A NEW VISION OF CONTROL FOR A SMART HOME

Pavlo Krasovsky, Jochen Seitz

Institute of Information Technique,

Department of Communication Networks,

Technische Universität Ilmenau,

D-98684,Ilmenau, Germany

Keywords: Wireless applications, ubiquitous computing, XML, and data management

Abstract: Intelligent systems that provide integrated control for many functions, such as lighting, safeguard, air-

conditioner, heating, housekeeping equipment and maintenance of electronics, are close at hand for the mass

market. Main factors for the increase in needs of intelligent systems are: reduction of price, reputation of

products, and technical improvements. There are many corresponding systems, control equipment and ser-

vices at the market now. The main goal is the complete integration of all functions. It demands a high level

of interoperability between equipment and subsystems. The most important and advanced stage of devel-

opment is the remote control via internet or telephone. In the context of our project we developed a new

concept of interaction between server-side hardware and end-user software. The main purpose is to develop

a control system for the smart home in terms of communication and automation modules, first of all in a

wireless range. A communication interface should allow changing properties of end-user software without

recompilation. All necessary changes should happen in the server-side software with the help of configura-

tion files. One can use any text editor to change these files. Client software has to have full control of the

automation equipment at real time.

1 INTRODUCTION

Home networking has already emerged in specific

applications such as PC-to-PC communication and

home entertainment systems, but its ability to really

change people’s lives is still being retarded by com-

plex installation procedures, the lack of interopera-

bility between different manufacturers’ equipment

and the absence of compelling user services (Amigo,

2004).

There are many companies at the market now that

are occupied with the intelligent technique. They

offer different complex solutions of automation of

buildings, plants etc. Mainly, it is gathering informa-

tion from devices to the main terminal and remotely

controlling these devices, sometimes simply for

monitoring important equipment. It is very difficult

to retrieve information about these systems because

they implement rather new technologies and the

companies do not want to share their knowledge and

know-how. Therefore, there are still no standards at

the market now for building similar systems. That is

why these systems are yet not so popular.

In the context of the project LISTIG (LAN–

integrated control system for intelligent building

technique) two companies in Germany, DE-

SOTRON (http://www.desotron.de/) from Söm-

merda and Hörmann Funkwerke Kölleda

(http://www.hfwk.de/), cooperate to create a market-

able product in this area with an open architecture of

communication and very simple reconfigurable

structure (DESOTRON, 2003). Therefore, they inte-

grated teams of the University of Applied Sciences,

Jena and of the Technische

Universität Ilmenau in the

specification process.

The key objective of the LISTIG project is to

make technology not only work from a technical

point of view, but to make it work in such a way that

it motivates all people to use networked home sys-

tems with great ease and pleasure. This is also the

reason to spend much effort in developing attractive

user services and application prototypes that will

result in end-user benefits of a networked home sys-

tem. The use of a LISTIG networked home system

must relieve the boredom of household tasks, cause

pleasant experiences and simplify information re-

trieval.

117

Krasovsky P. and Seitz J. (2005).

A NEW VISION OF CONTROL FOR A SMART HOME.

In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies, pages 117-124

DOI: 10.5220/0001231201170124

 SciTePress

The main scientific and technical idea is a useful

combination of communication and automation

technique for controlling integrated systems for

smart buildings. These two technologies have to

bring the cheapest solution with the help of useable

embedded microcomputers (LISTIG – basis device)

that has very flexible possibilities for modification

through replaceable modules and chip cards.

2 STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE

The automation technique plays an important role in

our life (House, 2004). Only few professional activi-

ties exist that do not confront with the automation

nowadays. There are many heating and lighting

automatons in “house” areas that play a vanguard

role. The pervasion of automatons in the manufac-

turing industry is quite common today. The produc-

tion lines with robots are in all factory buildings and

implement products, for example automobiles. The

computer technique has already penetrated deeply

into our offices and houses and the automation tech-

nique is used step by step first of all in forms of

alarm and security equipment. Many buildings have

already been equipped with heating, ventilation,

lighting etc. These automation systems primarily

have to save electric power and furthermore manage

and control. The improvement of flexibility and in-

crease of work and life comfort play an important

role. The automation systems with peripheral

“autonomous” responsibility and intelligent strategic

observation and accompaniment are available in

praxis as exemplary models.

The technical solutions for smart houses and

buildings are already available or in development

even if they have a high price and are not optimized.

Here are some examples. The Medical Automation

Research Center (MARC) at the University of Vir-

ginia has developed technological solutions for in-

home monitoring of residents in order to provide

quality of life indicators (MARC, 2004). The in-

home monitoring system is composed of a suite of

low-cost, non-invasive sensors (strictly no cameras

or microphones), and a data logging and communi-

cations module, in addition to an integrated data

management system. The company Honeywell from

Austria proposes their system solution for building

automation and security with controlling all techni-

cal equipment and open managing of building on

demand (Honeywell, 2003). A very interesting pro-

ject called Amigo started at the end of 2004. Fifteen

of Europe’s leading companies and research estab-

lishments in mobile and home networking, software

development, consumer electronics and domestic

appliances have joined together in Amigo – an inte-

grated project that will realize the full potential of

home networking to improve people’s lives. The

project will develop open, standardized, interoper-

able middleware and attractive user services, thus

improving end-user usability and attractiveness

(Amigo, 2004). The main advantage of intellectual

system of control Berrimor is controlling and moni-

toring without the human influence (Berrimor,

2004).

All these projects have their advantages, but there

are still some disadvantages. A comparison of these

projects and the LISTIG project should be presented

at the conference.

The project LISTIG wants to develop an inte-

grated system of controlling, managing and monitor-

ing what doesn’t exist at market now. It is an attempt

to bring to the market a new concept of vision the “i-

Living” that means: intelligent, informative, individ-

ual, integrated and innovative, which relies on using

mainly wireless technologies and which will lead to

lower prices for buying and installing this system.

3 ARCHITECTURE OF LISTIG

The LISTIG basis device is a specific microcom-

puter developed by DESOTRON (see figure 1).

It has following basic specifications: 486 Atlas

CPU with mathematical coprocessor, 128 MB

SDRAM, 8 MB Flash RAM, without hard disk but

with enhanced network opportunities such as

Ethernet, WLAN, BLUETOOTH. The microcom-

puter works under control of the operating system

UNIX (Debian).

The basic architecture is represented in Figure 2

(Müller, 2004). The mode of functioning is as fol-

lows: the terminal equipment such as PC, PDA or

Handy sends a query to the visualization server that

processes the received information and sends back

the response to the terminal or forwards the query to

the automation server. The automation server, ac-

cording to the received information, sends a signal to

the well-defined equipment such as sensing devices,

lamps, heating, sirens, dimmers, etc., and receives

the acknowledgement signal; which it then forwards

via the visualization server to the terminal.

From the point of view of the software, heating,

sirens, dimmers and other equipment are objects that

belong to the groups that are situated on one or sev-

eral basis LISTIG devices. These objects interact

with each other through XML-messages.

WEBIST 2005 - INTERNET COMPUTING

118

Figure 1: The LISTIG basis device

4 SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE

The software of the LISTIG project has a complex,

branchy structure. It consists of the client-side soft-

ware for the end-user terminals and the server-side

software comprising three servers. The hardware is

an aggregate of equipment that is physically con-

trolled by microcontrollers WAGO. The controlling

with the software is realized via six configuration

files, see figures 3 and 4. These files have an XML

format and can be modified by any text editor.

The “Nodes.xml” file describes an access to

the various input-output (I/O) nodes of the network

(not for visualization).

The “Hardware.xml” file describes connec-

tions of objects with physical I/O-points or with

functions of physical devices (not for visualization).

The “Handling.xml” file describes the linking

of objects among themselves.

The “Configurator.xml” file describes what

objects are procreated, their classes, type, and as-

signment to the group, and an arbitrary number of

visualization groups. The name of the group and the

basis device always belong to the object name. So

we can always identify the object even if there is

more than one basis device in our system.

The “Classes.xml” file describes what ob-

jects can be shown at the terminal and the size of

this object in pixels. For example, an object belongs

to the current visualization group but you do not

want to see it on the screen or for some visualization

group the end-user would like to change the geomet-

ric representation of object.

The “Position.xml” file describes the loca-

tion of the objects on the screen. Location is deter-

mined with two coordinates and it always refers to

the left-upper corner of virtual rectangle.

The client software has been written for two

classes of computers, PC’s and pocket organizers.

The software for Pocket PC’s has been written in

C# with the help of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.

For PC’s there are two clients in C# and Java from

Sun. The possibilities of PC’s and Pocket PC’s are

strongly different that is why the main difference in

the software is their ability to monitor and control

the whole system and the one visualization group

correspondingly. The application consists of many

specific classes for every type of equipment.

Figure 2: The basic LISTIG architecture

A NEW VISION OF CONTROL FOR A SMART HOME

119

Every class has its own quantity of parameters that

corresponds to the real physical device. In another

thread of this application a TCP server is started on a

certain port that listens to the messages from the

visualization server. After successful identification

and authentication the application reads the configu-

ration information from the visualization server and

on the basis of this information receives data about

lamps, sensing devices, etc., that are available in this

system and dynamically creates the necessary

amount of objects of every class of equipment. It

means that it is possible to create one, two or n logi-

cal end-devices from one class.

Theoretically, the quantity of objects is unlimited,

but practically it is limited with the RAM of the end-

user terminals.

On the PDA; we chose several hierarchical views.

At first, one can see all virtual visualization groups,

classes and names of objects that one can monitor

and control. After selecting the group you would like

to observe, you receive the current state of all ob-

jects in this group, then you can see or change the

state of any object in this group. The feature of the

Figure 3: Configuration Files (I)

WEBIST 2005 - INTERNET COMPUTING

120

software is that the system is completely dynamic

and flexible. It means that with the help of the file

“Configurator.xml” you can create as many

virtual groups as you need and logically configure

all equipment at your wish. For example, it is very

comfortable to have the ability to see and control all

heating devices or lamps on one screen. Thereby,

one can receive quickly and easily necessary infor-

mation.

The data transfer from the client to the visualiza-

tion server is implemented on UDP sockets. There is

no need to do TCP communication for several rea-

sons. At first, TCP communication works a little bit

slower than UDP. There is no sense to permanently

have an open communication between client and

visualization server because of the poor abilities of

basis hardware. The loss of a UDP packet is also not

a critical error because there are no obligatory ac-

knowledgements in the system! Whenever you

change something in the system you can immedi-

ately see your changes. If you see nothing after a

few seconds it means that the packet was lost and

you have to send it again.

The server-side software is a distributed applica-

tion consisting of three servers: a logging server, an

automation server called communicator and the

aforementioned visualization server. Normally all

these servers should have been located on one

LISTIG device, but it is not obligatory.

The logging server keeps logs of the events of all

information about the system, namely:

- messages between terminals and visualiza-

tion server, between visualization server

and communicator;

- successful and failed connection attempts;

- IP-addresses of all terminals that have ever

been connected;

- date and time of received and sent packets;

- statistics of all events on demand.

The Communicator is a server, written in C++. It

consists of a collection of classes that have a low-

level interface to the equipment. Every class is a

virtual unit that controls the hardware. It means that

this server receives an XML string from the visuali-

Figure 4: Configuration Files (II)

A NEW VISION OF CONTROL FOR A SMART HOME

121

zation server, processes this message and controls

the equipment (for example switching on/off the

lamp) without physical cooperation. On start, the

server reads the configuration information from

three configuration files and accordingly links logi-

cally all sensors and actuators. It can be very useful,

for example that you can link one sensing device to

all lamps in your house. The Communicator com-

municates with the visualization server with the help

of TCP sockets. It means that the application listens

for all packets on a certain port. Access to this port

is permitted only for the packets inside of the opera-

tion system and blocked from the end-user terminals

or somewhere else.

The visualization server is the heart of this inte-

grated system, written in C/C++. It links two parts of

the system – end-user terminals and automation.

This server is a multithreaded application that is

responsible for processing, receiving and sending

packets and possesses some smart functions. On one

hand, after starting the server, it listens to the given

UDP port and waits for the messages from end-user

terminals. Upon receiving a message from the end-

user terminals, the server analyses the received in-

formation. It sends a response or relays this informa-

tion to the Communicator. In order to respond, the

server establishes a TCP connection with the end-

user terminal. The type of responses can be as fol-

lows:

- access denied or granted;

- login or password is not valid;

- MAC-address is not valid;

- various replies for the configuration re-

quests: configuration, position and location

of objects.

The authentication of the end-user is linked with the

account of the user in the operating system UNIX. If

none of the messages corresponds to the types

above, the server sends this message to the Commu-

nicator for the next processing.

When starting the visualization server, the option

of checking the MAC-address of the end-user termi-

nals could be selected. This means that the terminals

have to be in a LAN (Local Area Network) and to be

in the same subnetwork that has the LISTIG basis

device.

On the other hand, on the start of the server a

TCP connection is established with the Communica-

tor. If the communicator is not available or the con-

nection was lost because of restart of the communi-

cator or another reason there is no need to start the

visualization server again. It tries to re-establish the

connection.

Because the hardware-based abilities of the

LISTIG basis device are very restricted there is no

possibility to run a memory and processor consum-

ing application like a database on the UNIX system.

That is why all information is gathered and stored in

simple text files.

And here is how our integrated system works.

Let us imagine that the server-side software has been

started, all equipment works fine and we have rights

to control the system (login and password). The user

has started the client software, has gone through the

authentication and received the ability to see the

current configuration of equipment on the display of

the terminal. At this time a text file is created on the

server with the IP-address of the end-user terminal.

Then, the user selects the visualization group that he

would like to observe. At this time the visualization

server receives the names of the objects of the visu-

alization group that the user has just selected. These

names are written to the text file with IP’s name of

this terminal. Of course, we have not only one ter-

minal in practice that is why we have a list of “IP-

files” with the information about every terminal. Let

us imagine now, that the user has pressed the sens-

ing device, named Sensor1, which is linked with

the lamp, named Lamp1. The client software forms

an XML string and sends this string to the visualiza-

tion server. It looks like this string with tags,

[<Basis>Basis1</Basis>]

[<Group>Group1</Group>]

[<sensor>true</sensor>]

[<Timestamp>102345.12345</Timestamp>]

</Object>

where

“<Object id>”– name of the sensing device;

“<Basis>”– name of the LISTIG basis device;

“<Group>”– name of the group;

“<sensor>” – parameter of the sensing device.

The first three tags must be contained in all XML

messages; the last is different for different classes.

The visualization server transmits this message to

the communicator without any changes. The com-

municator, according to the received information,

switches on the sensing device like with hand. It

means that there has been an event which had

switched on the lamp. The communicator has re-

ceived the signal from the lamp, has formed an

XML string like this,

[<Basis>Basis1</Basis>]

[<Group>Group1</Group>]

[<lamp>true</lamp>]

[<Timestamp>1012345.22345</Timestamp>]

</Object>

and sent this to the visualization server. The server

scans all IP-files and finds the files that are related to

the lamp – “Lamp1”. If a file was found then the

WEBIST 2005 - INTERNET COMPUTING

122

visualization server sends this message further to the

terminal. If a file was found but the terminal is un-

reachable then this file is deleted from the server.

When the message reaches the terminal, the client

application parses the received XML string, installs

parameters of the objects, changes the colour of the

“addressed” objects to red (see figure 5) and notifies

the user with a voice message about the changes.

The costs of a LISTIG basis device is approxi-

mately 250$. It is not expensive but it can help peo-

ple to change their life for better with a new ad-

vanced technology.

5 SUMMARY AND FUTURE

TRENDS

In our project, we developed an integrated control

system for the smart home. The system works stably

and corresponds to the requirements of similar sys-

tems. The handling interface, especially developed

for communication between all components of this

system, is very simple and flexible. The client soft-

ware consists of a minimum of necessary elements

that effectively allow controlling the available

equipment. The security system is based on a pre-

sent-day well-known and reliable cryptographic al-

gorithm. The disadvantage of our software is that it

uses plenty of RAM memory. This is not very in-

convenient for PCs, but it plays a role for PDA’s

therefore the source code should be optimized.

There are many possibilities for improving the

client and server software. First of all the client

software should be divided into three groups: basis,

advanced and professional.

• Basis – for the end-users that can only ob-

serve the current state of the equipment.

They cannot change anything in the system

or they can enter some modifications accord-

ing to the authentication rights.

• Advanced – for the end-users that can control

and monitor well-defined equipment (for ex-

ample, not everyone has to have rights to

change the temperature in some specific

rooms).

• Professional – all rights in the system.

This division into three groups is rather common,

that is why there is no need to image something

novel.

It is also possible to allocate these three groups to

the server-software. Basis configuration allows link-

ing up sensors with well-defined actors and the user

cannot change this combination. Advanced configu-

ration allows freely linking the objects. With the

professional configuration the end-user has all pos-

sibilities. He can link up easily all events and use

output signals of control elements (actors) (as well

as a feedback). Furthermore additional objects are

available, for example timers etc.

And, of course, it is a very interesting task, as a

part of a scientific job, to build such an intelligent

and context-sensitive system. It considers wireless

communication such as WLAN, BLUETOOTH,

DECT etc. Thereby, one can locate the position of

the user inside of a building with the help of a PDA

or a Web PAD and the client software. It is not a

matter about localization in the world but localizing

the user in the current place of the building. For ex-

ample, when you enter a room you can see on the

screen of your PDA what is the room you have just

entered and all equipment that you can monitor and

control. It can be useful, for example, if you need to

Figure 5: Test application

A NEW VISION OF CONTROL FOR A SMART HOME

123

print some urgent papers but you don’t know exactly

the name of the room where you are now. With the

help of this intelligent technology you have to know

nothing about this room, you simply see this printer

on the screen and “take it easy”.

REFERENCES

Blumengarten, J., 2004. Home-Smart-Home.

http://www.pge.com/microsite/PGE_dgz/power/index.

htm

House, 2004. Haus der Gegenwart anlässlich der

Bundesgartenschau 2005 in München.

http://www.buga2005.de/de/besuch/veranstaltungsorte

/hausdergegenwart.shtml

Amigo, 2004. Amigo – Ambient intelligence for the

networked home environment. http://www.amigo-

project.org

DESOTRON, HFWK, 2003. LISTIG. LAN – integriertes

Steuerungssystem für intelligente Gebäudetechnik.

InnoRegio programme funded by the German Federal

Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Technischer Antragsteil.

Prof. Dr. Müller, J., 2004. Objektorientiertes und

Ergebnisgesteuertes Automatisierungs- und

Kommunikationssystem für die dezentrale

Gebäudeautomation. Messezentrum Erfurt,

Informations- und Kommunikationssysteme zur

nachhaltig optimalen Gebäudenutzung. Symposium

2004.

Abascal, J., Hampicke, M., 2004. The publishing smart

homes – technology for the future company.

www.stakes.fi/cost219/procabascsmart3.doc

MARC, 2004. Smart in-home monitoring system.

http://marc.med.virginia.edu/projects_smarthomemoni

tor.html. Tec Home Builder Jan/Feb 2003.

Honeywell, 2003. Gebäudeautomation – Systemlösungen.

http://www.honeywell.at/index.php/g2,gebaude,sysl1

Berrimor, 2004. Intellectual system of control.

http://www.berrimor.ru/berrimor.html

WEBIST 2005 - INTERNET COMPUTING

124