ENGL 210-501

Improving Home Accessibility

Through Smart Home Adapters
Sara Amani - UIN: 716002157
Yazan Barghouti - UIN: 825000933
Mohamed Soltan - UIN: 925002066
Ahmed Ahmed - UIN: 324004546
Submission Date: 16th of October 2016
Professor: Dr. Amy Hodges

An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do

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Table of Contents
1. Problem Statement...
.3
2. Significance of Problem....
.3
2.1 - Air-Conditioning..
........3
2.2 - Other Household Appliances...
.4
2.3 - Stress...
......5
2.4 - Energy Efficiency.
....6
3. Proposed Solution....
..7
3.1 - Selling Point...
.....7
3.2 - How it Works.
....7
3.3 - Technicality of Powering the Adapter...
.....8
3.4 - Scope of Control.
..9
3.5 -Research and Development Opportunities.
...10
4. Benefits of Solution...
.11
4.1 - Control and Safety...
.11

4.2 - Eco-Friendly Living...

..11
4.3 - Convenience...
..12
5. Constraints.
..12
5.1 - Market
Competition..
..12
5.2 - Financial
Constraints.13
5.3 Limitations
...13
5.4 Security
...14
6. Feedback.
..14
7. Works Cited....
.15

1.0 - Problem Statement

According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Qatars
smartphone penetration has reached 75% (MoTC). At the same time,
Ooredoo and the Al-Fardan group have been planning a project since
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February 2015 titled Building Advanced Smart Houses in Qatar, which was
intended to design appliances that could communicate with a device such as
a smartphone wirelessly (QNA, 2015). The first smart house was to be on the
market and available to public as of June 2015, however no final product has
been released yet (JBKnowledge, 2015). This seems to be merely a planned idea
with no current follow-through since not much action has been taken by
Qatars top development companies yet. In order to resolve this issue and
offer a great convenience to the general public, we have designed an
application that can be downloaded on any smartphone. Being able to
remotely control your most important home appliances from virtually
anywhere in the world is such a great convenience it deserves to be in every
advanced household. Instead of having customers replace all their existing
home appliances with new smart appliances, we will solve this problem by
creating adaptors which easily connect to their respectable appliance. These
appliances will then be able to be remotely controlled using a simple
smartphone application.
2. 0 - Significance of Problem
Although the Middle East is thriving in the economy and advancing
technologically day by day, some aspects of modern society such as
implementing smart homes have still not become well-developed or even
established in this region.
2.1 - Air-Conditioning
For countries with hot climates such as Qatar, not being able to control
air conditioning from afar can be problem, especially during time
periods in which residents plan to travel and want to keep their homes
protected from problems that could arise due to heat such as mold. In
Qatar specifically, heat waves cause temperatures to increase up to 50
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degrees Celsius in the summer with humidity levels up to around 80%.

Houses that are left unattended in the summer without air-conditioning
can experience problems such as growth of fungi and dust mite
populations, odors due to the mold growth, and condensation that
could damage the structure of the building itself ("Humidity and
Condensation," n.d.).

These are all direct consequences of high humidity

on homes, and such complications are very likely to arise for many
people living in this region which is why it is crucial to have access to
air-conditioning in the summers especially in order to keep homes
protected.
2.2 - Other Household Appliances
Other household appliances / devices that should be able to be
remotely controlled include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Air conditioners
Ovens
Refrigerators
Security systems (fire alarms and/or cameras)
Televisions
Washing machines
Dishwashers
This technology could be revolutionary since it would solve the
inconvenience of entering a home that is too hot / cold, arriving from
work without cooked food. It could also prevent aforementioned
problems such as leaving air-conditioning off throughout the summer
since one could regulate the temperatures of their home from afar and
such, as well as becoming notified if complications were to arise with
the appliances.

2.3 - Stress
According to a study conducted by the American Psychological
Association in 2010 in the United States, 58% of the average American
families reported family responsibilities as one of the most significant
causes of stress in their everyday lives (Stress in America, n.d., p. [Page #8]).
Daily responsibilities and errands such as cooking may seem trivial, but
when added to the stress caused by the outside environment from
work responsibilities and other pressures, any small addition can
increase strain and tension. Reducing stress levels is essential to
improving the quality of life of the average citizen in todays society;
possible situations in which smart homes can help reduce stress
relating to family responsibilities include:
1. Prepping food ahead of time and adjusting the oven from afar so it is ready
upon arrival.
2. Enabling security system in cases when one may have forgotten to lock their
house door.
3. Controlling the lights and making sure they are all off from remote locations
to make sure energy is not being wasted in the home.

2.4 -

Figure 1: Causes of Stress in American Families

(Stress in America, n.d., p. [Page #8])

Energy
Efficiency
The
same research found that in addition to family responsibilities, 76%
of families reported money as a very significant cause of stress in
their lives (Stress in America, n.d., p. [Page #8]). The U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey reported that the average
American household spends 11% of its annual budget for utilities and
other household operational costs (Webber, n.d.). Electricity bills account
for a large portion of the cost of general utilities, and household
appliances play a significant role in the total energy spending. As
reported by the Australian Department of the Environment and Energy ,
up to 30% of an average homes energy use directly corresponds to
their household appliances ("Energy-efficient Appliances," n.d.). Being able
to control the use of household appliances ensures the ability to
regulate and manage electricity consumption remotely which in turn
not only saves energy, but ensures economical saving.

Figure 2: Annual American Family Expenditures

(Webber, n.d.)

3.0 - Proposed Solution

Applications and accessories for smartphones is a very saturated market, yet
finding an application that has such a futuristic and direct impact on ones
general surroundings, more specifically their household, is lacking. As a
result, the idea of being able to control a variety of household items and
appliances came to fruition. Since smartphones are readily available in most
households and are usually within arm's reach almost all the time in today's
society, it seems to be the ideal device to solve the issue at hand.
3.1 - Selling Point
The idea for this solution is a smartphone application that acts as a
hub for ones household control system. Ones personal phone will
become

convenient

control

center

for

his/her

house.

The

implementation for this application is designed to be more universal

and user-friendly through converting ones household devices and
appliances

into

smart

technology.

Therefore,

replacing

current

household technology with costly smart devices will not be necessary.

3.2 - How it Works
The application requires very minimal technical knowledge to pair with
the appliances for initial activation. The process is not any more
complex than other mainstream technological systems such as setting
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up a television set. An adapter, however, must be purchased for the

application to be able to control the household devices and systems.
The setup process proceeds as follows:
1. Download the application from the app store of your phones Operating
System
2. Purchase the Smart Adapter through the application
3. Once received, plug the adapter to your wall socket to charge up
4. Connect the adapter to your houses Wifi (specific instructions included with
purchase of adapter)
5. Once fully charged, remove the adapter from the wall socket
6. Pair the adapter to each device
7. Plug the adapter back into any wall socket within an open area in the house

3.3 - Technicality of Pairing the Adapter

Pairing the adapter to the appliances is a very diverse process due to
the unique and different methods and conventions of controlling each
household device/appliance. For example, control for a fridge is
markedly different from control for an air conditioner. As a result, the
adapter will include two different methods of pairing for two different
types of control systems; remote control and manual control.
For devices that are primarily controlled through a remote control, such
as air conditioners and televisions, the adapter will be paired to the
remote control as opposed to the device itself. The justification for this
functionality is that it will be the most feasible access for the adapter
to pair with such devices. The adapter contains wired AA and AAA
batteries that are used to connect the adapter to the remote control
through its battery slots, which then automatically program the
adapter and pair it to the remote control. The pairing batteries (figure
3) have a USB slot, which will be the method for connecting them to
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the mainframe (figure 2) of the adapter. The plugs of manually

controlled appliances such as refrigerators will be removed from the
wall, and in turn connected to a socket that will be wired to the adapter
(figure 1) instead. All the specific steps for pairing will be included in
the user-manual of the adapter and no programming knowledge will be
required of the customer.

The following is a digital model of the adapter and its components:

Figure 3: Wall
Adapter

Figure 4: Main
Frame

Figure 5: Pairing
Batteries

3.4 - Scope of Control

As a start-up for this project and due to the limitation in resources, the
application will begin by pairing to only Samsung appliances for now.
Yale Appliance and Lighting has released a review titled The Least
Serviced / Most Reliable Appliance Brands 2015 and the top 3
included Whirlpool, Frigidaire, and Samsung respectively (Holman, n.d).
Since both Whirlpool and Frigidaire are American brands that are
mostly available within America only, the group has decided to use
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Samsung as the target brand for the applications. Samsung is a readily

available brand for purchase internationally, therefore more customers
will be reached through their products. The team has decided to
narrow the scope of control of the project in terms of which appliances
the adapter will initially pair up with, however it hopes to be able to
expand its technology to appliances of other brands as well after the
first set of products have been launched and further research has
taken place.
This limitation in the application is due to the differences in software
and general variance in devices from between brands. There are
however, some appliances that are very similarly created, which will
allow for a wider scope of devices to control with the application. Most
appliances are either powered through a wall socket plug-in or
remotely

controlled, therefore

many electronic devices

can be

controlled and smartened through these two types of pairing

adapters. Furthermore, due to the wide scope and range of appliances
and devices within a household, the application will be limited to
controlling only the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Air conditioners
Ovens
Refrigerators
Security systems (fire alarms and/or cameras)
Televisions
Washing machines
Dishwashers
These top seven appliances have been chosen for now since research
shows that they are the most commonly used appliances within typical
households and together fabricate the idea of a smart home (Petrino,
n.d; Holman, n.d.).

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3.5 - Research and Development Opportunities

The appliances and devices were limited to the aforementioned seven
items through analyzing the conventional technologies found in most
households, which were capable of being paired to our adapters. As the
product develops more traction within the market and resources
become more readily available, there will be a possibility for further
advancement of the product. As a result, updates to the adapter
allowing it to control more types of devices will be released. The
additional devices will be determined through market research to
identify the brands and devices used by our target market.

4.0 - Benefits of Solution

Installing smart homes will improve the standard of living in our modern
world today. It will help promote:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Safety
Accessibility
Energy efficiency
Cost effectiveness
4.1 - Control and Safety
Smart homes will help and allow owners to monitor their unattended
ovens, air conditioning units, and advanced security systems. Owners
literally have the ability to control their household appliances at their
fingertips using their smartphones. A smart home ensures the safety
and well-being of its residents by using security systems and being
able to monitor unattended ovens preventing any dangers such as
possible fires, theft, and electrical hazards.
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4.2 - Eco-Friendly Living

Smart homes will also help save a lot of energy and will promote ecofriendliness and the going green cause. In addition, smart homes
operate in an eco-friendly manner thus reducing carbon emissions
releasing into the atmosphere. The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency also reported that thermostat control technology of smart
homes allows users to save 10-30% off their regular energy bills (Direct
Energy, n.d.).

4.3 - Convenience
Controlling smart homes remotely provides great convenience for
users, and ultimately improves standards of living. Smart homes
should be thought of as an investment rather than a questionable
transaction; as in the long run it will be a main factor in the
development of a household. Making this simple user friendly
application

that

would

smarten

commonly

used

household

appliances will save users the nuisance of how these appliances

currently function. For example, one would not like to get back from a
holiday and having his home feeling like an oven; so, this person could
simply open the application on his smartphone a day or two before
coming back home and turning on the central air conditioning in his
home. It is the simple things like this that would really turn a user's
lifestyle around.
5.0 - Constraints
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5.1 - Market Competition

As of yet, there are numerous companies that provide a product similar
to ours, thus a market for smart homes already exists. Samsung, for
example, sells Smart Home products from their Smartthings product
line. Their devices are relatively simple devices such as motion sensors
and the like. The prices of these products range from $39.99 up till
$249 (Smart Home Smart Living n.d.). However, in order to use these
devices, a hub must be installed inside the home to connect to
currently operated devices. This hub will cost $99 for the consumers.
Our products, on the other hand, work in a completely different way
than the competitions products. The competition sells smart products.
We, however, sell devices that turn regular mundane devices smart.
We will be aiming for a price point around the $30 - $50 range for the
adaptor and $69-$99 for the hub. This will enable the team to access
the same market as Samsungs with slightly more competitive pricing.
In the end, the consumers in the smart home market will have to make
a decision whether he/she is willing to replace all his/her appliances
with new smart ones or whether he/she would rather purchase
adaptors that connect to his/her regular appliances to make them
smart.
5.2 - Financial Constraints
All appliances are manufactured differently; this will pose a significant
challenge for us to overcome. Finding out the common denominator
between each different type of appliance and each brand will be a
difficult and time consuming task. This will be done by conducting
extensive research on each appliance. Our research will mainly be
based on reverse-engineering. This is the process of reproducing
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another manufacturer's product following detailed examination of its

construction or composition. By doing so, we will be able to know
exactly how each appliance works from a technical point of view. Using
this information, we will create the adaptor and refine it to allow
maximum control over the greatest amount of devices/appliances. This
lengthy process is the only possible way as of yet to create our
adaptor. According to my preliminary calculations, the cost of
production of 1 unit will be approximately 30% to 40% of the selling
price. This might seem too steep, but this is normal for a startup
company which has not yet taken advantage of economies of scale
(reduction of costs of production the more you produce). In the later
stages of our project I can confidently estimate that this percentage
has a high chance of decreasing to 10% to 15%.
5.3 - Limitations
There are a number of limitations regarding creation the perfect
adapter:
1. Limitless Brands and Appliances
There are so many different combinations of brands and appliances
available that it will be almost impossible to create one single universal
adaptor to be able to control them all. This is why we had to limit
ourselves to one main brand and a selected amount of appliances.

2. Other Modes of Appliance Connections

Our adaptor prototype as of now only works with devices that
have to be plugged into the wall or devices that use batteries
such as AA or AAA. This prevents us from being able to control
appliances that have switches integrated directly into the house
power supply such as house lights.

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5.4 - Security
In order to make the Smart Home system accessible worldwide, all
these devices will need to be connected to the internet. This raises the
issue of cyber security. Although our devices come standard with the
latest Anti-Virus software, these devices might still be exposed to
online threats from hackers and such since hackers are constantly
creating more loopholes in the system in order to gain access. In order
to tackle that problem, we will constantly be updating our software to
protect our customers according to worldwide standards.
6.0 - Feedback
Before the system is launched to the public, a series of surveys will be
conducted in order to assess the feasibility of the project. The survey results
will tell if the product satisfies our consumer needs, or whether customers
demand other features to be included in the system. Users of the application
will most likely have suggestions of things and options we can add to the
application or ways to make it better. The team will proceed to analyze the
reviews and take action after that by correcting any faults that users point
out and/ or adding features that would enhance the application. After
tweaking the product according to the consumer input, the team will go
ahead and launch the system to the public.

References

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Direct Energy. (n.d.). Advantages of a Smart Home. Retrieved from Direct Energy
website: https://www.directenergy.com/learning-center/modern-home/advantages-smarthome
Energy-efficient Appliances. (n.d.). Retrieved from Australian Government - Your Energy
Savings website: http://yourenergysavings.gov.au/information/energy-efficient-appliances
Holman, C. (n.d.). Smart Home Upgrades: What You Need to Consider [Blog post].
Retrieved from Homely website: http://about.homely.com.au/blog/2016/7/26/smarthome-upgrades-what-you-need-to-consider
Humidity and Condensation. (n.d.). Retrieved from Level - The Authority of Sustainable
Building website: http://www.level.org.nz/passive-design/controlling-indoor-airquality/humidity-and-condensation/
JBKnowledge. (2015, March). Building Advanced Smart Houses in Qatar. Retrieved
from JBKnowledge website: http://jbknowledge.com/building-advanced-smart-housesqatar
Petrino, J. (n.d.). The 5 Best Affordable Luxury Appliance Brands (Reviews/Ratings)
[Blog post]. Retrieved from Yale Appliance and Lighting website:
http://blog.yaleappliance.com/bid/59476/The-5-Best-Affordable-Luxury-ApplianceBrands-Reviews-Ratings
Qatar Looks to Build Next Generation of Smart Houses. (2015, February). Retrieved
from Construction Global website:
http://www.constructionglobal.com/majorprojects/403/Qatar-looks-to-build-nextgeneration-of-smart-houses

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QNA. (2015, February). Ooreedoo, Al Fardan Properties Sign MoU to Build Smart
Homes. Retrieved from Qatar News Agency website: http://www.qna.org.qa/enus/News/15020914290029/Ooredoo-Alfardan-Properties-Sign-MoU-to-Build-SmartHomes
Sheinkopf, S. (n.d.). The Least Serviced/Most Reliable Appliance Brands 2015
(Reviews/Ratings) [Blog post]. Retrieved from Yale Appliance and Lighting website:
http://blog.yaleappliance.com/bid/86332/The-Least-Serviced-Most-Reliable-ApplianceBrands-Reviews-Ratings
Stress in America Findings (APA, Comp.). (n.d.). Retrieved from American
Psychological Association(APA) website:
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2010/national-report.pdf
Webber, R. (n.d.). Average Household Budget. Retrieved from ValuePenguin website:
https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-household-budget

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