Smart Homes: Current Status and Future Possibilities

A special issue of Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks (ISSN 2224-2708). This special issue belongs to the section "Big Data, Computing and Artificial Intelligence".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2018) | Viewed by 81669

Special Issue Editors


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School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Interests: drones; robots; swarm drones; swarm robotics; IoT; smart sensors; mechatronics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smart Homes are the building blocks of Smart Cities under the theme of Internet of Things. In the most recent decade, advances in remote detecting innovation frameworks have led to an expansive number of different sorts of “Smart Homes”. The Smart Home is an integration system made of about three important entities: Firstly, the physical components (smart sensors and electronic gadgets); Secondly, the communication system (significant wireless advances used to actualize the frameworks using Z-Wave, Insteon, Wavenis, Bluetooth, WiFi, and ZigBee); Thirdly, the information processing through artificial intelligence programs (machine learning and data mining). Numerous proportional names are utilized for the savvy home framework, e.g., home observation, home computerization, assisted living framework, wise home etc.

The current advances in home computerization contribute towards achieving risk-free sheltered living as well as comfortable real life settings for the residential home environment. The Ubiquitous Monitoring systems might be more readily adopted by the residents if the monitoring systems were designed and developed as a custom-made tool. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is one of the brilliant home applications, which contains interoperable ideas, items, and administrations, which coordinate new data and correspondence advances and home situations with the aim of increasing the personal satisfaction of individuals in all phases of life.

This Special Issue aims to publish original, significant and visionary papers describing scientific methods and technologies that improve efficiency, productivity, quality and reliability in all areas of wireless home automation and Ambient Assisted Living. This Special Issue will provide a broad platform for publishing the many rapid advances that have been achieved to date in the area of wireless home automation and Ambient Assisted Living. In this Special Issue, we would like to focus on understanding what should be done to improve humans’ sensing awareness. Submissions of scientific results from experts in academia and industry worldwide are strongly encouraged.

Contributions may include, but are not limited to:

  • Intelligent sensors and actuators for homes, buildings and infrastructures

  • Real-time control and optimization

  • Distributed, networked and collaborative systems

  • Big data and real-time data processing

  • Wireless Communication protocols and implementation

  • Modelling and analysis of physical components and the environment

  • Modelling, analysis and integration of human activities

  • Energy efficiency in homes, buildings and infrastructures

  • Practical deployment and case studies

  • Anomaly detection in the smart home environment

  • Innovative wireless sensing and computing systems or prototypes

  • Innovative use of smartphones or mobile tablets for smart homes

  • Cloud-based data processing for human-awareness in home automation

  • Internet of Things (IOT) and cloud computing for the smart environment

  • Real-time and semantic web services

Prof. Dr. Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay
Prof. Dr. Nagender Kumar Suryadevara
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Smart Home

  • Wireless Sensor Networks

  • Ambient Assisted Living Environment

  • Home Monitoring System

  • Home Appliances

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 14406 KiB  
Article
Virtual Replication of IoT Hubs in the Cloud: A Flexible Approach to Smart Object Management
by Simone Cirani, Gianluigi Ferrari, Mirko Mancin and Marco Picone
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2018, 7(2), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan7020016 - 26 Mar 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 8895
Abstract
In future years, the Internet of Things is expected to interconnect billions of highly heterogeneous devices, denoted as “smart objects”, enabling the development of innovative distributed applications. Smart objects are constrained sensor/actuator-equipped devices, in terms of computational power and available memory. In order [...] Read more.
In future years, the Internet of Things is expected to interconnect billions of highly heterogeneous devices, denoted as “smart objects”, enabling the development of innovative distributed applications. Smart objects are constrained sensor/actuator-equipped devices, in terms of computational power and available memory. In order to cope with the diverse physical connectivity technologies of smart objects, the Internet Protocol is foreseen as the common “language” for full interoperability and as a unifying factor for integration with the Internet. Large-scale platforms for interconnected devices are required to effectively manage resources provided by smart objects. In this work, we present a novel architecture for the management of large numbers of resources in a scalable, seamless, and secure way. The proposed architecture is based on a network element, denoted as IoT Hub, placed at the border of the constrained network, which implements the following functions: service discovery; border router; HTTP/Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) and CoAP/CoAP proxy; cache; and resource directory. In order to protect smart objects (which cannot, because of their constrained nature, serve a large number of concurrent requests) and the IoT Hub (which serves as a gateway to the constrained network), we introduce the concept of virtual IoT Hub replica: a Cloud-based “entity” replicating all the functions of a physical IoT Hub, which external clients will query to access resources. IoT Hub replicas are constantly synchronized with the physical IoT Hub through a low-overhead protocol based on Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT). An experimental evaluation, proving the feasibility and advantages of the proposed architecture, is presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Homes: Current Status and Future Possibilities)
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16 pages, 3971 KiB  
Article
IoT-Based Intelligent Modeling of Smart Home Environment for Fire Prevention and Safety
by Faisal Saeed, Anand Paul, Abdul Rehman, Won Hwa Hong and Hyuncheol Seo
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2018, 7(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan7010011 - 2 Mar 2018
Cited by 143 | Viewed by 24124
Abstract
Fires usually occur in homes because of carelessness and changes in environmental conditions. They cause threats to the residential community and may result in human death and property damage. Consequently, house fires must be detected early to prevent these types of threats. The [...] Read more.
Fires usually occur in homes because of carelessness and changes in environmental conditions. They cause threats to the residential community and may result in human death and property damage. Consequently, house fires must be detected early to prevent these types of threats. The immediate notification of a fire is the most critical issue in domestic fire detection systems. Fire detection systems using wireless sensor networks sometimes do not detect a fire as a consequence of sensor failure. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) consist of tiny, cheap, and low-power sensor devices that have the ability to sense the environment and can provide real-time fire detection with high accuracy. In this paper, we designed and evaluated a wireless sensor network using multiple sensors for early detection of house fires. In addition, we used the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) to avoid false alarms. To test the results of our fire detection system, we simulated a fire in a smart home using the Fire Dynamics Simulator and a language program. The simulation results showed that our system is able to detect early fire, even when a sensor is not working, while keeping the energy consumption of the sensors at an acceptable level. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Homes: Current Status and Future Possibilities)
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11 pages, 3158 KiB  
Article
Smart Sensing System for Early Detection of Bone Loss: Current Status and Future Possibilities
by Nasrin Afsarimanesh, Md Eshrat E Alahi, Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay and Marlena Kruger
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2018, 7(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan7010010 - 27 Feb 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 8916
Abstract
Bone loss and osteoporosis is a serious health problem worldwide. The impact of osteoporosis is far greater than many other serious health problems, such as breast and prostate cancers. Statistically, one in three women and one in five men over 50 years of [...] Read more.
Bone loss and osteoporosis is a serious health problem worldwide. The impact of osteoporosis is far greater than many other serious health problems, such as breast and prostate cancers. Statistically, one in three women and one in five men over 50 years of age will experience osteoporotic fractures in their life. In this paper, the design and development of a portable IoT-based sensing system for early detection of bone loss have been presented. The CTx-I biomarker was measured in serum samples as a marker of bone resorption. A planar interdigital sensor was used to evaluate the changes in impedance by any variation in the level of CTx-I. Artificial antibodies were used to introduce selectivity to the sensor for CTx-I molecule. Artificial antibodies for CTx-I molecules were created using molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) technique in order to increase the stability of the system and reduce the production cost and complexity of the assay procedure. Real serum samples collected from sheep blood were tested and the result validation was done by using an ELISA kit. The PoC device was able to detect CTx-I concentration as low as 0.09 ng/mL. It exhibited an excellent linear behavior in the range of 0.1–2.5 ng/mL, which covers the normal reference ranges required for bone loss detection. Future possibilities to develop a smart toilet for simultaneous measurement of different bone turnover biomarkers was also discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Homes: Current Status and Future Possibilities)
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1089 KiB  
Article
Analyzing the Relationship between Human Behavior and Indoor Air Quality
by Beiyu Lin, Yibo Huangfu, Nathan Lima, Bertram Jobson, Max Kirk, Patrick O’Keeffe, Shelley N. Pressley, Von Walden, Brian Lamb and Diane J. Cook
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2017, 6(3), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan6030013 - 2 Aug 2017
Cited by 44 | Viewed by 12988
Abstract
In the coming decades, as we experience global population growth and global aging issues, there will be corresponding concerns about the quality of the air we experience inside and outside buildings. Because we can anticipate that there will be behavioral changes that accompany [...] Read more.
In the coming decades, as we experience global population growth and global aging issues, there will be corresponding concerns about the quality of the air we experience inside and outside buildings. Because we can anticipate that there will be behavioral changes that accompany population growth and aging, we examine the relationship between home occupant behavior and indoor air quality. To do this, we collect both sensor-based behavior data and chemical indoor air quality measurements in smart home environments. We introduce a novel machine learning-based approach to quantify the correlation between smart home features and chemical measurements of air quality, and evaluate the approach using two smart homes. The findings may help us understand the types of behavior that measurably impact indoor air quality. This information could help us plan for the future by developing an automated building system that would be used as part of a smart city. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Homes: Current Status and Future Possibilities)
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15688 KiB  
Article
Improvement of Ultrasound-Based Localization System Using Sine Wave Detector and CAN Network
by Tan-Sy Nguyen, Trong-Nghia Nguyen, Quoc-Sang Tran and Thai-Hoang Huynh
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2017, 6(3), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan6030012 - 31 Jul 2017
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 10996
Abstract
This paper presents an improved indoor localization system based on radio frequency (RF) and ultrasonic signals, which we named the SNSH system. This system is composed of a transmitter mounted in a mobile target and a series of receiver nodes that are managed [...] Read more.
This paper presents an improved indoor localization system based on radio frequency (RF) and ultrasonic signals, which we named the SNSH system. This system is composed of a transmitter mounted in a mobile target and a series of receiver nodes that are managed by a coordinator. By measuring the Time Delay of Arrival (TDoA) of RF and ultrasonic signals from the transmitter, the distance from the target to each receiver node is calculated and sent to the coordinator through the CAN network, then all the information is gathered in a PC to estimate the 3D position of the target. A sine wave detector and dynamic threshold filter are applied to provide excellent accuracy in measuring the range from the TDoA results before multilateration algorithms are realized to optimize the accuracy of coordinate determination. Specifically, Linear Least Square (LLS) and Nonlinear Least Square (NLS) techniques are implemented to contrast their performances in target coordinate estimation. RF signal encoding/decoding time, time delay in CAN network and math calculation time are carefully considered to ensure optimal system performance and prepare for field application. Experiments show that the sine wave detector algorithm has greatly improved the accuracy of range measurement, with a mean error of 2.2 mm and maximum error of 6.7 mm for distances below 5 m. In addition, 3D position accuracy is greatly enhanced by multilateration methods, with the mean error in position remaining under 15 mm. Furthermore, there are 90% confidence error values of 23 mm for LLS and 20 mm for NLS. The update in the overall system has been verified in real system operations, with a maximum rate of 25 ms, which is a better result than many other existing studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Homes: Current Status and Future Possibilities)
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Review

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903 KiB  
Review
A Review of Smart House Analysis Methods for Assisting Older People Living Alone
by Veralia Gabriela Sanchez, Carlos F. Pfeiffer and Nils-Olav Skeie
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2017, 6(3), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan6030011 - 21 Jul 2017
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 14043
Abstract
Smart Houses are a prominent field of research referring to environments adapted to assist people in their everyday life. Older people and people with disabilities would benefit the most from the use of Smart Houses because they provide the opportunity for them to [...] Read more.
Smart Houses are a prominent field of research referring to environments adapted to assist people in their everyday life. Older people and people with disabilities would benefit the most from the use of Smart Houses because they provide the opportunity for them to stay in their home for as long as possible. In this review, the developments achieved in the field of Smart Houses for the last 16 years are described. The concept of Smart Houses, the most used analysis methods, and current challenges in Smart Houses are presented. A brief introduction of the analysis methods is given, and their implementation is also reported. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Homes: Current Status and Future Possibilities)
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