International Conference on Systems and Electronic Engineering (ICSEE'2012) December 18-19, 2012 Phuket (Thailand)
Research and Thinking of Smart Home Technology
Meensika Sripan, Xuanxia Lin, Ponchan Petchlorlean and Mahasak Ketcham
Abstract— Smart home is emerging technology growing
continuously now. It integrates of many new technologies through
home networking for improving human’s quality of living, so there
have many projects researching in diverse technologies to apply to
the smart home system. Accordingly, this paper reviews various
topics on smart home technologies from surveying for smart home
research projects. The topics is based on the definition of smart home
and the details of smart home elements including smart home
networks that can be classified into two main types, which are wiring
system and wireless system, smart home controllers that use for
managing system, the appliances or the smart devices and the
challenges of smart home. This paper also offers many interesting
projects summarily, so it can be ideas for whoever want to learn this
technology.
Keywords— smart home, smart home network, smart home
appliances
I. INTRODUCTION
ENERALLY, when the electrical equipment is plugged
G in but it is not in use, there still has the flow of
electricity. That means we will lose the electrical energy
about five to ten percent of regularly usage, so that wastes
money for no reason. Moreover, that may also be cause of
many accident such as the conflagration from electrical short
circuit. Therefore, many people who always forget to unplug
the electrical device have to remind themselves every time
they go out. On the other hand, if they go out with forgetting
to unplug, they must go home to pull the plug out to avoid the
dangerous situations, so it is a waste of so much time. In
order to solve these problems, smart home technology will be
required. With the advance of technology, many research
projects about smart home have been developed in order to
facilitate human and improve their quality of living. A home,
which is smart, is the technology used to make all electronic
equipment around the home act "smart" or "intelligenat" or
more smart, is the technology used to make all electronic
around the home act "smart" or "intelligent" or more
automated that is to say smart home has highly advanced
automatic systems for lighting, temperature control, security
and many other functions. [1]
Meensika Sripan is with Department of Media Technology, King Mongkut's
University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand.
(e-mail: ifeelgooooood@gmail.com)
Xuanxia Lin is with Department of Media Technology, King Mongkut's
University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand.
(e-mail:suangsuang.xia@gmail.com)
Ponchan Petchlorlean is with Department of Media Technology, King
Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand.
(e-mail: petch.iup@gmail.com)
Mahasak Ketcham is with Department of Media Technology, King
Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand.
(e-mail: maoquee@hotmail.com)
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A smart device is an ordinary appliance with a sophisticated
computer installed to give it more functionality that can
monitor so many aspects of daily routines. A smart home is
useful for everyone and can also be used to enhance the
everyday life at home. Accordingly, smart home consists of
three parts, which are network, controlling devices and home
automation. [2, 3] The network is used for connecting the
automation to the controlling devices and it can be wire and
wireless. The controlling devices are used for managing the
systems. And the home automation are device which control
the physical environment. However, we will discuss all these
three parts in detail in the following section.
II. SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY
A. Smart home network
Smart home network technology can be classified into two
main types, which are wiring system and wireless system. [4]
In wiring system, the equipment will be connected into the
main power supply directly, so the data will be sent to the
devices to activate or deactivate them. There are many types
of wires that people may want to install in-wall. Many home-
automations are connected through wiring system such as new
wire (twisted pair, optical fiber), Powerline, Busline, etc. An
example of outstanding technology is X10, which is open
standard for home automation. X10 transmits binary data
using the Amplitude Modulation (AM) technique.And X10
controllers send signals over existing AC wiring to receiver
modules. Other technologies are HomePlug, Consumer
Electronics Bus (CEBus), European Installation Bus, etc.
In the wireless system, there must have two main elements
that are sender and receiver. Many new appliances use
wireless technology to communicate with other devices. The
example of wireless communication system are microwaves,
Infrared (IR), radio frequency (RF), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IEEE
802.11, and so on. Furthermore, some of smart home network
standard can work using both wiring system and wireless
system. An example of wireless communication system for
smart home is Z-wave, which is a reliable and affordable
wireless home automation solution. Z-wave is a wireless RF-
based method for instant remote control of appliances.
B. Smart home controller
Smart home controlling devices are used for managing the
systems by sending data or signal to control the actuators. The
examples of the controllers are not only the remote control,
but they can also be smartphones, tablets (iPad, Galaxy tab),
web browsers and Short Message Service (SMS). Moreover,
some of systems may have computer which works as center of
the environment perception or the evaluation unit. [5]
 International Conference on Systems and Electronic Engineering (ICSEE'2012) December 18-19, 2012 Phuket (Thailand)
Fig 1. Smart home network
C. home automation
1) In Kitchen
The most heard about smart technologies are that of the
kitchen. An example appliances which are smart are
refrigerators, microwaves, coffee makers, and dishwashers.
The Internet Refrigerator applies the technology of smart
home to make many works much easier. There is Internet
enabled and allows for users to communicate with it via the
Internet, so it is able to download recipes and then display
them on its LCD screen. Moreover, the refrigerator also takes
an automatic inventory of items inside of it and it can alert the
users to what is there. What’s more, microwaves are also
smart. Microwaves can communicate with smart refrigerators
and suggest recipes based on the food items available in the
refrigerator. The microwave can even be set to start at certain
times while users are away from home. [2, 6]
2) In living room
Stepping away from the kitchen, one part of the home which
has smart home technology adoption is living room. Smart
devices like televisions and stereos will utilize this technology
to improve the entertainment experiences. The smart TV will
have many functions like desktop personal computer so this
leads to interactive TV and more interactive content will
become available. [2, 6]
Furthermore, lighting control systems can be used to control
household electric lights by using of motion detectors to
automatically extinguish the lights in a room after people have
left and turn on the lights if people enter a room.
3) In Bedroom
The room has smart climate control which the users can set
the scene in bedroom with single-touch heating and can
choose a unique night-time temperature and lighting profile
for each bedroom. The bed is also equipped with sensor that
can monitor movement of a person in bed for detecting health
condition regarding sleeping in typical routine of a person. [7]
Moreover, the smart devices can be used in many aspects,
for instance,
• Welfare - Health monitoring, personal trainer, remote
diagnosis
• Entertainment - Television, video, games, Smart Home
Theatre, Multi-Room Audio, HD Video Distribution
• Environment - Remote control of lighting and heating and
air conditioning. Energy usage and cost.
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• Security - Smart Security, simulated occupancy, property
monitoring and protection, detection of fire, gas leaks and
water leaks, teleassistance.
• Communication - Video phone, home calendar, reminders
and communication inside and outside the house.
• Green - Reduce Electricity and heating fuel consumption.
Less Carbon Output. [8]
Fig 2. Examples of the smart devices.
III. SMART HOME PROJECTS
New many smart home technologies have been explored and
developed. As the cloud computing is ubiquitous, there is one
project named a Framework for Cloud-based smart home. [9]
In this project, they merge smart home into smart-home-
oriented cloud which easy extensible and fit for future
demands. In addition, the cloud provide web services and the
characteristic of smart home with six main applications, which
are environmental, security, entertainment, domestic
appliances, information and communication and health.
Another project called the Computer-aided design software for
smart home device based on cloud computing service project,
[11] helps designer select smart home device and build a smart
living space. This project offers visual simulation by applying
the interface to construct a real smart home. What’s more, the
operation of smart home devices has four smart mode
including passive, responsive, active and interactive.
Therefore, it is helpful in budgeting and quotes.
In Egypt, there is a project called Energy saving through
smart home, aims to use the sensors to minimize the domestic
energy waste according to human habits and the proposed
scenario will also be reported of daily routine. [12] Another
project by Kongju national university, Smart home energy
management system using IEEE802.15.4 and ZigBee
developed smart home control system based on Energy
savings and user happiness which are two main design
considerations. In this system, they remove the wires from the
lighting controls so that provides additional benefits, including
greater and significant savings in installation by avoiding the
expense and disruption of wiring. [13] Moreover, there is
adaptation of the smart technology in other aspects such as a
project called a Calendar oriented services for smart home.
This project is the development of service model based on
home calendar to support ambient intelligence in home, so the
service will consider the family activities planning and
provide more intelligence, or more smart vision of the smart
home. [14]
 International Conference on Systems and Electronic Engineering (ICSEE'2012) December 18-19, 2012 Phuket (Thailand)

IV. SMART HOME CHALLENGES
1) Challenges one: Security
Smart home also comes with some security concerns. For
instance, hackers can access the network system. They have
the ability to control all smart devices especially the security
appliances. [11]
2) Challenges two: Adaption to New Environment
Owning a smart home means having to learn how to use
your home that requires you to adapt to many innovations
around you such as security systems and many sensors that
always detect your movement. Accordingly, it will take
reading manuals and learning about how-to of your home. [15]
3) High Cost of Intelligence
Although smart homes have many properties that makes
human’s lives convenient, these smart properties are in a
higher price tag. The cost of an intelligent home is high
because some of the technology is relatively new. However,
mostly of home automations are just a few advances that are
standard in a new home, the cost of other aspects can be
expensive as well. [15]
V. CONCLUSION
This paper based on the meaning of smart home and the
details of smart home elements. And the main objective of this
paper is to give a survey for these smart home researches and
summarily describe the details about smart home. As the
development of technologies grows, many research projects
have also been developed. Now smart home is more than just
a home controlled by the central evaluation unit like computer.
With smart homes, the way people live will obviously become
more efficient and comfortable. All the time, our home can be
saved from home automation, so we will have much time to
work on other pursuits. However, smart home technology is a
good choice for people who care about security and comfort
but energy saving as well.
Smart homes will become more ubiquitous because new
technologies will be explored more and more. In future work,
we plan to build an application on tablet or smart phone using
Android operating system for controlling the smart devices for
easier and more convenient living.
[6] Barthold, Jim, 2005, “Changing the Way Houses Operate” [Online],
Available: http://articles.castelarhost.com/smart_home_technology.htm
[2012, October 18].
[7] Smart3, “Rest easy with smart climate control in your bedrooms”
[Online],Available:http://www.smart3.co.uk/rooms_smart_technology/
master_bedroom_suite.htm
[8] Christoffer Björkskog, “Human Computer Interaction in Smart
Homes”, Helsinki, Finland, p.1.
[9] Xiaojing Ye and Junwei Huang, 2011, “A Framework for Cloud-based
Smart Home”, International Conference on Computer Science and
Network Technology, December 24-26, Chongqing, China, pp. 894-
897.
[10] Shang-Yuan Chen and Yi-Feng Chang, 2010, “The Computer-Aided
Design software for Smart Home Device based on Cloud Computing
service”, Second WRI World Congress on Software Engineering,
Taichung, Taiwan, pp. 273-278.
[11] Molly Edmonds, “How Smart Homes Work” [Online],
Available: http://home.howstuffworks.com/smart-home4.htm [2012,
October 19].
[12] Inji Ibrahim Attia and Hamdy Ashour, “Energy saving through smart
home” The online journal on power and energy engineering
[Electronic], Vol.2, No.3, pp. 223-227.
[13] Dae-Man Han and Jae-Hyun Lim, 2010, “Smart Home Energy
Management System using IEEE802.15.4 and ZigBee”, Korea, pp.
1403-1410.
[14] Yuan-Chih Yu, Shing-chern D. You and Dwen-Ren Tsai, “A Calendar
Oriented Service for Smart Home”, Taiwan, pp. 151-156.
[15] Paul Lin, “Disadvantages of a Smart Home” [Online],
Available: http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_7631272_disadvantages-smart-
home.html [2012, October 19].

REFERENCES
[1] Jackie Craven, “What Is a Smart House?” [Online],
Available: http://architecture.about.com/od/buildyourhous1/g/smarthous
e.htm. [2012, October 18].
[2] Saisakul Chernbumroong, Anthony S. Atkins and Hongnian Yu, 2010,
“Perception of Smart Home Technologies to Assist Elderly People”,
The 4th International Conference on Software, Knowledge,
Information Management and Applications (SKIMA 2010), Paro,
Bhutan, pp. 1-7.
[3] Li Jiang, Da-You Liu and Bo Yang, “Smart Home Research”, 2004,
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Machine
Learning and Cybernetics, August26-29, Shanghai, pp. 659-663.
[4] Manfred Huber, 2006, “Smart Home Technologies” [Online],
Available: http://ranger.uta.edu/~huber/cse4392_SmartHome [2012,
October 18].
[5] iT24Hrs, 2012, “Smart room, smart home” [Online],
Available: http://www.it24hrs.com/2012/smart-room-smart-room-
automation. [2012, October 18].

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 International Conference on Civil and Architectural applications (ICCAA'2012) December 18-19, 2012 Phuket (Thailand)

Pristine Settlements of Toda at Nilgiris, South

India: Design Guidelines
Kala Choyimanikandiyil1

temperature ranges from 22.10 C in summer to 5.10 C in

Abstract—As you go closer to nature, you get a divine feeling. winter. Sometimes the night temperature in winter falls to
That is what anyone experience in a green hill station like Nilgiris in 00 C. Pre monsoon depth to ground water level varies from
South India. Evolution of civilized man brought across many ideas 1.2 m to 17.2 m, as [2].
through his incessant, tedious discoveries on creating a comfortable
shelter. Every traditional human habitat belongs to a particular
region which is influenced by physio-geographic factors like
physiography, geological structure, forest cover, climatic conditions,
soil properties etc.
This paper looks into the constructional details as well as every
other intricate factors regarding Toda architecture which belong to a
minority group of people called Toda living in and around Ooty,
Tamil Nadu. If a Toda is contended to live in his hut, perhaps a
person living in metros would find joy in spending holidays in such
dwellings which adapts completely with the microclimate of the
region. The author tries to give certain primary modifications for the
better design patterns of these Toda huts without losing its original
qualities and grace.

Keywords—Alternative Construction Technique, Climate

Responsive Architecture, Primitive Settlements, Toda Architecture.

I. INTRODUCTION

T ODA is a religion; the people of which are also called

Toda. In the year 1950, under Article 342 of the
constitution, the President of India notified some communities
of primitive traits as Scheduled Tribes in which Toda
population fall, though they have a prestigious heritage.
Originally, only communities called Todas, Badagas and
Kotas lived in the high altitude of Nilgiris, harmoniously. The
occupation of Todas was dairy farming who depended on
Badagas for agricultural products and Kotas for metal tools
Fig. 1. Location Map of Nilgiris District, TamilNadu, South India
and ornaments, as [1]. Toda women are engaged in making
their traditional attire.
Toda Settlements consist of few semi barrel shaped huts,
External migrants did not intrude the pristine Nilgiris until
such similar shaped dairy temples, sometimes a circular
in 1822, when Sullivan, who was then the Collector of
temple with conical roof, fenced off open shed for buffaloes,
Coimbatore, built a bungalow at Doddabetta, highest peak in
rectangular sheds for calves etc. Case studies were carried out
Nilgiris. Later other British followed him to set up their roots
at Munjakal mund, Thalpathery Mund and Cogere Mund.
in Nilgiris, as [1].
These structures, though specially suited for the place,
The summer in Nilgiris begins in March and peaks in April-
aesthetically and functionally; some minor modifications have
May. By June monsoon starts and by November winter
to be incorporated so as to meet the present day human needs
begins. The district receives both southwest and northeast
and comfort.
monsoons. Normal annual rainfall is around 1920 mm.
Humidity goes upto 90% in the afternoon. Daytime
II. TODA ARCHITECTURE
Kala Choyimanikandiyil1 is with Manipal School of Architecture and A. Toda Settlement
Planning, Manipal University, Karnataka State, South India (corresponding Through a questionnaire survey conducted among the
author- phone: 917760039254 ; e-mail: kalabrhm@yahoo.com,
kala.cmk@manipal.edu ). community author could understand that there are 14 villages
and 60 sub villages for Todas in Nilgiris. Also there are only

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