Index
Smart speakers, robot vacuum cleaners, vault alarms, and photosensitive irrigation systems: home automation is all this and much more.
The smart home may seem like a futuristic scenario, but it is a concept that is anything but new. Remote control systems, in fact, have been on the market for at least a decade, although the Alexa and Google Assistant team brought them to the forefront.
If you want to delve deeper into the topic and transform your smart home with Alexa or DIY, read this complete guide from Casavo dedicated to home technology.
What is home automation: a brief definition
TV commercials show us that a smart home is a robotic home, although the real definition of home automation is a bit more complex than that.
The term derives from the union of domus, house in Latin, and ticos, which in Greek indicates the use of all the technologies that can make the places inhabited by humans efficient and comfortable. We are therefore talking about a real science that brings together various disciplines, which has the aim of optimizing consumption and improving the quality of life.
Most likely, the first concrete application of the idea of a smart home dates back to 1966, when an engineer from the Westinghouse Corporation designed the first home automation device – called Echo IV (Electronic Computing Home Operator) – capable of controlling the temperature of each room and various appliances.
Since that prototype, things have changed a lot and the big tech giants are battling it out with highly advanced solutions for increasingly "autonomous" homes. But what is home automation used for and how can it be useful to you? Let's see it together.
What is home automation used for: the most common examples
Having a smart home means using a series of automatic systems to easily manage all the technological appliances in your home, perhaps in an integrated way.
A smart air conditioning system, for example, can be programmed based on weather conditions or the presence of people. A home automation lighting system, on the other hand, can adjust the intensity of the lights based on sunrise, sunset, rain or full sun.
As for the electrical system, home automation makes monitoring consumption and power loads safer and more efficient, thus preventing possible blackouts, reducing costs and polluting less (long live sustainable homes!).
Then there is automatic garden irrigation, which activates based on specific times and weather conditions, perfect for those who don't really know what green fingers are; and smart security systems, capable of detecting fire hazards, gas leaks, floods, and break-ins, and communicating in real time with the authorities.
Finally, everything related to automation, remote control, and programming: shutters, gates, and windows that open with a simple smartphone command, remotely controlled heating and air conditioning, music and multimedia content streaming managed with simple voice instructions.
Security, comfort, management flexibility, savings: home automation ensures an efficiency unattainable with traditional systems. And making it work is not that complicated.
How a home automation system works
A home automation system is equipped with a network of electronic devices capable of communicating with each other and exchanging information. To interact, they use a transmission medium that distributes commands and establishes the operating methods of the various components.
To ensure that all this works – and that users don't panic at every click – every self-respecting home automation infrastructure is based on rigid communication protocols governed by specific rules.
Protocols Home automation communication protocols: wireless, wired and mixed
When building a robotic home system, communication protocols are fundamental, that is, sets of rules that make the exchange of information within the system possible.
These protocols are nothing other than the main methods of connecting smart devices, namely:
- Bluetooth, for close-range communication technologies (up to ten meters between devices);
- Wi-Fi, used mainly to connect smart devices to the home network, which allows the home automation system to be installed on a pre-existing infrastructure.
The specific protocols for home automation are:
- KNX, the best for building automation, which guarantees interoperability between appliances and applications from different brands, but which cannot be installed without the support of a professional;
- Thread, a wireless protocol created by Google and Samsung, which assigns each device an IP address and uses the internet connection already installed in the home;
- Z-Wave, which requires a compatible hub that manages the entire system directly from your smartphone;
- Zigbee, a little slower and less efficient than the previous ones.
Which of these can be installed independently and how can you create your own DIY home automation? We'll see that shortly.
How to install a home automation system: first steps
If your idea is to install a complex home automation system, you must necessarily turn to a specialized technician.
If, however, you want to start with something unpretentious, you can use the Internet to set up your DIY smart home: all you need to do is purchase a kit consisting of a central unit to which you will have to connect the various smart devices via special remote control software.
In addition to the differences in operation and efficiency, you will notice a notable difference in cost, significantly lower if you decide not to use a specialist.
Home automation: installation costs, maintenance and tax breaks
The cost of implementing home automation varies depending on the type and number of devices that need to communicate with each other.
For a basic system, we're talking about around 3,000 euros, a price that can grow to almost very high figures if the need is to automate a villa with a swimming pool and two hectares of surrounding garden.
However, keep in mind that, since these are operations that affect the energy efficiency of the property, if you decide to transform your home into a smart home, you can take advantage of the numerous tax breaks for construction made available by the government.
Do you prefer to stay on affordable costs? So, go DIY.
Simple, DIY home automation: choose wireless and plug-and-play
The easiest and most economical way to open the doors of your home to home automation is to use a plug-and-play and wireless kit, which can save you from lengthy and difficult installations. What's more, thanks to their modularity, these simple systems can be expanded over time with the addition of compatible components.
Need another little push to make your final decision? A list of pros and cons is what you need.
Pros and cons of home automation
Quickly rereading what has been said so far, the advantages of using home automation at home are easy to understand:
- energy and economic savings;
- the possibility of customizing the functioning of appliances based on your habits;
- the convenience of automating some household tasks;
- greater security.
But, when it comes to technology, there is also a possible downside. When it comes to smart homes, concerns mostly revolve around privacy and the possibility of a hacker attack that could knock out the entire home. This is, however, a remote possibility: companies have always worked to minimize the vulnerability of their systems.
For our part, we can only advise you to always choose reliable and reputable brands. A bit like when it comes to buying a house. By the way! If you are looking for a property to transform into a triumph of technology, we are waiting for you on the Casavo advertising platform to help you find the home you've always wanted.
