Home Automation and Me

I get more questions about my Home Automation hobby than about all other of my Blog subjects combined–more, lately, than ever before.

I think the increase is a reflection of incredibly fast-paced advancements in technology. And the resultant fascination with  home electronics that those technology advancements yield.

 Digital Television, 3D television, Internet delivery of video and movies directly to DVD players, iPhones and iPads as do-anything devices–these all conspire to, as one major home automation retailer puts it, “make life more interesting, convenient, and fun”.  Who among us doesn’t respond to such compelling stuff?

I’m presented with more questions now because more people are aware of the possibilities of a computerized, automated home. What starts out as a mission to simply consolidate your array of A/V system remote controls in the new Media Room  quickly expands to control scene lighting, motorized shades and blinds, and climate controls . Sometimes it stops there. Sometimes the bug bites hard and a quest to automate everything is on.

 My own interest in the Automated Home (or Connected Home, or Cyberhome, to offer a few synonyms) started simply enough as a way to turn off lights my toddlers left on. Through sheer luck I’ve become one of those people with a hobby that directly relates to what I do for a living.

In my professional life I “design” products.  Not the hardware and software, just their characteristics, their look, their feel. Sometimes the inspiration for them is my own, far more often the ideas and concepts come from others. They all start with a mission to solve some problem; my job is to imagine how the resultant devices will interact with people. I study the user and their industry. I think about who the user is, their environment, their lifestyle, how they would expect to interact with the device, what features the device would need to expose to fulfill the mission, how expansive or contained it should be, etc.  I specify features, I write product specs…than I make products happen, driving and interacting with (and sometimes directly managing) the talented people who actually create such products.

 But as I said,  I am no longer the guy who writes software or designs hardware professionally. I sometimes miss that direct-from-my-hand feeling of accomplishment…so I go home and write home automation software in my spare time. It’s a creative outlet, a way to not only envision but to execute a design, an idea.

Some of it is actually useful.

 For some time now I have focused on developing products for the commercial media compression and distribution industry—products on the source end of what is known to consumers as Internet Streaming, IPTV, Video on an iPhone and other mobile devices. More industrial applications include Digital Signage, conventional broadcast television, and in general anything that takes video where you have it and puts it where you want it.

 All of which means I get to play professionally with the technologies that also interest me personally and, conversely, use my experiences with home automation to influence my thinking on the design of products that deliver video to the home.

 My automation system is essentially a testbed. It does not represent what a consumer would pay a real AMX specialist to automate their new multi-million-dollar home. I have industrial-looking devices that are guaranteed to give any interior designer nightmares.  My wife graciously tolerates them, even embraces most of them. Together they represent what is possible, what is practical, and what can be combined to create something that is at the same time interesting, compelling, and convenient.

Home Automation done well can save money, improve safety and security, help overcome the challenges of physical disabilities, and detect urgent issues such as water leaks in time to prevent disasters. It lets you adapt to unexpected events, like remotely unlocking the front door when your guest arrives early or your son forgot his key. You can remotely adjust the A/C system when you stay at the office later than you expected. It can warn you when events don’t happen, like your daughter did not arrive home from school in the expected time window. It might even save a life..it can call you immediately if the smoke detectors are tripped, if someone unexpectedly opens an outside gate while no one is at home, or if a special emergency unlock code is entered to open the front door.

Now more than ever is a great time to be doing these things. There are more products, more vendors, and more real opportunities for automation at reasonable cost than ever before. It is no longer just the domain of rich guys with mansions and too much money. This is Do It Yourself Mecca, and there is a vast array of devices and techniques and software to choose from to automate anyhing and everything in your home.

 I have found it helpful when answering questions privately to serve up bits and details of my own system for illustration. So, in this Home Automation section of my blog, I’ll add some more public detail about what I have found helpful along with some of the not-so-useful things I and others have done. If any of it serves to educate and to make what you do in any way more fun I will have accomplished my goal in this Blog.

The pictures below (and scattered about in various posts) are diagrams of my home system, less some rather comprehensive security-related stuff I should say. Click on any of them so see a larger version. I’ll be explaining each of them in the coming weeks.

 //Mark

AMX and Homeseer share automation duties

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