What's happened "smart House"? They talk about him at every turn, but only a few have seen him. Accessory manufacturers aggressively use this label, and we, ordinary consumers, dutifully peck at it. Editorial website decided to clearly distinguish between two technology segments, deriving two completely different trends from there. Stop being deceived!

Recently, we have begun to actively follow the topic " smart home” and receive requests for reviews of devices that are often attributed to it. In this regard, we decided to prepare a short but capacious article on this topic.

What is a "smart home" and why it does not exist yet

Let's close our eyes for a moment and say this hackneyed marketing phrase. « Smart House» ! What do you imagine at this moment? Ten or fifteen years ago, you would remember a futuristic movie: where the windows are curtained by themselves, where light and climate are maintained by an autonomous system with artificial intelligence where coffee is prepared for the morning in advance without your participation, and so on.

This is the "smart home". Today it is not at all futuristic - but one hundred percent real. But it won't show up on its own. You should initially think over such a project at the stage of laying the foundation of your future home. Or do it in an apartment before a major overhaul. You will also need a very substantial amount of money, because such solutions require the involvement of professionals, the installation and deployment of specific equipment.

In short, a “smart home” is when everything is cool and beautiful, like in a movie, but for big money and a lot of time. In the next five years, little will change in terms of time and money in Russia. While the real "smart home" is only trying to break into the masses, marketers of all stripes are building effective advertising campaigns on this immense word. As a result, the consumer himself sits and does not understand anything.

Thanks to the efforts of the media, in the minds of modern geeks, a smart home is light bulbs Philips Hue, sockets with Wi-Fi module, weather sensors Netatmo, sensor sets Lapka etc. But in reality, these are devices of a completely different format, keeping up with the trend called “Internet of things”, IoT.

What is IoT and why is it trending now

IN IoT includes a special class of purely consumer devices, which in themselves cannot become the basis of a “smart home”, but profess similar ideas. The phrase “Internet of things” itself implies two key elements of this trend: ordinary objects that can connect to the Web. In an ideal world, these items should also communicate with each other.

Roughly speaking, IoT is a coffee maker that has an iPhone app and prepares coffee at the same time as the alarm goes off. IoT is a set of light bulbs Philips Hue, which change the color and brightness of the light at the request of the owner. It's the same set of sensors Lapka measuring the environmental situation around. And many, many other existing and future gadgets that connect to our iPhones - for the sake of displaying data or controlling functions.

It becomes necessary to separate the "smart objects" of the IoT format and the "smart home" for a simple reason. The largest companies in the world in the coming years will furiously research and release products that meet precisely the challenges of IoT. The development of modern technology has made “smart refrigerators” and “Wi-Fi toasters” a reality. Each of them is interesting in the vacuum of their capabilities, but their installation in the house will never make the latter truly “smart”.

Therein lies the difference. You can buy a basket of smart accessories, but none of them - either together or separately - will be an element of a real "smart home".

What does a smart home actually look like?

First of all, a “smart home” is not a set of “smart light bulbs”, but a central “brain” that monitors and controls all communications in the apartment, climate and electricity. The key element of a real “smart home” that everyone dreams of is its software and technical platform. It is this “base” that is connected at the lowest level to your pipes, electrical panel and heating system in order to control it.

There are many such low-level control systems. For example, there are promising software solutions - for example, the environment Apple HomeKit, which in the future will unite all "smart coffee makers" into a single and truly efficient network that communicate with each other. But without a central control system, these conversations will go no further than pointless marketing.

Control systems for "smart homes" are far from being as much advertised as "sockets" and "light bulbs", but they exist, flourish and develop for many decades. Many of them are very expensive, as they include fine tuning Software and specific computer components, plus various sensors, communications equipment and more.

Thinking, editorial website I tried to search in Russia for such companies that offer really working systems for creating a “smart home”. We were especially interested in those who approach the issue from a purely Russian, impenetrable side. So that you can put it easily, quickly and for centuries. And preferably for a penny.

Originally Russian "smart home"

The company responded to our request. Ektostroy, offering a special solution for our country: a kind of "smart home" in Russian, impenetrable and adapted to our harsh realities. Their system does not depend on the availability of electricity in the house. She doesn't need internet. It works with the highest reliability and does not require further investment, and is able to make life easier and prevent a local man-made disaster.

: for the temperature in pipes, for boilers, for the supply of electricity, for heating appliances and much more. And not only tracking, but also management. The whole system works through the GSM network, does not require the Internet in any form and processes commands via SMS messages.

Example. You are sitting at work, 50 kilometers from your country house. Haven't been there for two months. What if he got robbed? Did he suddenly have a problem with the heating system? Suddenly the electricity was turned off, and you are going to go there tomorrow with the guests? The idea behind Ectocontrol is to notify the user immediately about the above situations. This is what allows a person to accept necessary measures on time: arrive on time and fix the problem before it becomes critical.

Or another example. You are going to the cottage. Even when leaving the house you send technical message to your Ectocontrol station, which starts the heating system in the house. Come to warmth and comfort. We rested, left, closed the gate - sent a message about turning off the system or working at a low temperature. The pipes remain warm, the house does not freeze to the end, and you always know what temperature it is.

Ektostroy and his team attracted us with their enthusiasm and the fact that their product differs from the existing ones on the market in a number of interesting, sometimes unique qualities. Instead of describing the possibilities of the system in a nutshell, we decided to go further - and go to film the process of installing the Ectocontrol system.

In the coming days, we will tell you how one of the most promising Russian smart home systems works. Until then, don't be fooled. "Smart home" may end with a "smart lamp", but it does not begin with it;)

Our company is seeing a 30% increase in demand for its products in the first quarter of this year, and most market players, including distributors and system integrators, predict that in the next five years Russian market systems will grow at an average rate of 25% per year.

Who needs a smart home?

The growing interest of Russians in a smart home is obvious, but not everyone understands what it is. Half of the customers who come to us need an explanation of how automation technologies can solve their daily problems. They have a need to manage housing, to optimize their life, but they still have no idea how this can be done.

As part of a smart home, they see an intercom with video surveillance and a security and fire system, but this, of course, is not the case. These are just disparate engineering elements, and a smart home is the connection of all subsystems, centralized control of lighting and air conditioning, heating, access control, video surveillance, gas and water leakage control, automatic irrigation and curtain control. And all this is done using a smartphone. The number of subsystems that can be included in a smart home is practically unlimited.

This complexity of modern housing creates the need for a smart home. There are too many electronics and daily processes around us that need to be rationally built, connected with each other, and controlled.

A smart home is a natural stage of progress, the evolution of housing, it is a direct consequence of all the technical innovations that surround us in modern houses and apartments.

Let's imagine a large country house in which a family with children lives, it has 7-10 rooms. Going to bed, you need to make sure that the lights and air conditioners are turned off everywhere - can you imagine how much energy will be wasted if this is not done? This is where smart home scenarios help - automatic shutdown by time, for example. And no need to walk around the house and turn everything off manually. Or the “everyone left” function: the owners leave the house, and all electrical appliances are safely switched off.

That is, the larger the area of ​​housing, the more systems inside it, the more obvious the advantages of a smart home. Another important argument is economy. On average, "smart" systems reduce energy consumption costs by 20-30%, and the experience of our projects says that a smart home begins to "work" at full capacity on an area of ​​100 square meters.

Professional smart home equipment lives for about 10 years and then needs to be replaced due to obsolescence. The average cost of equipment is one thousand rubles per square meter. In a house or apartment with an area of ​​100 square meters, a smart home will cost from 100 thousand rubles. And now you can imagine how much it will pay for itself on average, saving 20-30% of the cost of heat and energy resources every month. According to our calculations, the full payback of a smart home in such an area is from 3 to 5 years.

And who doesn't need it?

Most likely, you do not need a smart home if:

• You have a small apartment with a small number of functional areas (one bathroom, one kitchen, and so on).
• All switches are within walking distance, it is not difficult for you to monitor the consumption of energy resources: turn off the lights and turn off electrical appliances yourself.
• You do not need to provide remote access in an apartment for children, relatives, workers.

Not a very smart home

Most Russians live in small apartments, so the value of a smart home is not obvious to them. Recently, suppliers of "kits in a box" have begun to actively use this. They are sold at retail by telecom operators, Russian startups and Chinese electronics manufacturers.

“Sets in a box” are simple devices for controlling individual functions in an apartment: temperature, turning on / off a light bulb, turning off water, and so on. The owner of the house sends an SMS or activates a function in the app, and the radio signal transmits the message to the device.

We call such kits “smart home probe”: they solve individual tasks in apartments and, in general, can simplify specific household processes. You can install these kits yourself, professional engineers are not needed for this. Those who buy them do not really need a smart home. And the owners of large houses and apartments will never buy “sets in a box”, because “probes” cannot solve the complex tasks of a smart home.

Smart home market in Russia

The Russian smart home market looks like this. According to our calculations, approximately 50% are suppliers of foreign brands (USA, Germany, Austria). In most cases, their equipment complies with the KNX or EIB/KNX standard. This is high-quality, but expensive equipment for the premium segment in real estate.

20% of the market is occupied by Russian brands, some of which, in our opinion, only disguise themselves as independent manufacturers and developers. In fact, their equipment is taken from the range of various Chinese manufacturers and passed off as their own.

Only a few are engaged in the real development and production of complex integrated systems "smart home" in Russia. To distinguish real manufacturers is quite simple - by the presence of patents and development departments.

The remaining 30% are the same "kits in a box", inexpensive, uncomplicated and with a service life of 1-2 years.

The cost of Russian "smart home" technologies is many times different from the cost of foreign equipment, they are much cheaper. The cost of Russian equipment does not include excises and import duties, transportation, mark-ups of several wholesalers, foreign development costs, salaries of foreign engineers - and they are quite high, we have to admit it. This explains the difference in cost, which, judging by the latest fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate, will only increase.

Residential real estate will "get smarter"

A typical smart home buyer is a man over 30 years old, usually working in IT, or otherwise associated with this area. He has a higher technical education and hence the habit of trusting modern technologies and integrate them into your life.

The Russian Guild of Realtors recently published a study of the market for new buildings. They note that the share of comfort-class housing is growing throughout Russia, and projects for the integrated development of territories - the construction of economy housing on the outskirts of cities - on the contrary, are being curtailed. With this factor, we can link the further growth in demand for smart home technologies.

Higher class homeowners are more interested in centralizing the management of all life support systems in their apartment.

It is also important that developers have “ripened” to a smart home. Many of them are ready to integrate basic versions of “smart” systems into apartment buildings under construction: automated lighting groups, access control, automatic data collection from meters, heating control, water leakage control, fire alarms.

Such “smart” filling of apartments allows developers to stand out from the competition, raise their status by working with innovative technologies and stimulate a stagnating real estate market.

Threats to the development of the “Internet of things” and modern approaches to cybersecurity were discussed in Moscow

On May 23-24, Moscow hosted a key event in the cybersecurity industry - Positive Hack Days, organized by Positive Technologies. It was attended by about 5 thousand experts who discussed the main trends and problems of data protection. This year, one of the main problems of analytics is the development of IoT - "Internet of Things". The correspondent of Realnoe Vremya also attended the event.

Analysts predict that by 2025 the main "users" world wide web will not be people, but smart devices. For example, smart TVs and multicookers with Wi-Fi control, surveillance cameras and smart home elements. Positive Technologies experts have compiled the top 5 most dangerous devices for the user that have access to the Internet.

First of all, this is the heart of the whole home network- Wi-Fi or 3G-4G router. Experts find up to 10 vulnerabilities in these devices every month. Developers, in turn, are in no hurry to eliminate them - in pursuit of cheap devices, the router firmware may not be updated, and manufacturers save on testing and security.

True, the user remains the most vulnerable element of the router. As Positive Technologies experts found out, out of 100 devices, 15 passwords have never been changed from the factory ones. This means that anyone can get into his “brains” and program for any actions.

Analysts predict that by 2025 the main "users" of the World Wide Web will not be people, but smart devices

Surveillance cameras are no less vulnerable. These devices pose a threat to business to a greater extent: about 90% of those used by small and medium-sized enterprises have critical vulnerabilities. A hacker can spy on an office through CCTV cameras with little or no effort.

Navigation and wireless control also proved to be a good target for hackers. To demonstrate this, Positive Technologies experts decided to play magic tricks - they set the clock on cell phones right in the pockets of viewers and set fake GPS coordinates, confusing telephone navigation. And if now the failure of the navigator, by and large, threatens only unmanned aerial vehicles, then a hacker can do a lot of trouble on unmanned vehicles. Resetting the time and date, in turn, invalidates the site's security certificates, opening up room for cyberattacks.

Continuing the tricks, security experts intercepted the wireless keyboard signal. At one time, hackers used keylogger programs that recorded all keystrokes and sent them to the owner. With development wireless keyboards this can be done by an operator sitting at a distance of up to several hundred meters. And the cheapness of the equipment - about 300 rubles - threatens with mass espionage.

“Generals are always preparing for the previous war. The Internet of Things is just a consequence of the problem. The main problem is technological debt accumulated by IT companies. The first victim of the race for price is security, and in an attempt to create a competitive price, companies sacrifice it,” Artem Gavrichenkov, Chief Engineer of QRator Labs, believes.

Artem Gavrichenkov: “Generals are always preparing for the previous war. The Internet of Things is just a consequence of the problem. The main problem is technological debt accumulated by IT companies”

Experts suggest patching a hole in the security perimeter, starting from the head. No measures will save the user who does not change the password of the router himself and opens suspicious links. Also, according to experts, the state should develop certification standards for commercially available devices that would include the requirements for the required level of protection.

WannaCry: how many times have they told the world

Alexey Novikov, Head of the Cybercrime Investigation Department at Positive Technologies, made a presentation with this title. WannaCry ransomware is just one of hundreds similar programs known to mankind. A virus that encrypts data or places unremovable banners on the screen and demands money for "treatment" of a computer is almost the same age as the Internet.

WannaCry became known only due to its wide geography and the scale of the attack. Interestingly, the beneficiaries of the program did not even write it, but simply found it on the Internet and “sowed” it. The vulnerability exploited by the virus was known back in March. Those users who do not properly update their computers fell under the distribution.

“In principle, the initial propagation vector using a vulnerable port on the perimeter is a very simple, very easy way. Nothing prevented the attacker from complicating the exploit and ... infecting even those organizations whose perimeter is protected, ”said Alexey Novikov.

Alexey Novikov: “To be honest, I doubt that the attacker will cash out this money. It seems to me that the goal was not money, otherwise he would have come up with a more sophisticated mechanism for delivery and receipt.

For the same reason, the expert doubts that the purpose of the ransomware distribution was money. Answering the question whether it would be difficult to cash out the funds received by the hacker, Alexey Novikov suggested that, oddly enough, hardly anyone would do this:

“To be honest, I doubt that the attacker will cash out this money. It seems to me that the goal was not money, otherwise he would have come up with a more sophisticated mechanism for delivery and receipt. We have seen cases in the past where attackers exploited this vulnerability, but their activity was limited to using the processing power of servers. On this, the attackers earned much more than on WannaCry and even withdrew money. In principle, it can be monetized, but in the case of WannaCry, I doubt it, ”concluded the speaker.

During the forum, the thesis “There is no patch from human oversight” was repeatedly voiced. Acronis, which offers users cloud solutions for data protection, took up his refutation. Their essence is that the company's product periodically makes backups, with which you can restore data on your computer and smartphone before the infection, up to the icons on the desktop. In addition, the program has a built-in function that detects RansomWare at the time of infection and blocks its spread.

“The statistics of WannaCry infections alone showed that companies are rather careless about software updates. The patch was urgently released back in March, a lot of time has passed since March. Those companies that did not have time or did not want to update for some reason suffered ... The main problem is precisely in the way of thinking, in responding to news, leaks, trends, in organizing the work of internal IT services and information security services, ”the division manager is sure Acronis standardization and risk management Julia Omelyanenko.

Yulia Omelyanenko: “WannaCry infection statistics alone showed that companies are rather negligent about software updates”

In general, experts call social engineering one of the main tools for spreading malicious software. This is the use of standard patterns of human behavior, with the help of which attackers convince the user to voluntarily download malware onto their computer. How many times in the last month have you received letters where a non-existent grandmother left you a million dollar inheritance, which you can get by clicking on the link? Or they tried to download a book “for free, without registration and SMS” from a suspicious site. What about SMS with a suggestion to see your photos via a suspicious link?

You can fight social engineering by increasing the technical literacy of employees, Yulia Omelianenko is sure:

A person who is less technically savvy will be the target of attacks.

Stalingrad-online

While the speakers were talking about cybersecurity, a real battle for the city between representatives of the hacker elite and IT security services was going on in a separate room. For looting, the hackers were given a cardboard-plastic settlement with hundreds of virtual residents, transport, factories, traffic lights, shopping mall, CHP, banks and railway. The city was governed by the same systems that can be found in the metropolis, the layout was needed only for clarity.

The goal of the hackers was to earn as much in-game money as possible. For example, one of the teams intercepted a text message from the mayor of the city containing compromising evidence, earning 150,000 "publics" on it. The Hack.ERS team was able to steal the money of SIP telephony users: having hacked accounts, hackers got money using paid calls to short numbers.

A cardboard-plastic settlement with hundreds of virtual residents, transport, factories, traffic lights, a shopping center, a thermal power plant, banks and a railway was given to hackers for looting

"Intruders" managed to stop the thermal power plant and the oil refinery - by hacking corporate network, hackers have identified the controllers that the organization uses and were able to stop the work of enterprises. The reason for this is the "oversight" of the administrators of organizations, which was discussed at a meeting on IoT: wifi router was protected by a default password not removed by administrators. The vulnerability, which would have taken a sysadmin a minute to eliminate, disabled the entire industrial complex of the city. The hackers cut off the power supply to the thermal power plant, which stopped supplying steam to the refinery, which caused it to stop.

Under the cover of night, hackers committed a grand theft: almost 4 million "publics" were stolen from the bank. To do this, they previously stole user data, which made it possible to hack into the remote banking system. Another team of hackers took advantage of the compromised data bank cards, removing 10 “publics” from each. In reality, such an attack would go unnoticed, but it would bring income to attackers. A major theft led to an economic crisis, forcing the organizers of the competition to carry out an additional issue of "public".

The organizers of PHDays made the reservation that the city model is an ideal system for hackers. In reality, attackers have fewer resources, while security professionals have more options. However, such a model is enough to make it clear that a modern hacker can do a lot of trouble by breaking into the banking system, de-energizing an entire city, or creating chaos in transport.

The “Internet of things” also creates a new threat, when a “smart home” can turn against its owner. Take a look around - perhaps your refrigerator and coffee maker are already plotting against you?

Only yesterday, only geeks and enthusiasts dealt with smart homes, and today, without suspecting anything, we go to buy a spare light bulb, and return with a real smart device. In other words, the “smart house” enters our lives so unceremoniously and mercilessly that soon, just look, there will be no more bricks left from “ordinary” houses.

At the same time, most of us have such a vague concept about smart home systems that over time, the confusion in our heads only grows. Of course, we know that coffee makers have learned to make coffee at a given time, and the light turns on when we ask it to, but here's how it works - here the devil will break his leg.

Do we know what a "smart home" is? Smart lamps, coffee makers, robotic vacuum cleaners... A real technological revolution is happening around us - and perhaps it's time to get to know the world of home automation better.

At the same time, almost all articles on the Internet either say a couple of words about this, or are intended for those same geeks who have already eaten more than one dog in this matter. Once we have already corrected this misunderstanding and published an article about a smart home, and today we decided to repeat ourselves - even more understandable, even clearer, even more concise than last time. Let's start an excursion into the world of smart home.

Introduction: terms and history

First things first, let's remember that "smart home" is the marketing name for home automation. The term includes everything that our home can accommodate: smart vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, refrigerators, light bulbs, radiators, humidifiers, temperature sensors, etc. English language our "smart home" corresponds to the concept of "smart home". At the same time, you may come across the term "multi-room" - these are the same smart devices, but related to audio-video equipment: cinema centers, smart speakers, and so on.

There is also the English expression "smart house" - it is associated with various control systems in multi-apartment buildings: water supply, central heating and security. As a rule, these issues are not included in our "smart home", but if it comes to your personal home, then why not.

Historically, home automation appeared already in the early 60s - immediately after the start of the rapid development of computers. At first, everything worked on punched cards and tapes, but even then, control systems could turn on devices on a schedule and communicate with alarm systems. True, all this happened in the homes of enthusiastic inventors ... Thus, the Spira brothers patented the first dimmer in the 61st year - a device that automatically adjusts the light.

Automation devices were created independently in different parts of the world, and in the end, in 1978, the Scots from Pico Electronics created a universal data transfer protocol for all these devices. The standard was called X10, and it was then that the doors learned to move apart automatically, and the light turned on by cotton.

The further history of the smart home is the history of the creation of such universal "languages" for various devices(e.g. electronic bus CEBus). The fact is that manufacturers of smart devices still could not agree among themselves which protocol to use. It's funny that this problem has persisted to this day - and is one of the most important in the matter of home automation.

You can also think of 1984, when the American Association of Housing Companies first coined the term "smart home", and 1999, when Disney popularized the idea with a movie about a smart computerized home.

How it works?

The center of any home automation system is the controller - this is a computer that processes commands and sends them to the necessary devices and devices. Usually, this is a separate device that is installed somewhere in an accessible place. But sometimes your smartphone or tablet can act as a controller - this happens, for example, in Apple's HomeKit system from Apple. As a rule, devices from different manufacturers can be connected to a controller that works with the universal data transfer protocol.

So, the controller is in the center of the system. On the one hand, we have “sense organs” around the house that will inform him various information- these are various sensors: temperature, humidity, leakage detection, etc. When the sensor detects something, it sends the data to the controller, which analyzes it. We can also communicate with the controller directly, bypassing the sensors: by sending commands to it from a smartphone or remote control.

And finally, on the other side of the system, there are “operating” devices, that is, our smart devices. The controller, depending on the programmed algorithms or information received from the sensors, gives commands to smart devices - and they, in turn, make our life more convenient.

To summarize, the smart home system consists of three components:

sensors (sensors) sensitive to the environment;

a central controller (or hub), which processes all information and sends commands to devices;

and the devices themselves, performing various tasks.

How do all these components connect to each other? Two ways: using wires or radio. It is clear that the wireless method is more convenient during installation: you do not need to install anything - you bought it, installed it and forgot it. However, wired systems are much more secure because they do not rely on home wifi network, which can be subject to failures and even attacks.

I will also mention centralized and decentralized smart home systems. The former are controlled by a single controller module, as described above in this section. The more devices are connected to each other, the more devices are subject to one controller - the more complex and interesting the scenarios for their work. However, there are also decentralized systems from several chains of devices or even single autonomous devices. Such systems are less flexible in configuration, but more secure: one component fails, and the rest do not care.

Now let's move on to what smart systems are. I will break the description into sections and start with smart light.

"Smart Light"

These words unite a whole class of devices related to lighting: from dimmer switches to smart bulbs and blinds. We classify the functions of "smart light" - the main capabilities of such systems are as follows:

turning on / off lighting depending on the time or the presence of a person in the room;

brightness adjustment depending on the time of day, the number of people and other triggers;

shading the room when you turn on the projector or TV;

adjustment of the amount of natural light - automation of the operation of curtains and blinds;

light notifications about various events;

imitation of the presence of people in the room to ensure security;

designer room lighting scenarios that change dynamically or on commands (Nanoleaf lamp set);

• custom scenarios or algorithms, such as changing white light to soft while reading.

Microclimate

This class includes air conditioning, heating, humidification and ventilation systems, and they call all this mess with the abbreviation HVAC (English HVAC). The goal is to make life comfortable, but also save energy. Since human health directly depends on these systems, special attention is paid to safety when creating HVAC - therefore, microclimate systems often operate autonomously, independently of other smart home devices. Among the functions of the HVAC are the following:

maintaining a comfortable temperature by regulating the operation of batteries, heaters and underfloor heating;

lowering the temperature to a comfortable level at night;

saving energy by turning off or reducing the intensity of heating;

humidification, dehumidification, ionization and purification of indoor air;

supply of fresh air with the help of fans, fancoils and air conditioners;

automating the operation of plumbing systems, for example, closing valves in the absence of the owners' home.

An example of a convenient and simple smart thermostat is. The same brand makes a ton of other smart home devices that are compatible with Apple system homekit. So if you are a user of apple devices, familiarity with Elgato is a must. You can buy these devices.

Security

Security is a loose concept, and in fact, even an ordinary alarm system in your apartment can be called a smart home component. However, the true possibilities of security automation know no bounds, especially when supplemented with a variety of sensors and sensors. Let's name the main functions smart systems security:

surveillance using cameras, video intercoms and night vision devices;

saving surveillance video files to the cloud or built-in drives;

signaling and calling security services;

control of the integrity of windows, doors, walls and fences of the home area;

monitoring the status of opening/closing windows and doors;

control of access rights to the premises using smart locks;

leak tracking;

detection of fire hazardous situations and their liquidation;

monitoring of wiring operation and protection against short circuits((thermal imagers).

An example of convenient security devices is the company's gadgets. Their distinguishing feature is that you do not need to fiddle with installation or configuration for a long time. Using the controller (separately available) you can control a variety of sensors that can be purchased separately or in a single kit.

Good cameras are made by Ezviz. The brand also has a lot of sensors in its arsenal: leaks, door opening/closing, etc. As in the case of Fibaro, the company also has smart home sensors. We get acquainted with Ezviz devices.

Supervision of children, the elderly and animals

This category can come in very handy, even if you do not plan to create a smart home from your home. Smart devices have been very successful in making life easier when someone needs your help and supervision. We list the possibilities of such devices:

video surveillance of the object in real time;

two-way audio and video communication through baby monitors and separate microphone systems;

push notifications about movements or loud sounds;

closing access to premises and automated movements;

object location monitoring;

monitoring the activity and health indicators of the facility.

Ring devices are examples of functional and easy-to-use smart cameras and smart doorbells with video surveillance. These cameras support the night vision function, automatically detect movement in the field of view, and shoot in excellent quality.

Smart appliances

The most "delicious" class of home automation systems is what many people usually mean by a smart home. This includes smart kettles, pressure cookers, vacuum cleaners and other household helpers. The list of these devices is endless, so I'll just try to classify them briefly:

kitchen appliances: smart stoves, refrigerators, multicookers, etc.;

other Appliances: vacuum cleaners, scales, washing machines, irons, etc.;

smart furniture and interior items: automatic doors, cornices, curtains, lampshades, cabinets, etc.;

multimedia devices: smart speakers, TVs, projectors, karaoke systems, etc.;

games and entertainment: constructor robots, educational games, etc. (robots).

Universal automation protocols

As I have already said, the main problem of the modern smart home is the fragmentation of the market. This means that many smart devices may not work with each other at all. And in best case you will have many applications on your smartphone for each of them. Not the most convenient option, if you think about it. Some firms offer complete turnkey systems where everything works perfectly, but in this case you will not be able to combine the devices you like: for example, a smart device and an Apple humidifier.

The most obvious solution is to use devices that support the Universal Data Transfer Protocol. To date, the most promising of these "languages" are the Z-Wave and ZigBee protocols. Both of them were developed not only for convenience, but also for safety. Protocols have a so-called cellular structure. If any node of the system is damaged, commands are sent through any available node (device). Thus, if one component fails, the entire system continues to work.

Smart home - future or present?

Imagine that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, invited you to his house. You enter a spacious hallway, the smart assistant Jarvis turns on a moderately bright light so you can take off your shoes and hang up your outerwear. In the living room, the assistant adjusts the soft light, comfortable for relaxing. Mark asks Jarvis to turn on some nice background music - and Miles Davis' saxophone sounds from the speakers. After dinner, you decide to watch a movie, and Jarvis turns on the TV for you, and the lights around him dim to a minimum. While you enjoy watching, the smart assistant does not sit still: he monitors the safety of Mark's daughters, and if the children cry, Jarvis will immediately inform his father in the voice of Morgan Freeman.

Immersion in the world of "smart homes" is not necessarily difficult and painstaking work here and now. It is quite possible to start small: buy a smart light bulb, then purchase a controller and add another device to the system. Gradually, you will feel like a fish in water in matters of automation.

The bell rings - the guests have arrived. Jarvis immediately scans the visitors and informs the owner of the house who is at the door. After a pleasant evening, you go to bed. In the morning, Jarvis prepares breakfast for all the guests, and he has a clean T-shirt in store for Mark - he shoots it from the pump right into Zuckerberg's hands!

This example of smart home organization is just one of many. Bill Gates' home may surprise even more: it is equipped with a glass elevator with voice control; swimming pool with automatic tuning comfortable water temperature; control system for every plant in the garden and in the house, and much more.

Of course, to get such a smart home, you need to lead a successful company. But in general, smart technologies and automation systems are no longer the prerogative of the elite: the market is growing, more and more solutions for consumers appear on it. To set up your smart home, you only need the desire to immerse yourself in the topic and directly deal with the organization. Of course, there are plenty of turnkey solutions out there—from BTicino, Crestron, Legrand, and others, for example—but you can start small. Let's say with a smart light bulb - why not?

The amazing era of IoT, the Internet of things - the global interaction of everything with everything through the network - in fact, is just beginning, and smart home - good example what awaits us in the future, but is available today.

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