The first smart home systems in Ukraine began to be implemented in the late 90s. As a rule, they came down to controlling lighting, curtains and Home Theater equipment. To date, thousands of projects have been implemented in our country that have a much higher degree of integration with building engineering systems.
There are also some fundamental differences in the ideas of introducing a “smart” home abroad and in Ukraine.
The main goal of home automation in Europe or in the USA is, above all, energy saving. After all, such technologies can significantly save electricity and water – the main resources necessary for the functioning of a modern human dwelling. Additional comfort, although important, is still in second place. Whereas in Ukraine it is the opposite: in the first place is the comfort and prestige of the owner of the home. Only a few of us still think about energy saving.
Let’s try to briefly list the main functions and capabilities of modern smart home systems:
To control a huge number of functions that the “Smart House” is capable of performing, special remote controls are used. Usually in each of the Smart House systems there are several types of them:
The simplest wall controls are somewhat similar to ordinary light switches, but can be equipped with small LCD displays that display the necessary information. Wall panels are usually programmed to control the main functions of the multi-room system, to control light and climate. In addition, microphones are often built into wall consoles for communication within the home.
More sophisticated portable learning remote controls can be used to control all the audio-video equipment in your home even without the use of a central control processor. They are able to replace dozens of conventional remote controls, as they can be programmed to control equipment from any manufacturer. Recently, the use of modern tablets and smartphones as portable remote controls has become widespread.
Finally, the most complex and, as a result, the most expensive – touch panels – allow you to control all the functions of your home smart system. These panels can be programmed in such a way as to schematically display a house plan on the screen, which is very convenient when controlling a “multi-room” system, light and microclimate in different rooms. The control panel can display the image from a DVD player or VCR, the table of contents of the discs loaded in the CD/DVD changer. In addition, the panel can feed images from security cameras, increasing the image size to the maximum size by simply pressing your finger on the touch screen.
It should be noted that remotes and control panels play a very important role in the smart home system. Much depends on their ease of use, functionality and programming capabilities in the operation of an “intelligent” system.
Theoretically, today the possibilities of the “intellectual system” are unlimited. If desired, you can automate the management of anything, from a vacuum cleaner to a pet feeder. At the same time, it is absolutely not necessary to stuff the home with absolutely all the “bells and whistles” described above. The concept of a modern “smart” home allows the use of only those systems that are needed in each specific case.
The development of automation systems is optimally performed at the design stage, simultaneously with the development of all engineering systems, this will reduce alterations and not disturb the decoration of the premises. In the case when the intellectual filling is included in the building design even before the start of construction, all systems will be initially connected together, and the return on technology will be maximum.
Prices for installing smart home components vary. They depend on what technology is used, what level of automation is planned. Naturally, the cost also varies depending on how global the system is planned. If at the construction stage it is necessary to bring “to mind” a three-story country cottage, providing for the automation of as many processes as possible – this is one thing. And if you just want to have a fashionable and convenient lighting system in the apartment (with the ability to automatically adjust the brightness, turn it on and off “by cotton”, etc.) – this is completely different.