What is Home Automation?

Would that mean that the "advertised on TV" home security alarm services are also Home Automation installers? In a word, yes. And by the same standards the clapper that allows you the convenience to clap-off the lamp [across the room] is also Home Automation. Even that old analog clock timer Mr. Coffee was a product of Home Automation (Also-Known-As HA). Although, it would be fair to say that these examples may lean towards lower-case HA.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic (As stated in Clarke's three laws). I've always believed if when demonstrating my HA to a guest, if they ask if it is a trick or joke, then I have truly exploited the available technology. Whether its called amazement, magic, or cool factor. The more impressive the automation the higher it normally gets rated in the hierarchy [scale] of HA.

However, it may be that the best HA resides between the mundane and the most recent of advanced technologies. The best HA does the best job of freeing your life of meaningless and often repetitive tasks or worry. Many normal automation products have become mainstays of modern life and are now expected.

My father told me that at age twelve he was assigned the morning stoking of the coal furnace. This was a common chore for a boy that age in the days before world war two. He had an alarm clock to wake him at five AM. He would put on shoes and a coat, and leave the homes living area to re-enter the basement's outside entrance, where the furnace [and coal] was located. He would then shovel coal into the furnaces burner so the home would be warm when the rest of the family woke at five thirty or six.

After the second world war ended, natural gas that had been hurriedly piped through the Midwest to the northeast industrial centers [for the war effort] was now available for home heating. The gas furnace with a centrally located thermostat was a huge step forward in automation. It removed a burdensome and repetitive task while adding safety and convenience. Whereas gas heat was never high on the hierarchy scale of technology, it was (at its introduction) great HA.

I think one sign of great home automation is it quickly becomes standard fair and is incorporated into most homes. This standardizing of advanced home technologies makes HA [by nature] cutting edge.

When looking to add automation to a home, first thoughts generally turn to lighting. Often the first project is motion activated lighting used outdoors to add safety, security, and convenience., as well as saving the energy used in lighting dusk to dawn. A motion activated porch light can do this and really does increase the users quality of life.

Again, motion activated lighting is now standard fair in many if not most homes. The office where I once worked had installed motion activated lighting in all the offices and restrooms. Whereas this was done for energy savings and it was automation, it wasn't home automation. But it does show how accepted motion sensing technology is.

Man is a linear creature and always has been. The earliest of men studied the moon and sun and stars to understand seasonal time. Timers are an old standard of HA and because of mans nature, timers will likely always be with us. Even the DVR, has yet to free man from his boundaries of time. Timers are part of the mechanical or electrical means of HA.

Security is another use of HA. Alarms and lighting timers that replicate the normal on and off rhythms of everyday life are popular. Cameras for observation as well as recording and even email forwarding of certain suspicious video or still images is at the current cutting edge.

If history is a forecaster of things to come, soon most home functions will be computer controlled or regulated in one way or another. Many home products already have such safety, or convenience features built in. My iron will turn itself off if it doesn't detect motion for a certain amount of time. A small chip gives the iron just enough smarts to make it safer. Just like my coffee pot can turn itself on at the programmed time, and then off two hours later.

Are advanced appliances Home Automation? No, although advanced technologies used in appliances and personal devices can enhance a persons life. And they can also be a valued part of the automation experience. But by themselves they are not home automation. A home full of smart devices still isn't a smart home. Integrating smart devices into the home is required for Home Automation.

The mixing or integration of advanced technologies such as digital interfaces [or computers] with software programs, timers, motion activation, alarms, and camera images is the standard of HA today. The integration of the computer is required in this current HA hierarchy. Proper integrating and decentralizing of technologies is the key to cutting edge HA.

The Integrating is generally done using a HA product like X10 (the original marketer of HA technology). X10 sends controlling signals over a homes power lines to specialized switches, modules, and devices. These receiving switches, modules and devices interpret X10's Power Line Commands and perform tasks like turning On or Off. A large variety of home automation products, and even software for computer integration are currently marketed by an ever growing number of manufactures. Many user created software programs are currently the leading edge in Automation Software.

Does HA today mean computer controlled homes? Yes, and in many ways it always has. When studying machines in elementary science class we were told that a thermostat was really an early binary computer. Although I am not sure the early thermostats were actually computers, modern thermostats certainly do have processing powers.

HA computers take predetermined instructions and apply them to current and future events to get desirable results.

You don't need to run a computer to get the benefits of computer assisted HA. You can use a computer with an AHP (Active Home Pro) software program and then download instructions to the CM15A interface. Earlier interfaces preceded the CM15A and there will likely be later and other brand models too. But the idea is all the same. Less complex processing power than a computer, but more integrated automation than a bunch of individual products acting on their own.

Computers and interfaces meet the by mechanical or electrical means criteria. Interfaces are relatively high on the hierarchy scale of HA, and for good reason. With the exception of running an interface connected HA computer 24/7, the interface alone is the next step.

What can be accomplished in HA with a dedicated HA computer? I am fond of saying that "the use of home automation is limited only by our imaginations". I truly believe the HA "possibilities are endless". Certainly email and text message alerts or warning for certain events can add safety and security. Internet connectivity allows automated weather reports, forecasts, even freeze warnings, and gives the HA computer a sense of awareness.

At the time of this writing I've been using speech recognition as part of my computer controlled HA setup for more than three years. The computer uses a human sounding voice to make announcements based on events or programs. No longer do I use chimes, or bells or flashing lights to warn me of an event. I get clear, spoken, voice notices. You may want to read about BVC, (the program I use).

The computer also understands my (predetermined) spoken commands. Instead of a couple remotes full of House and Unit code buttons used to turn On or Off lights, cameras, devices and also to trigger macros, I speak voice commands. Speech recognition and computers are not new but when used with a little imagination in a HA setup it can attain the highest level in the hierarchy scale, and almost appear magical too.