Hardware design in smart home applications: rapid prototyping and embedded systems

  • Authors:

  • Tao Long;Johnny Wong;Debra Satterfield;Hen-I. Yang;Viren Amin

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa and Center for Non-Destructive Evaluation, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa;Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa;College of Design, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa;Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa;Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa and Center for Non-Destructive Evaluation, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

  • Venue:
  • ICOST'11 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Toward useful services for elderly and people with disabilities: smart homes and health telematics
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

Research advances in smart home technologies are highly diverse and innovative[1,2,3]. Some of these novel ideas involve in creating new hardware to perform distinct functionality. In this paper, we present two effective methods for transforming these ideas and concepts into actual hardware: rapid prototyping and embedded systems. These two methods used in combination have the benefits of high fidelity, formal documentation (thus can be successively improved), quick turnaround time and low cost. To illustrate these benefits, we demonstrate two prototypes developed in our Smart Home Lab: a physical monitoring and logging device and a smart lamp. Since these two methods are applicable in creating wide varieties of prototypes, our discussion and demonstration should inspire other researchers in smart home areas to use similar methods to create new prototypes and products. To improve overall usability, some design principals and issues are also discussed.