Intelligent houses

The activity that converts an ordinary building into an intelligent building is the integration of electronic sensors, robotic effectors, and control intelligence into the network so that the building can respond more effectively to changing interior requirements and external conditions.

Electronic sensors correspond to the eyes, ears, and other sensory organs of living organisms. Computer-connected microphones and digital cameras are the most obvious. Pressure sensors can be placed in flooring and furniture to track locations of furniture and people. Motion sensors tell if there is activity within a space. Electronic and optical badges allow objects to be identified. Climatic sensors can keep track of temperature, humidity and air movement. Specialized chemical sensors exist in great variety. And medical sensors can monitor your bodily condition.

Robotic effectors are machines that have been brought under computer control. They correspond to the hands, feet, and other parts of the body that living organisms use in everyday life. Computer-controlled displays, printers, and audio devices have become very popular.

Lighting, heating and ventilating, water and sewage, cleaning, and safety systems of buildings may also be connected with computers. So may elements that operate doors, windows, and blinds or other sun-control devices.

Advanced control software may respond to present conditions. So an air-conditioning system may respond to temperature variations, a houseplant irrigation system may respond to soil moisture, a clothes washer may respond to the particular fabric and cleaning problem and so on. Advanced control software may also coordinate the actions of several devices and systems. On a snowy winter morning it might turn up the heat at the usual time, make wake-up calls at appropriate moments, switch on the lights, set appliances to work to prepare breakfast and start the car.

More surprisingly intelligent interiors have the potential to deliver medical services in new ways. Once, before medical treatment depended on highly specialized resources, doctors made house calls. Intelligent interiors now open up the possibility of continuous remote medical monitoring and of controlled delivery of medication.

These new capabilities fundamentally change the way in which buildings respond to the requirements of their inhabitants. Preindustrial buildings relied mostly on passive strategies for responding to environmental variation and meeting user needs. Buildings of the industrial era made much more use of electrical and mechanical devices to perform these tasks, but depended on manual and simple automatic control systems. The intelligent interiors of the 21st century combine both.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-24