Smart home (smart home, home automation) is to integrate the facilities related to home life by using generic cabling technology, network communication technology, security technology, automatic control technology and audio and video technology, build an efficient management system for residential facilities and family daily affairs, and improve the safety, convenience, comfort and artistry of home, And achieve an environment-friendly and energy-saving living environment.

Smart home technology, generic cabling technology and network communication technology. The concept of home automation and other functions, wireless connection and smart home goal of getong facilitate the operation of household appliances.

Smart home is the embodiment of IOT under the influence of the Internet. Smart home connects various devices in the home (such as audio and video equipment, lighting system, curtain control, air conditioning control, security system, digital cinema system, video server, shadow cabinet system, network appliances, etc.) through Internet of things technology to provide home appliance control, lighting control, telephones remote control, indoor and outdoor remote control, anti-theft alarm, environmental monitoring, HVAC control Infrared forwarding and programmable timing control. Compared with ordinary home, smart home not only has traditional living functions, but also buildings, network communication, information appliances and equipment automation, provides all-round information interaction functions, and even saves funds for various energy costs.

The concept of smart home originated very early, but no specific building case appeared until 1984 when United Technologies building system applied the concept of building equipment informatization and integration to cityplacebuilding in Hartford, Connecticut Since then, it has opened the prelude of the world striving to build smart home school.

Home automation

Home automation refers to the use of microprocessor electronic technology to integrate or control home electronic and electrical products or systems, such as lighting lamps, coffee ovens, computer equipment, security systems, heating and cooling systems, video and sound systems, etc. home automation system mainly receives relevant electronic and electrical products from a central microprocessor (changes in external environmental factors, such as changes in light caused by the initial rise or setting of the sun) The central microprocessor must control home electrical products through many interfaces, which can be keyboard, touch screen, button, computer, telephones, remote controller, etc. consumers can send signals to the central microprocessor or receive signals from the central microprocessor Signal.

Home automation is an important system of smart home. When smart home first appeared, home automation was even equivalent to smart home. It is still one of the cores of smart home. However, with the universal application of network technology in smart home and the maturity of network appliances / information appliances, many product functions of home automation will be integrated into these new products, so as to make it simple Home automation products are less and less in system design, and its core position will be replaced by home network / home information system. It will play a role in smart home as a control network part of home network.

Home network

First of all, we should separate the home network from the pure "home LAN". It refers to the network system connecting the PC, various peripherals and the Internet in the home. It is only an integral part of the home network. The home network is within the family (which can be extended to neighbors and communities) A new technology that connects PC, home appliances, security system, lighting system and WAN. At present, the connection technology used in home network can be divided into "wired" and "wireless" Wired schemes mainly include twisted pair or coaxial cable connection, telephones line connection, power line connection, etc.; wireless schemes mainly include infrared connection, radio connection, RF technology-based connection and PC based wireless connection, etc.

Compared with the traditional office network, home network has added many home application products and systems, such as home appliances and lighting systems, so the corresponding technical standards are also complex.

Network appliance

Network home appliances are new home appliances designed and improved by using digital technology, network technology and intelligent control technology. Network home appliances can be interconnected to form a home internal network, and the home network can be connected with the external Internet. It can be seen that network home appliance technology includes two levels: the first is the interconnection between home appliances, that is The second level is to solve the communication between the home appliance network and the external network, so that the home appliance network can truly become the extension of the external network.

To realize the interconnection and information exchange between home appliances, we need to solve the following problems: 1. The product model describing the working characteristics of home appliances, so that the data exchange has a specific meaning; 2. The network medium of information transmission. In solving the difficulty of network medium, the options include: Power line, radio frequency, twisted pair, coaxial cable, infrared and optical fiber. It is considered that the more feasible network Home appliances include network refrigerators, network air conditioners, network washing machines, network water heaters, network microwave ovens, network cookers, etc. the future direction of network home appliances is also to fully integrate into the home network.

Information appliance

Information appliance should be a kind of home appliance with low price, simple operation, strong practicability and main functions of PC. using computer, telecommunications and electronic technology and traditional home appliances (including white appliances: refrigerator, washing machine, microwave oven, etc.) and black appliances: TV, video recorder, audio, VCD, DVD, etc.) The combination of innovative products is a new type of household appliances designed for more extensive penetration of digital and network technology into family life. Information appliances include PC, set-top box, HPC, super VCD, wireless data communication equipment, WebTV, Internet telephones, etc. all household appliances that can exchange information through network system can be called information appliances. Audio, video and communication Equipment is the main component of information appliances. On the other hand, on the basis of traditional appliances, information technology is integrated into traditional appliances to make them more powerful, simpler, convenient and practical to use, and create a higher quality living environment for family life. For example, analog TV is developed into digital TV, VCD is turned into DVD, refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, etc It will become a digital, networked and intelligent information appliance.

In a broad sense, information appliances actually include network appliances, but if we define them in a narrow sense, we can do a simple classification: information appliances refer to small household (personal) information devices with embedded processors, and its basic feature is network (mainly refers to the Internet) Connected and has some specific functions, which can be a complete set of products or an auxiliary accessory. Network appliances refer to household appliances with network operation function. This kind of household appliances can be understood as the upgrading of our original ordinary household appliances.

Technical features

Smart home network continues to improve with the realization of integration technology, communication technology, interoperability and wiring standards. It involves the operation, management and application of integration technology for all smart furniture, equipment and systems in the home network. Its technical characteristics are as follows:

Establish smart home platform system through home gateway and its system software

 1. Home gateway is the core part of smart home LAN. It mainly completes the conversion and information sharing between various communication protocols of home internal network, as well as the data exchange function with external communication network. At the same time, the gateway is also responsible for the management and control of home intelligent devices.

2. Unified platform

Using computer technology, microelectronics technology and communication technology, the home intelligent terminal integrates all the functions of home intelligence, so that the smart home is built on a unified platform. First, realize the data interaction between the home internal network and the external network; second, ensure that the instructions transmitted through the network can be recognized as legal instructions, not "hackers" Therefore, the home intelligent terminal is not only the transportation hub of home information, but also the "protection god" of information family.

3. Realize interconnection with home appliances through external expansion module

In order to realize the centralized control and remote control functions of household appliances, the home intelligent gateway controls household appliances or lighting devices with the help of external expansion modules in a wired or wireless manner according to a specific communication protocol.

4. Application of embedded system

In the past, the vast majority of home intelligent terminals were controlled by single chip microcomputer. With the increase of new functions and the improvement of performance, the embedded operating system with network function and the control software program of single chip microcomputer with greatly enhanced processing capacity were adjusted accordingly, so as to organically combine them into a complete embedded system.

development history

As a new industry, smart home is at the critical point of introduction and growth, and the concept of market consumption has not been formed. However, with the further implementation of the promotion and popularization of smart home market and the cultivation of consumers' use habits, the consumption potential of smart home market is bound to be huge and the industrial prospect is bright. The development of smart home in China has experienced four stages: embryonic stage, pioneering stage, wandering stage and integration evolution stage.

Budding period

(1994-1999) this is the first development stage of smart home. The whole industry is still in a stage of concept familiarity and product cognition. At this time, there are no professional smart home manufacturers. Only one or two companies engaged in American X-10 smart home agent sales in Shenzhen are engaged in import retail business, and most of their products are sold to European and American users living in China.

(2000-2005) has successively established more than 50 smart home R & D and production enterprises, mainly concentrated in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing, Hangzhou, Xiamen and other places. The marketing and technical training system of smart home has been gradually improved. At this stage, foreign smart home products have basically not entered the domestic market.

Wandering period

(2006-2010) after 2005, due to the savage growth and vicious competition of smart home enterprises in the previous stage, it has brought great negative effects to the smart home industry: including overemphasizing the function of smart home but actually unable to achieve this effect, manufacturers only focus on developing agents but ignore the training and support for agents, resulting in difficulties in the operation of agents Product instability leads to high complaint rate of users. Industry users and media began to question the actual effect of smart home, and became cautious from the original advocacy. Market sales also slowed down in recent years, and even sales decreased in some regions. From 2005 to 2007, more than 20 smart home manufacturers withdrew from this market, and there were not a few local agents who completed business and changed careers. Many smart home enterprises that persist have also experienced the pain of scale reduction in recent years. During this period, foreign smart home brands secretly entered the Chinese market, and the main foreign smart home brands active in the market entered the Chinese market during this period, such as Legrand, Honeywell, Schneider, control4, etc. Some surviving domestic enterprises have gradually found their own development direction, such as Tianjin ruilang, Qingdao elhouse, Haier, Kedao, etc. they have used X10 and Shenzhen sokot for air conditioning remote control, becoming manufacturers of industrial intelligent control.

Fusion evolution period

(2011-2020) since 2011, the market has clearly seen the growth momentum, and the big industry background is that the real estate is regulated. The large-scale growth of smart home shows that the smart home industry has entered an inflection point, from the wandering period to a new round of integration and evolution period. In the next three to five years, on the one hand, smart home has entered a relatively rapid development stage, on the other hand, protocols and technical standards have begun to actively communicate and integrate, and industry mergers and acquisitions have begun to come out and even become the mainstream.

In the next five to ten years, the smart home industry will develop very rapidly, but it is also the most unpredictable period. As the residential family has become the focus market for various industries, the smart home, as a undertaking platform, has become the first target for all forces. However, no matter how it develops, many smart home enterprises with annual sales of more than 10 billion yuan will be born in China at this stage.

Outbreak period

(after 2020) major manufacturers have begun to intensively layout smart home. Although there is no particularly successful case that can represent the whole industry from the perspective of industry, which indicates that the development of the industry is still in the exploratory stage, more and more manufacturers have begun to intervene and participate, which has made the outside world realize that the future of smart home is irreversible, How smart home enterprises develop their own advantages and integrate resources in other fields has become a "stable" element for enterprises and even the industry.

Design principles

The success of a smart home furnishing system depends not only on how many intelligent systems, advanced or integrated systems, but on whether the design and configuration of the system are economical and reasonable, and whether the system can run successfully, whether the system's use, management and maintenance are convenient, and whether the technology of the system or products is mature and applicable, in other words, That is, how to exchange the minimum investment and the simplest way for the maximum effect and realize a convenient and high-quality life. In order to achieve the above objectives, the following principles should be followed in the design of smart home system:

Practical and convenient

The basic goal of smart home is to provide people with a comfortable, safe, convenient and efficient living environment. For smart home products, the most important thing is to take practicality as the core, abandon those flashy functions that can only be used as furnishings, and the products are mainly practical, easy-to-use and humanized.

When designing the smart home system, the following most practical and basic home control functions should be integrated according to the user's needs for smart home functions: including smart home appliance control, smart light control, electric curtain control, anti-theft alarm, access control intercom, gas leakage, etc. at the same time, service value-added functions such as three meter CC and video on demand can also be expanded. The control methods for many personalized smart homes are rich and diverse, such as local control, remote control, centralized control, mobiles phones remote control, induction control, network control, timing control, etc. its original intention is to let people get rid of cumbersome affairs and improve efficiency. If the operation process and program setting are too cumbersome, it is easy to make users feel excluded. Therefore, in the design of smart home, we must fully consider the user experience, pay attention to the convenience and intuition of operation, and it is best to use the graphical control interface to make the operation WYSIWYG.

Standardization

The design of smart home system scheme shall be carried out in accordance with relevant national and regional standards to ensure the expansibility and expansibility of the system. Standard TCP / IP protocol network technology shall be adopted in system transmission to ensure the compatibility and interconnection of systems between different manufacturers. The front-end equipment of the system is multifunctional, open and expandable. For example, the system host, terminal and module adopt standardized interface design to provide an integrated platform for external manufacturers of home intelligent system, and its functions can be expanded. When functions need to be added, there is no need to excavate pipe network, which is simple, reliable, convenient and economical. The system and products selected in the design can make the system interconnected with the continuously developing third-party controlled equipment in the future.

Convenience

A remarkable feature of home intelligence is that the workload of installation, commissioning and maintenance is very large, which requires a lot of human and material resources, and has become the bottleneck restricting the development of the industry. To solve this problem, the convenience of installation and maintenance should be considered in the design of the system. For example, the system can be debugged and maintained remotely through the Internet. Through the network, not only the residents can realize the control function of the home intelligent system, but also the engineers can remotely check the working condition of the system and diagnose the faults of the system. In this way, the system setting and version update can be carried out in different places, which greatly facilitates the application and maintenance of the system, improves the response speed and reduces the maintenance cost.

Lightweight type

"Lightweight" smart home products as the name suggests, it is a lightweight smart home system. "Simplicity", "practicality" and "dexterity" are its main characteristics, and it is also the biggest difference between it and the traditional smart home system. Therefore, we generally call smart home products that do not need construction deployment, can be freely matched and combined with functions, and are relatively cheap, and can be sold directly to end consumers as "lightweight" smart home products.

Existing problems

(1) Develop standards for smart homes. The essence of the standard dispute is the market dispute. Many years ago, developed countries had the concept and standard of smart home. At that time, the standard focused on security. With the development of communication technology and network technology, the traditional construction industry and it industry had a deep integration, and the concept of smart home could be truly developed. China's living environment is different from that of developed countries. China's concept of intelligent community and its implementation standards have strong Chinese characteristics. After China's entry into WTO, China's industry management is in line with international standards, taking industry associations as the leader to promote the standardization process, and strengthening industry management will be the focus in the future.

(2) Product standardization -- the only way for industry development.

At present, there are many home intelligent control system products in China. It is estimated that there are hundreds of varieties, ranging from small companies with three or five people to state-owned enterprises with thousands of people. Some people are involved in the R & D and production of home intelligent products. As a result, hundreds of incompatible standards have emerged in China. So far, there is no home intelligent control system product that can occupy 10% of the domestic market. With the intensification of market competition, most small and medium-sized enterprises will be forced to withdraw from this market, but their products installed in local communities will have no spare parts for maintenance. Of course, the victims are owners or users. This will be a very terrible scene. It can be seen that promoting the standardization process is the only way and urgent task for the intelligent industry.

(3) Personalization - the life of home intelligent control system.

In the mode of public life, home life is the most personalized. We can't agree on everyone's family life with a standard program, but can only adapt to it. This determines that personalization is the life of home intelligent control system.

(4) Home appliances -- the development direction of home intelligent control system.

Some home intelligent control products have become home appliances, and some are becoming home appliances. The "network appliances" launched by it manufacturers and home appliance manufacturers is the product of the combination of network and home appliances.

Development trend

Environmental control and safety code

The purpose of the construction of smart home itself is to provide people with a safe and comfortable living environment. However, the current intelligent home system shows many deficiencies in this aspect, because the development of smart home in the future will inevitably carry out improvement work in this aspect, and run this concept through all systems in home life, such as audio-visual equipment Temperature control, safety control, etc. in this regard, we should also complete the tasks of remote and centralized control, so as to ensure that the whole home life reflects the characteristics of more humanization.

Application of new technology in new fields

In the future development process of smart home, in order to adapt to the development situation at that time, it is bound to integrate with new technologies that have not been combined with it. The angry development of new communication technologies such as IPv6 will play an important role in promoting it, and the control of smart home will trigger a new trend in the development of IT industry; In addition, after the smart home system is improved, it can be applied in a commercial atmosphere, so as to broaden its application scope. This situation will lead to a large-scale expansion of the smart home market.

Combined with smart grid

In China, the construction of smart grid has its fundamental needs. It will provide various intelligent facilities and services for the whole house. In the process of providing services for power, it can also form a penetration effect on the smart home network. If users using smart grid are also enjoying the services of smart home, Then his demand is that an effective close communication can be established between the two, and the actual and effective management can be carried out after the overall planning of various information combined with smart home and smart grid.