Next Generation of Home Automation with Android@Home

Home automation has been around for a while. Dozens of different companies, technologies, and standards have existed for years that allow you to control various devices around the home with a single remote of some sort. Z-wave, Zigbee, Insteon, and X10 are just a few examples of the many technologies that all have their own special brand of wireless signal and interface protocol. These existing automation technologies are generally just glorified on/off switches for things that plug-in to wall outlets. Some of the more advanced (and expensive) solutions will interface with home security systems for another level of control. None of the competing technologies will talk to each other of course, so once you choose a brand, you’re stuck with that brand for everything. The more serious problem though is that the industry as a whole doesn’t know what to make of it all. Major home appliance makers like GE, Kenmore etc. are not going to integrate automation technologies with their products until there is a clear “winner” to rally behind. Alas, there is much untapped potential in home automation that has yet to be realized.

Google recently announced its plans to standardize and integrate home automation with its Android platform. Android@Home is yet another wireless interface technology, but this time it comes with a big name company behind it. Google is providing a protocol standard on the 900 MHz band along with hardware and software reference designs that integrate with Android smartphones/tablets/whatever else Android is on nowadays. Google is also providing a programming API that makes it easy for software developers to write programs using the new protocol. This should translate into a host of Android apps along with faster adoption by mainstream appliance makers. At a minimum, you should be able to turn the lights on and off with your Android smartphone. LightingScience has created LED lightbulbs that work with the Android@Home standard. That by itself isn’t particulalrly impressive, we can do that already with the previously mentioned technologies. But if all goes well however, you may be able to talk to your refrigerator, washing machine, furnace/AC, lawn sprinkler, porch light, mailbox, and everything else vendors will dream up on your smartphone as well. That is when things will get interesting.

Android@Home

The Android@Home functionality is much more than simple on/off commands. The API allows for all sorts of information to be passed throughout the Android@Home network. You’ll be able to see how much time is left on the washing machine, how much milk is left in the fridge, and how much energy your AC is wasting from anywhere right on your cell phone. Theoretically, you could do this a few ways. There is talk of a smartphone-to-900MHz adapter that would allow you to interface with Android@Home devices directly. More convenient though is the Android@Home media hub that bridges the 900 MHz network with your regular home network (wired/wireless ethernet). This would allow your cell phone to control devices within your home from anywhere. The 900 MHz wireless protocol has enough bandwidth to pass audio and video as well as allowing for things like surveillance cameras to stream video to your phone. Google is also pushing a new audio streaming service that is compatible with Android@Home and allows users to stream music to pretty much any audio device from the “cloud”.

The capabilities of Android@Home are not necessarily new. You can do pretty much everything in the preceding paragraph already if you have enough money, knowledge and access to boutique brands, but it is far from mainstream or standardized. The real breakthrough here is that a major company is taking the reigns and pushing one integrated solution that everyone else can rally behind. Hopefully they will. If they don’t, then Android@Home will end up being another Z-Wave or Zigbee, meaning everyone will forget about it.

References:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/11/editorial-android-home-is-the-best-worst-thing-that-could-happe/

http://www.smarthome.com/_/index.aspx

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/android-home-makes-your-home-smart-not-just-your-phone/24532

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-io-top-takeaways-and-reality-checks/48546?tag=content;feature-roto

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/android-momentum-mobile-and-more-at.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28Official+Google+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

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Next Generation of Home Automation with Android@Home