HOME AUTOMATION

HOME AUTOMATION

Home automation is the domestic application of building automation. Imagine a situation were all the devices in your house could connect to the Internet? Not just computers and smartphones, but everything: clocks, garage doors, speakers, lights, doors, windows, window blinds, door bells, water heaters, appliances, every thing. what if these devices could all communicate, send you information, and take your commands? No magic; it's the Internet of Things (IoT), and it's a key component of home automation. 

 

Home automation is the use and control of home appliances remotely or automatically. Early home automation began with labour-saving machines like washing machines. Some home automation appliances are stand alone and do not communicate, such as a programmable light switch, while others are part of the internet of things and are networked for remote control and data transfer. Hardware devices can include sensors (like cameras and thermometers), controllers, actuators (to do things), and communication systems. Remote control can range from a simple remote control to a smartphone with Bluetooth, to a computer on the other side of the world connected by internet. Home automation systems are available which consist of a suite of products designed to work together. These typically connected through Wi-Fi or power line communication to a hub which is then accessed with a software application

Home automation is nothing more than the ability to control items around the house with a simple push of a button (or a voice command). homes are becoming smarter by the day, we practically on daily bases out phase older technologies with new ones thus bringing together devices that can perform these task. Eventually there is no need to be bothered with the word Automation because it is not actually as difficult as it sounds. there are already a bunch of these devices out there and even within our homes today that can simply be integrated to do cool stuffs at home. Eventually, there is no need tearing down already existing electrical connections for instance in order to outfit them with those that could be automated as there are devices that can be used to bring already existing ones together.

Popular suites of products include X10, Z-Wave, Zigbee and a whole lot more all of which are incompatible with each other. Home automation is the domestic application of building automation.

Home-Automation Technologies

Before you buy a bunch of home-automation products, it helps to understand the technologies involved in setting up and using them. These products use many different communication protocols. Some are wired, some wireless, and some are a combination. Try to stick with one protocol when buying products, or get a hub/gateway that supports multiple protocols.
X10
This granddaddy of home automation protocols dates back to the 1970s and has gone from power line-based to wireless.  X10 is not known for robust speed or great communication between units on the home automation network. It is, however, typically inexpensive. 
 

ZigBeeZigBee is a wireless 802 standard from the IEEE, which is to say, a bunch of gearheads came up with it before an outside group (the Zigbee Alliance) made up of vendors created products that use it. One of the key elements in IEEE 802.15.4 (its real name) is that it makes a mesh network so that most of the devices communicate equally. It's also very low power. (You may also hear about Thread, a new wireless protocol that uses the same radio chips and frequency at ZigBee, and connects up to 250 devices in a home to the cloud.)

Z-Wave
Another wireless home automation protocol,  Z-Wave is owned by one company, Sigma Designs, which makes all the chips for other vendors to make Z-Wave-capable products, known as the Z-Wave Alliance. 


Insteon
This may be the best of all protocols because it combines a wired power line-based protocol with wireless. Both work as a mesh; all nodes on an Insteon home automation network are peers that can communicate when in proximity. If one fails, the other mesh can take over. You can buy Insteon devices at Smarthome.com, which is run by SmartLabs, the developers of Insteon. It's compatible with X10.
 

Wi-Fi
This is the networking protocol we're all used to for sharing an Internet connection among laptops, game consoles, and so much more. It's super-fast and ubiquitous. So, of course, it's inevitable that some vendors would make home automation products to take advantage of it. The other protocols use less power and bandwidth but Wi-Fi's reach can't be understated, even if it is overkill to use it to turn a lamp on and off.



Bluetooth
A staple of every PC, smartphone, and tablet, Bluetooth is better known for connecting items at a short range like keyboards, mice, headphones, and earbuds. But a lot of new products use the Bluetooth 4.0, aka Bluetooth Low Energy, aka Bluetooth Smart. It doesn't require purposeful re-connection all the time, making it a good solution for select IoT items.

Applications

• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC): it is possible to have remote control of all home energy monitors over the internet incorporating a simple and friendly user interface.
• Lighting control system
• Audio-visual
• Appliance control
• Security: a household security system integrated with a home automation system can provide additional services such as remote surveillance of security cameras over the Internet, or central locking of all perimeter doors and windows.
• Leak detection, smoke and CO detectors
• Indoor positioning systems
• Home automation for the elderly and disabled

• Integration with the smart grid, taking advantage, for instance, of high solar panel output in the middle of the day to run washing machines.

THE NEW TREND IN CAR DEVELOPMENT

THE NEW TREND IN CAR DEVELOPMENT 

Every car maker today seeks the best and most advance way of making mobility more luxurious, fast and reliable, not necessarily affordable though. Making materials out of ultra-light weight stronger than still materials that fits the sleekly well streamlined body of today's cars. With one step leading to another and the industrialization revolution, thing are becoming more autonomous than ever before. Aside the autonomous races, many car manufacturers are beginning to highlight the importance of more developed engines, efficient in burning of gas. Every one at a point has ventured into Hybrid engines, utilizing both combustion and electric engines to run the wheels which have in turn changed the way we look at the automobile industries. 

What’s driving change

From the ground level, three powerful forces are roiling the auto industry: shifts in consumer demand, expanded regulatory requirements for safety and fuel economy, and the increased availability of data and information.

Shifts in consumer demand. Consumers appear to be rethinking their long love affair with individual automobile brands and viewing cars more as transportation machines. Although this is not likely to have a major impact on sales volume, it is affecting how much people are willing to pay for automobiles. That willingness is also affected by the waning of product differentiation, due partly to a general increase in vehicle quality throughout the industry. The Detroit Three have caught up with Japanese OEMs, and the mass market is catching up with luxury. Consumers are also demanding more sophisticated infotainment systems at a low price, and are expecting more high-end features to be standard.

Major transitions are under way that will transform auto manufacturing over the next 10 years.

Expanded regulatory requirements. Tighter corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations in the United States as well as the rest of the world are more expensive for OEMs to comply with, requiring higher volume to amortize increasing costs. Regulators are also mandating that more safety-related features, such as backup cameras, be included as standard equipment on new models, adding further to costs.
 
Increasing availability of data and information. Information about vehicle usage and driver behavior usage is proliferating as sensors and telematics systems become more common. All players across the automotive value chain are interested in collecting more customer and car data, but uncertainty about how to use it is still widespread. Meanwhile, consumers are awash in easily accessible information about automobile specifications, prices, discounts, quality, and performance, giving buyers greater bargaining power.
(As published on http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/perspectives/2015-auto-trends)

PHONE OF THE FUTURE

BENDABLE AND AWESOME

Imagine what the world would become in the future, in few years to come. Imagine how we will interact and deal with the environment, I mean, it is all happening too fast and there is this wind of change blowing from all aspect of the human endeavour and suddenly, there are on daily basis newer things to learn, develop and get accustomed to, even with those things we think we used to know. We will today focus on some new development in the telecommunication industry which has shown enormous growth worldwide.

Billions of people around the world use cell phones (mobile phones) and the high demand for this technology seem endless. In fact, more than a companion, it is now a part of many peoples life. On daily basis a countless number of transactions depend of ever busy communication lines linking mobile devices around the world and this off cause as a result of the level of satisfaction that has been created by cell phone manufactures around the world in terms of meeting every one needs. There are thousands of designs coming into the market on daily basis with each design trying to solve a new problem by bring to the user a better way of interacting with newer and more realistic interface.

Leading names in the industry such as Samsung, Apple, Microsoft and a whole lot of others has been working endlessly to bring the next surprise to the market. Better and smarter operating system such as Android, Smart-Crystal clear screens from Apple and longer battery power for high performance devices all these and more are just a pick into the amazing world of mobile technology.

WHATS NEW?

 A flexible bendable screen! It is sweet the way this tech turns out, though it is not a totally new tech because it has been around for some time now (in a way), many researches has in the past demonstrated this idea in what is now known as paper screen b but this is the first time a tech giant such as Samsung is coming out this this cool touch. I mean, it has changed a lot on how we view mobile phones. I mean this does not use glasses like regular phones instead, it uses plastic and there is this huge display that can be bent back and forth. While on this, others are interestingly working on foldable phones and not just the screen. A phone you can simply wrap around your wrist to mimic a wrist watch or around any platform to make it very convenient for mobility.

The Google project Ara on the other hand has demonstrated something even cooler. Imaging being able to change parts of your phone to suite your outfit whenever you are dressed up for an occasion. You can have better camera, speakers, double power, night vision camera and best of all; you can now swap your broken in no time. LG G5 came up with a design that allows you to replace your battery by simply sliding out a section of the phone (upper section) which in turn can house a host of other gadgets ranging from smarter cameras and devices that can expand the functionality of the phone. It also comes with a finger print sensor behind it, QaudHD 1560 X 1440 pixels screen, Qualcomm® snapdragon^TM 820 64bits processor and more.

Looking at the statistics in recent years, there is an incredible swelling growth in the development and this in turn points to one this; investors are smiling to the bank. Telecom is a  go place to invest in but the people who deserve the credit are those who have been rolling out these great designs, who are behind all this smartness and high performances, designers putting in their best, making intense research and bringing to reality all that has in the past thought to be impossible, they really deserve the credit. What comes next, may be letter transparent cell phones will be the next lead and on the software side of it, no one can correctly predict what the future holds as there are currently billions of mobile apps, hundreds of which are been introduced on daily basis.

THE ELECTRIC CAR SENSORS

THE ELECTRIC CAR SENSORS

Modern cars are not just built to function better in terms of speed, they are also meant to function smarter and same is the electric cars. With the number of vehicle devices consuming energy on the rise, intelligent systems are needed to monitor and ensure efficient Battery Management. To start with, there hundreds of sensors parked in these cars which regulates every aspect of the car ensuring proper functionality and effectiveness in electrical output and balance system.  Semiconductor content in automobiles has been increasing rapidly. Its growth rate is likely to increase even more as carmakers embrace the green revolution. The sensor cluster for instance, provides all control units in the vehicle with the vehicle’s current movement status in the form of electronic signals.

Digital Chassis Accelerator Sensor measures of horizontal and vertical acceleration as part of chassis control.  Also, the chassis Position Sensor (CPS) Regulates the main beams with the CPS for greater road safety while The PAS (paddle Angle Sensor) can be used to detect the angle of the brake pedal in hybrid and electric vehicles. One major component of driving safety is monitoring the thickness of the brake pads on an on-going basis and that exactly is what the Brake Pad Wear Indicator does as well as Speed Sensors that gives information on both motor and wheel speed to enhance balance and break response.

More on the focus are battery sensors, since every aspect of an electric car is driven or reliant on the batteries, much attention is given to this power source to achieve higher efficiency. Automakers currently don’t allow their batteries to be charged all the way, which helps avoid the high voltage levels that can degrade battery materials or in some cases cause fire. They also keep some capacity in reserve in case overheating or other factors reduce the performance of the battery. They build in these safeguards because they don’t know exactly what’s going on inside each cell—the temperature, chemical composition, mechanical strain, voltages at each electrode, and so on.

Electric-vehicle battery packs could shrink 20 to 30 percent, and make electric vehicles more affordable, if new sensors were developed to monitor the cells in a pack, according to the U.S. government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E). The agency says such sensors could have an even greater effect on hybrid gas-electric vehicle batteries, causing them to shrink by half.

Cell sensor: Small fiber-optic sensors  like those developed at PARC, could help makers of electric cars get the most out of the vehicles’ batteries.

Better sensors could tell what’s happening inside each of the hundreds of cells that make up an electric vehicle’s battery pack, allowing automakers to safely store more energy in them. A $30 million ARPA-E program that’s been underway for about a year is seeking to develop the necessary technology.

Developing new battery chemistries can take a decade or more, so increasing the capabilities of existing ones could be a faster way to reduce the cost of batteries, which remains one of the main things holding back the adoption of electric cars.

Other auto makes earlier on focused their attention on self-driven cars on which they demonstrated many fuel management techniques where computers calculate the distance to be covered and equate it to the amount of fuel needed to cover such distance thus, accelerating and maintaining the necessary speed in other to curb fuel consumption. Others experimented with trucks travelling along the same path, maintaining certain distances from each other in order to reduce drag which in turn reduces fuel consumption.

While looking at a future filled with AI and self-driven mobility systems, there is need to first eradicate (if possible) or at least reduce the level of emission of CO₂ to a considerably low level. Many are of the opinion that it will take a longer time for EVs to attain the needed efficiency that will boast its usability and acceptance around the globe. Presently, there are just too many places around the world where EVs are just to practical, there areas needing intense infrastructural reform as regards electricity. Except drastic steps are taken towards developing more efficient cells and cheaper alternatives to electricity, the green revolution might as well be a far-fetched. The good news is, hundreds of researchers around the globe are committed to find a lasting solution to these problems and hopefully, in no time the EV will become a perfect replacement. There is more to look forward to.

TECH THE YEAR ON TECH

THE YEAR ON TECH

Tech has brought hunger for more tech and christmas is no exection as every one is looking to a point in time when they can simply shop high tech at low cost. there are lots stuffs out there and the fun is endless. The list of devices below will blow your mind and actually bring to the understanding that tech is limitless.

1. Microsoft prototype hologram visor:

the latest technological devices have allowed billions of people across the world to go hi-tech making new connections where there were once none. The latest tech news from Microsoft at their launch event for the new windows 10 operating system featured the unveiling of a prototype hologram visor which adds exponentially to making Minecraft a more realistic experience, connections on Skype and multiple other applications which bring things out into three dimensions.

Virtual reality is one of the latest frontiers in computing interaction with several technology firms from Facebook to Google working on their own virtual reality units to wow an ever demanding tech- savvy public. From gadgets that allow you to touch a loved one from far away to watches that share your heartbeat, the future of relationships seems to be going hi-tech.

This new generation of holographic visors allows wears to visit immersive virtual reality platforms using a head mounted display which attaches to the user’s head. But, this new generation of holographic virtual reality platforms are not the only virtual connection devices that will soon be hitting store shelves. The Apple Watch which is expected to launch in spring of this year will include a feature called ‘Digital Touch’ that will allow users to send their heartbeat to a fellow user by using a built-in sensor that can be sent to another user allowing the receiver to feel the other person’s heartbeat against their own wrist.

However, there are more pioneering uses for the new generation of holographic headgear that includes being able to touch a virtual girlfriend’s legs, the setup will allow anyone wearing a headset to interact with a 3D version of anime character, Unity-chan, who may or may not welcome a person’s head on her lap using a pillow shaped like the anime character’s legs. These new technological advances will include machine feedback and pressure sensors that will allow users to experience computer technology in an entirely new way.

BUILDING ELECTRIC CARS

ELECTRIC CAR PARTS

Just like conventional cars, the electric car consists of various parts that can be assembled together. Unlike conventional cars, it is quite easier to build an electric car just as it is less expensive. You may want to jump into this whole idea as your next project but before hopping into it, there are lots of considerations to make, yes, planning comes first. I am not going to be writing on all the steps required or all the materials needed, we are just going to look at a few basic material required  for a start. Some of these are:

• Electric Motor
• Motor Controller
• Throttle Pot Box
  

  
• Adapter Plate
• Contactor
• Fuse
• Manual Switch
• Batteries
• Charger
• DC/DC Converter
• Gauges
• Heater
  The above listed are the basic requirement for building an electric car. Once these are gathered, you can now get to work but not without structuring the frame first.
  
  
  Electric Motor
  
  Every electric car needs a motor. Electric motors vary in shape and size, weight and price. They can use AC or DC electricity. A budget builder may choose to use an electric motor from an old forklift or elevator system. There are also lots of electric car-specific motors available for purchase alone or as part of a kit. You will need to choose a motor that will suit your needs for performance and budget.
  
  
  Motor Controller
  The purpose of the motor controller is to adjust the speed at which the motor spins. If 120V were applied directly to an electric motor for example, it would run at full speed. There needs to be a means of adjusting the output of the motor and this is precisely what the motor controller is for. It allows the motor to run at any speed between zero rpm and its max rpm. This part can also be salvaged either from a forklift or golf cart.
  
  
  Throttle Pot Box
  A pot box is a small part that connects to your stock throttle cable. When you push on your throttle, the pot box sends a signal corresponding to the amount of pressure you’re putting on the pedal to the controller which then sends the proper power to the motor.
  
  
  Adapter Plate
  The adapter plate mates the electric motor to a stock transmission. These can be bought for any commonly converted vehicle. Most EV-specific motors have a standard bolt pattern so most adapter plates will work with most motors. If you use a motor from a forklift you will need to have an adapter plate custom built or of course if you’re a decent fabricator you can always do this yourself.
  
  
  Contactor
  This is basically a high-voltage relay. It connects your battery pack to the controller when you turn on the key.
  
  
  Fuse
  A fuse will blow and cut power when too much amperage is drawn. Manual Switch There needs to be one (or more) manual disconnects for the main battery pack. This way if all else fails you can manually disconnect the power and safely stop the vehicle.
  
  
  Batteries
  There are many different types of batteries available. The type of batteries that you choose will affect your performance and range.
  
  
  Charger
  There are many different types of chargers available and the charger you need will depend on the batteries you use. DC/DC Converter The DC/DC converter takes the voltage of your main (traction) battery pack and reduces it to 12V which keeps your 12V battery charged. An electric vehicle still needs an 12V battery to power all the lights, stereo, horn etc. Keeping this battery charged can be achieved other ways as well. Some EV builders use an alternator that runs off the electric motor and others use a separate 12V charger to charge this battery.
  
  
  Gauges
  You will need to know what’s going on under the hood and this is where your gauges come in. Most basic EV builds use a high-voltage ammeter and voltage gauge (for traction pack voltage) and a low voltage gauge (12V system).
  
  
  Heater
  Although a heater is not necessary to drive the car, it is a creature comfort that we have all become accustomed to. Being that the stock heater in any gasoline car uses heat created by the gasoline engine to heat the cabin, we need to figure out something else to get heat into the vehicle. On the other hand, you will need a cooling system in countries with high temperature, in this case, a cooling system or fan will be required instead. Many countries especially African and most Middle East countries have extremely high temperature and you will not be needing any heater.
  
  
  Now, there are many places were you can get high quality material, while online might be a good option, there might be an accessary store nearby where you can get most of the stuffs you will be needing. walking down to a store gives you the option to weigh exactly what you want and make the best pick. It is also worthy of note that before you start any project, even with the electric car, you must first put cost into consideration, time and other factors comes next, convenience is the last this to give your attention to.