand.

In some ways, those childhood wishes or prayers have been answered in small ways.

So, want to switch on the light of your room even before you reach home, do you think it is possible?

Yes, indeed it is possible.

All this is possible if you invest in good smart devices. One of the devices is Samsung SmartThings. Your smart home needs a brain, and this device connects with a wide range of smart devices wirelessly and makes them work together.

SmartThings works with a wide range of connected devices, including lights, cameras, locks, thermostats, sensors, and others. Some of the examples are:

•  Cameras and Doorbells
• Door Locks
• Lighting and Switches
• Outlets and Sensors
• Speakers
• Thermostats
• Voice Assistants

You can use the Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or one of the SmartThings apps to control your smart home.

• SmartThings for Android and iPhone
• SmartThings for Apple Watch
• SmartThings for Amazon Alexa
• SmartThings for Google Assistant

Another smart thing you can expect is that you can turn on, off, or dim the lights with a building automation or lighting control system based on time of day, or on occupancy sensor, photo sensors, and timers. One example is to turn the lights in a space on for a half-hour since the last motion was sensed.

An air handler, or air handling unit (often abbreviated to AHU), is a device used to regulate and circulate air as part of a heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system.

Are you familiar with this situation where your child has forgotten to carry her keys? He returns home and finds himself in a tricky situation. How can you help him without even being at home?  He can make a call to you, and you can unlock the door using your smartphone, allowing him to enter.

Home automation for healthcare can range from very simple alerts to computer-controlled network interfaces. Some examples of the monitoring or safety devices that can be installed in a home include emergency assistance systems, and alerts, environmental controls, lighting and motion sensors, video cameras, automated timers.

Another breakthrough is to help elderly with smart homes. This is a video that will help you understand more.

https://www.cnet.com/videos/this-startup-wants-to-use-smart-homes-for-eldercare/

Let’s wait and watch this space for smarter devices to make our homes, offices, etc smarter and comfortable for us.

©Farheen Viquas

Images sourced by the author from the Net.

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Farheen Viquas

Farheen Viquas is a Senior Technical Editor/Writer working in Bangalore, India. She has worked as a Technical Writer/Editor, Mentor/Coach, Language Consultant, Information Tester, English Trainer, and Transcriber. When not at work, she loves to cook, read, write poetry and prose, listen to music, bake cakes, fish keeping, and embroider. She is also a stained-glass enthusiast.

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