What is home automation? How does it work
Home automation is a convenient way to control and monitor different devices and appliances that we use on a daily basis at home. These include home lighting, air conditioning, home heating, blinds and shades, garage doors, security cameras, motion sensors, energy control units, and weather sensors. While different home automation solutions vary greatly in functionality and scope, most modern systems feature a central control panel, also known as a hub. The hub connects to your home Wi-Fi network and becomes a main interface through which all the utilities in your home can be controlled remotely. This system is expandable, meaning you can add more devices to this ecosystem in the future as your requirements grow.
Many home automation system providers develop apps for all the popular platforms that allow homeowners to remotely control their home utilities using their smartphones and tablets. By setting up the hub with your home Wi-Fi network and installing the app on your smartphone, tablet or PC, you can add and connect to everything from thermostats, security cameras and lights to weather meters, motion sensors and power control units. This means no separate remotes for different devices and no hassle to manually control each device; You can control all the devices in your home using your internet-enabled smartphone from anywhere in the world.
With home automation, you can perform the following day-to-day tasks with your Smartphone:-
1. Control home lighting
Since all your light switches and dimmers connect to your hub, you can get complete remote control of your home lighting from your smartphone. As well as allowing you to turn individual lights on/off when you’re away from home, home automation allows you to activate a group of lights with a single touch. Not only does this give you peace of mind, but it also helps keep your utility bills in check.
2. Monitor home security
The hub connects to magnetic door sensors, home surveillance cameras, smoke sensors, and motion sensors and can be configured to send automatic alerts to your smartphone when you’re away. You can build a wireless home security system that suits your needs and keeps you aware of what’s going on in and around your home when you’re at work or on vacation.
3. Make adjustments to home heating
Remote temperature control is possible with home automation. You can monitor your home temperature using your smartphone and make adjustments even if you are away from home. This means that when you return from a hard day at work, the temperature in your room is perfectly adjusted to your liking. Many systems allow users to adjust the thermostat in response to temperature sensors.
4. Monitor weather conditions
By adding temperature sensors, wind gauges, rain sensors, and UV sensors to your home automation ecosystem, you can easily find out what the weather is like in your neighborhood. In addition to wireless weather monitoring, you can configure actions like scheduling your blinds to close if wind sensors detect high winds, among many others.
5. Blinds and shades control
Home automation also makes remote control of blinds and shades possible as you can open and close all your window blinds from anywhere in your home. In addition to letting you control them with your smartphone, you can set a schedule to lower your blinds and sunscreens to automatically lower during extreme sunlight, keeping your home cool in the summer and saving energy and utility costs.
As a result, the installation of modern home automation systems means you can have wireless control over each of your appliances just by using your smartphone. Whether you’re at home or away, you can turn a group of lights on or off with a single touch. In addition to such convenience and control, it’s possible to monitor all of your home security cameras while you’re in the office or away from home so you’re always in the know no matter where you are. Another important aspect of automation is the energy savings that come from having close control over your home’s heating system and your home’s entire lighting system.