Connected Households:

Connected households will change the way we live, work and play. Smart houses will enable seamless transitions from home to work and school, whilst encouraging savings in energy, water and money.

The idea of living in a smart home – a cleverly wired house that intelligently controls climate, irrigation, home security and entertainment systems — has been around for a couple of decades. Recent advances in hardware, software and interconnectivity have now brought some measure of home automation, into the reach of most Australian homeowners. These days, a digital house is capable of automatically controlling a wide variety of devices via its Home Area Network (HAN):

• Multi-room video and audio distribution
• Internal and external lighting systems, ceiling and exhaust fans
• Zoned heating and cooling devices, according to whether an area is occupied or not – and only if and when required
• Intercoms, security and access controls
• Natural light and temperature sensors that adjust lights and motorised window shades according to prevailing weather conditions
• Fixed and portable display panels that show the status of music and video systems; lights; fans, irrigation systems
• Media-rich education extranets that seamlessly unite and coordinate interactive content from school, university and working from home; and,
• Real-time energy consumption displays that tally current costs; credits, pay-back periods and saved pollution.

Besides the novelty and added convenience of such systems, there are also now compelling economic and environmental reasons to install or retrofit digital home technology. In the near future, water and energy will become significantly more expensive, and the need to curb greenhouse emissions, especially those caused by electricity generation, will become a major factor in all aspects of home and systems design.

To find out about the future developments surrounding the digital home, the following links to Intel Corporation, the Digital Living Network Alliance provide a good overview of what the future holds!