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DEFINITIONS
Firstly, there is no set definition for the SMART Home. SMART seems to be applied as an advantage by non-
technical and marketing people without the key underpinning knowledge of what it truly means to be ‘SMART’.
The concept of a smart home has been around for decades, in fact, you only need to recall some older sci-fi
movies or even the 1980s Jetsons cartoon, and you may recall that appliances and devices could respond to
a ‘context’. It is my personal opinion that the ideology created by the Jetsons is still driving the imagination
of many futurists and scientists in the development of SMART Homes, and we still haven’t even caught up to
what they were doing in that sitcom.

Generally speaking, the concept of a SMART home is a house filled with appliances and products that are
designed with comfort, connectivity, and control in mind. These items should perform a useful function, but
also provide value to the homeowner through access to data insights and control over functionality. Ideally,
the smart home should do this automatically, responding to its environment and be net zero for energy
and water. Ideally, the smart home should result in the homeowner saving time, money and energy not to
mention the ‘cool’ convenience from the service it provides. Rapid advancement in the Internet of Things (IoT)
and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years, has pushed the opportunities for smart homes beyond what
we saw in the Jetsons.

The potential provided by smart homes are limitless and constrained only by the imagination, but as Uncle
Ben said to Peter Parker in Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility”. This is where the policy
makers and stakeholders have to harmonize and align strategies that result in a better world.

Conceptual design and layout

The main pillars of a smart home include:
1. Networked appliances and devices that incorporate Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
2. A high-speed local area network (LAN/WLAN) ideally connected to the internet that interconnects all the
smart devices and appliances
3. A smart hub that allows for device interaction, automation and control, and executes the objective function.

Before I get too technical, let us expand on these three main pillars of the smart home. Amazon Web
Services, AWS, defines IoT as “the collective network of connected devices and the technology that facilitates
communication between devices and the cloud, as well as between the devices themselves”. This means
everyday devices like toothbrushes, vacuums, cars, and machines can use sensors to collect data and respond
intelligently to users. The Internet of Things integrates everyday “things” with the internet.
With a connection to a High-Speed Local Area Network (LAN/WLAN) or Mobile Broadband, these devices are
able to exchange information, media files, and databases that are connected to the network, establishing a fully
connected home. Therefore, the SMART home is a connected house with wired and wireless communication
between the devices, the internet and the cloud.

The smart hub is akin to the brain in the body, and this is where the home automation control functions are
programmed and executed. Functions such as sensing movement, sound, light, temperature and providing
a command to the respective home automation systems are carried out by the smart hub. For example, if
the homeowner is away and no one is home, the security camera detects a movement outside and the door
sensor records a vibration, the system automatically closes the blinds, turns on the lights, notifies the police
and the homeowner, releases the pitbulls, and records the entire event.

It is important to understand the concept of an objective function in control systems. Simply put, the objective
function is what you want to do, or in other words, “your objective”. Then the system executes the sequence
of actions (rules) through macro-programming, or “macro” for short, controlling the individual devices that
together will achieve your objective.

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