The Internet of Things (IOT)

The Internet of Things (IOT)

Sure, you've heard about this buzzword but what will it mean to you today? If you live in a house built recently, probably very little! Unless you're doing a self build, these tend to be the innovators and early adopters. That said you may already have a recent appliance that provides something more than just doing the laundry or keeping the milk cool. You may be using some means of tracking your energy usage and controlling your home heating remotely. This is the entry point. Philips hue light bulbs allow you to replace bit by bit, older light bulbs with connected ones. You're probably already looking at replacing all your bulbs with LEDs ones to reduce your electricity usage. Each of these changes offers up possibilities.

Last weekend I spent the day in Frankfurt at the Home & Lighting exhibition held every two years:
http://light-building.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/besucher/willkommen.html?nc

The event was massive, think 8 or 9 IKEAs and you'll have an idea! Everything from LED downlights to street lights to stadium lights! Home automation was heavily featured but also hotel and building automation for larger projects. Looking at what was coming down the track from the manufacturers was an awesome experience and gave me a lot of ideas and inspiration for my own home.

You can buy today smart washing machines, fridges, light bulbs etc but where the crossover point for me exists is when they all start to work together to a common standard. Security is an obvious concern, I've been looking closely at KNX. I sat in on a presentation on KNX Secure but being new no manufacturer has yet released any products using it to my knowledge.

I would love to do more than I'm probably going to be able to afford but at least I've seen what is possible and hopefully with that foresight I can plan the easy integration at a later stage a few years after the build is completed.

I've included some links below you might find of interest. In relation to my own house build I'm still working on the land purchase but have engaged with an Architect to get a sketch to submit to a few key authorities and see if there are going to be any blockers before I spend much more. In the meantime I wish you luck on your own journey and hope to post again soon with positive news and more ideas...!

Links:
http://knxtoday.com/
http://www.knx-gebaeudesysteme.de/sto_g/English/_HTML/start.htm
https://www.grahamcluley.com/2016/03/hacking-hotel-gain-control-rooms-lights-curtains/
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/4/10707894/samsung-smart-refrigerator-connected-fridge-iot-ces-2016
http://www.whirlpool.com/smart-appliances/smart-top-load-washer-dryer/
http://www.knx.org/knx-en/Landing-Pages/light-building-2016/KNX-IoT-city/index.php