Guide To Smart Homes - Part 2

What Equipment Do You Need For A

Smart Home?

So we have defined what a Smart Home is in Part 1, we now need to drill down a bit to understand the different pieces of equipment that make up a Smart Home and why we need them.

The main Equipment in a Smart Home is the ‘Control System‘ and secondary are the many ‘Sub Systems’.

An example of a professional Control System manufacturer would be ‘Control4’ or RTI. The Control System is a small computer that handles all of the communication and ‘logic’ necessary to make ‘things happen’.  They Typically have a dedicated ‘App’, Touch Screens around the property and also dedicated ‘Hand Held’ Remotes, which control all of the Audio Visual Equipment, Lighting, Heating, CCTV, Security etc from a single remote.

An Example of Sub Systems would be Lighting, Heating, Audio Visual Equipment (TVs, Sonos, Projector), Motorised Blinds, CCTV, Alarm System, Fire Alarms etc. The most important ‘Sub System’ has to be considered the IT & WiFi Infrastructure, more on this later.

With the Control System and its’ Sub Systems in place, you now have to provide a way of them communicating to each other.

The way the Control System ‘talks’ to the other Sub Systems varies hugely, and please don’t get bogged down here, simply know there is a long list such as Infra Red (IR), RS232, Radio Frequency (RF) and Internet Protocol (IP) to name a few.

It is this last communication method ‘IP’ that is becoming the most used for many reasons and in short is your typical IT system consisting of ‘Hard Wired’ Data Points such as Cat5e/ Cat6a cable to RJ45 connectors and Wireless Access Points (WiFi).

The main take-away from this, is that a Control System ‘has the ability’ to talk to many systems and doesn’t leave you tied to only one ‘Sub System’ or Control Language/ Protocol. It is important to use professional Smart Home Control Systems; KNX, Crestron, RTI, Control4, Elan are all such systems.

Examples of Control Systems that only allow you to speak to a single ‘system’ are manufacturer led ones like Google and Apple, they generally only talk to their own systems, so if they don’t have a solution that you need, then you are stuck and your smart home will only be smart in certain areas.

This brings us along to the IT infrastructure. In a typical house this would simply be a Broadband Router, which has its own ‘WiFi’ built into it and would sit plugged into your Telephone Socket in the hallway. While this is sufficient for a small traditional property, a Smart Home will require a lot more of an effort to work reliably, namely ‘Hard Wired Cat5e/ Cat6a points to all of the equipment around the house and good WiFi coverage, all of which is handled by professional Broadband Routers, Switches & Access Points.

Smart Home Equipment – Main Equipment

Control System (Control4, RTI, KNX, Crestron) – Orchestrates and communicates with all of the ‘Sub-Systems’.

Smart Home Equipment - Sub-Systems

IT Infrastructure & WiFi – The communication system needed for all equipment to communicate with each other.

Lighting System – Controls Lights Easily using Scenes, Sensors & Timers.

Heating System - Controls Heating Easily using Scenes, Sensors & Timers.

Multi-Room Audio - Controls Music Easily & Plays It Where You Want It.

Multi-Room Video - Controls TV/ Films Easily & Plays It Where You Want It, TVs, Projectors, Tablets.

Door Access – Allows Audio or Video Door Access From Around The Property.

CCTV – View CCTV Cameras From Around The Property On Any Device.

Security – Security Alarm Panels.

For More Information On Smart Home Systems Please Contact Us.

Next - Part 3: ‘Lighting Systems Explained’.