the people... the places... the passion...

h  o  m  e

a  b  o  u  t

f  a  m  i  l  y

m  y   s  m  a  r  t   h  o  m  e

...projects

p  y  r  a  m  i  d

n  a  v  s    b  l  o  g

l  i  n  k  s



c  o  n  t  a  c  t    m  e
  dhunay.smarthome

    Background

    My home is what's commonly known as a Smart Home. My automation system is still, in my mind, very much in its infancy - although others would think it a fully matured 22nd century automation system.

    Back in 1997 I started to think about building a house. I initiated the whole process by jotting down ideas and drawing pictures. Then September of 1999 I met with architects and construction professionals to share with them my ideas. On October 1999 I secured a ridge lot in the South East of Calgary. The lot overlooks the Bow River and has a clear view of both the mountains and the downtown core. I really couldn't have asked for a better location. We quickly broke ground before winter kicked in. The house was completed August 2000. Much longer than your typical house construction. But then again I wouldn't call my house "typical".

    Much of the automation in the home has not been programmed - I would say about 30% of the home automation is complete and running. Getting the other 70% complete is my project for 2003. The 30% consists of some fully automated and semi automated lighting, partial HVAC control, partial voice automation, partial video distribution and complete motion and audio sensing.

    The entire home automation is controlled by Merlin - my pet name for my Pentium class computer. The computer interfaces with a home built controller which contains 1 MB of RAM for storage of schedules, events, triggers and logs. The controller - which has a battery backup - is designed to run the house sans computer or electricity.

    The controller and all of it's interfaces - known as "NavNet" - were designed by me. The general principle of NavNet is based on the PowerLine Communications Carrier Protocol. I made a few of my own tweaks to the protocol to allow for, in my view, better performance and reliability.

    What can the house do?


    • lights can be turned on/off/dimmed using my TV remote.

    • lights can be turned on/off/dimmed by issuing voice commands like "kitchen lights on", or "living room lights dim 50 percent".

    • lighting scenes can be activated by a single button press on a wall switch.

    • I can turn on the TV, DVD player & AV reciever with a single button press or voice command.

    • Merlin turns on outside security lights at sunset and off at sunrise.

    • Merlin turns on my sprinkler system and regulates amount of watering based on seasonal conditions.

    • Merlin monitors to see if lights are left on when nobody is home and turns them off.

    • Merlin monitors HVAC and adjusts levels based on schedule and occupancy of home.

    • Merlin downloads daily weather conditions & news headlines and pushes the information out via RS232 (unfortunatly I don't have this connected to anything useful just yet - my plan is to connect it to LCD displays throughout the house)



    My plans...



    • Merlin will announce phone calls, using caller id, over the whole house audio system.

    • Merlin will close & open blinds/drapes based on occupancy of the house, and amount of sunlight.