Remote Control Framework for Smart Home Components, HS Offenburg

Hochschule Offenburg University of Applied Sciences

An android based remote control framework

for smart home components

Prof. Dr. Hartwig Grabowski

[email protected]


Smarthome The home residential gateway is the core component

2

Source: http://www.jvrb.org/4.2007/1110

Residential Gateway:

Core component

Connecting devices /

appliances

Controlling devices

Offering (intelligent)

services

Serving as a bridge to

the outer world

Providing UI

Support (hot) service

deployment

…

14.2.2012 Hartwig Grabowski, droidcon Berlin, 2012


Smarthome Many requirements must be fulfilled to pave the way to mass market

Hartwig Grabowski, droidcon Berlin, 2012 3


Residential Gateway –

a long way to go:

(Open) platform for

building new services

Widely accepted by

industry

Godfather pushing the

technology

SDK (emulator, etc.)

and community

Market for services

Low-cost hardware

through mass-market

14.2.2012


Smarthome Android already fulfills the demands



Android provides:

(Open) platform for

building new services

Widely accepted by

industry

Godfather pushing the

technology

SDK (emulator, etc.)

and community

Market for Services

Low-cost hardware

through mass-market

14.2.2012


Smarthome The residential gateway can be substituted



Substitute residential

gateway by

Smartphone +

WLAN-DSL-Router +

appliance controller:

14.2.2012


Smarthome Three components build the “new” residential gateway

6

Smartphone The intelligence:

Offers UI

Implements the “smart” services

“Low-cost” hardware (~100 €)

The connector:

Connectivity: LAN and WAN

“Low-cost” hardware, already available

WLAN-Router

The controller:

Connectivity: Home Appliances

“Low-cost”(?) hardware (~200 €)

Appliance Controller

Hartwig Grabowski, droidcon Berlin, 2012 14.2.2012


Smarthome A large set of sensors and actuators is already available

7 Hartwig Grabowski, droidcon Berlin, 2012 14.2.2012

EZcontrol XS1

Source: http://www.ezcontrol.de

power

switch

actuators

power

dimmer heating

blinds

control

…

wind

sensors

water temp. door

contacts

…

FS20 HTTP

FS20


Smarthome The android device can be used in-house and out-house


internet

home appliances

multimedia

Laptop, PC, printer


The android framework There are three major domains for smarthome applications


Energy

Comfort

Security

power metering

remote control

surveillance


Energy Smart metering is demanded


Energy

Comfort

Security

power metering

remote control

surveillance


Energy Smart metering option 1: replace current power meters by smart meters


Limited acceptance:

Cost intensive

Lost of privacy

Bound to energy

provider

No open platform /

access to data


Energy Smart metering option 2: update current power meters


web-server

in the cloud

powermeter.wmv

C:/Vorlesung/Papers/droidcon/powermeter.wmv


Energy All computation (UI, forecasts, etc.) is implemented on the android device



The android framework Three domains for smarthome applications


Energy

Comfort

Security

power metering

remote control

surveillance


Remote control The remote control app provides basic functionality


actuators

sensors

…

…


Remote control The remote control app implements the basic functions


The app serves as a interface to the appliance

controller

All available functions are to be implemented

Remote control of actuators

Receive data from sensors

Add components sensors / actuators

Remove components sensors / actuators

Subscription service: Automatically inform

about new events


Remote control The remote control app offers intuitive user interface


With the remote control app, basic control function can be executed:

Login-screen:

configure once List all actuators List all sensors


Remote control The subscription service is implemented through chunked encoding


How to push information without having a server running on the mobile

device?

Use the HTTP chunked encoding:

- the Content-Length header is not

used

- server transmits response with

dynamically-generated “chunks”

- The size of each chunk is sent right

before the chunk

- The data transfer is terminated by a

final chunk of length zero.


Remote control The subscription service is implemented as an android service


Implementation of HTTP

chunked encoding:

HTTP connection is left open

“endless”

Implemented as an android

service, running in the

background.

Service records the events in

a list

Activity reads the recorded

list.

http://vm.dynalias.com:4321/


Remote control ”Smart services” can be easily build on top of the basic functions


set of basic functions

actuators

sensors

…

…

proximity

alert

timer

functions

macros

sensors

QR-Codes

…

?

additional functions

+

smart services


Remote control Smart service example 1: QR-codes + power switch


smart services

You:

(web-interface)

Me:

(android app)

http://vm.dynalias.com:4321/


Remote control Smart service example 1: QR-codes + power switch


smart services

extract tag,

obtain switch-id

start app,

jump to switch

toggle the

switch

take picture

C:/Vorlesung/Papers/droidcon/qrcode001.wmv


Remote control Smart service example 2: QR-code + gravity sensor + dimmer


smart services

C:/Vorlesung/Papers/droidcon/IMG_0687.MOV


Remote control Multimedia


What about multimedia? - It’s all there already!

Samsung

Remote

LG

Remote

Grundig

Remote

… … …


The android framework Three domains for smarthome applications


Energy

Comfort

Security

power metering

remote control

surveillance


Security One stationary device is needed


internet

home appliances

multimedia

Laptop, PC, printer

Source: http://www.monitorhalterung.de/


Security The stationary device is used for computation and notification


home area

sensors

door contacts

motion detection

wind, humidity, …

sensors

webcam

actuator

(fake) TV

actuator

binds, lights, etc.

outside

push notification:

SMS or C2DM

computation

&

notification


The android framework How to bring the bricks together?


Programmatically

(source code available)

Implicit intents / open intents ( onActivityResult() )

Just start the external app ( LAUNCHER intent ) Security

Multimedia Energy

Comfort


Conclusion Navigation systems are going to be substituted by mobile devices. Residential

gateways will be substituted, too. Android offers all we need.



30

Thank you!


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Appendix

Remote Control Framework for Smart Home Components, HS Offenburg

Technology

Transcript of Remote Control Framework for Smart Home Components, HS Offenburg