IoT in Smart Homes and Smart Cities
In this article, we will go through several IoT applications in smart homes and smart cities. We shall cover numerous interesting topics like what smart homes and smart cities are and the various applications of IoT in smart homes and smart cities.
We will conclude by looking at a couple of examples of smart cities around the globe and briefly discuss the topic of smart homes in smart cities. So sit down, pay attention, and read till the end of the article.
What are Smart Homes?
A smart home is essentially a network of connected smart devices and home appliances that improve the consumer’s quality of life by offering simple, reliable, and efficient solutions.
These connected smart devices can be any device used at home. For example, they can be TVs, refrigerators, thermostats, microwave ovens, washing machines, dishwashers, geysers, doorbells, security cameras, lights, fans, air conditioners, and more.
The best part is that you can control all these devices through one unit. It is mostly a virtual assistant like Alexa, Google, Bixby, Siri, or a simple smartphone application. Another mind-boggling feature of Smarthome is that you can control and monitor these devices remotely.
These devices are connected through IoT and constantly send and receive information about the surroundings. These connected devices send the data to giant cloud servers mostly through IoT gateways. All of these devices continuously communicate with each other over a protocol. In a smart home, the protocol is usually Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Applications of IoT in Smart Homes
There are countless applications of IoT in smart homes. Even as you read this article, thousands of companies are designing and developing new smart home devices. Here are a few commonly used appliances in smart homes:
1. Smart Thermostats
Smart thermostats can respond to the consumer’s needs and constantly monitor and control the house’s temperature. Moreover, the user can use a virtual assistant to increase or decrease the temperature.
2. Motion Detectors
Motion detectors themselves have various applications in smart homes. One example is smart doorbells, where motion detectors can trigger the surveillance cameras and start recording upon detecting motion. These motion sensors can also be programmed to automatically turn on and off lights when they detect movement in the room.
3. Biometric Access Control
Today, biometrics has become the backbone of security systems as they are easy to manage, hassle-free, and highly secure. For example, biometrics plays a significant role in smart doorbells and security systems in a smart home. Since there are various types of biometrics (iris, fingerprint and facial and voice recognition), users have the flexibility and security they have never experienced before.
4. Virtual Assistants
Today, there is a range of virtual assistants to choose from – Siri, Alexa, Google, Bixby, Cortana, and many more. Virtual assistants tie the entire smart home system together as you can control all the compatible devices with the virtual assistants. Apart from simply controlling the appliances, they can also perform various other tasks like entertainment, news, music, remainders, and many more.
5. Smart Refrigerators
You must be wondering what a smart refrigerator is and what it can do. Well, these gadgets are a complete game changer. They can automatically add groceries that are low in quantity into your shopping cart. Moreover, you can regulate the temperature remotely and even look inside your fridge with the built-in cameras, so you don’t miss out on any groceries while shopping.
Benefits of a Smart Home
In a nutshell, smart homes allow you to add improvised functionality to regular homes. They essentially make lives simple as they perform simple and reliable tasks. For example, smart vacuum cleaner robots keep your house spick and span, whereas smart refrigerators automatically stock up your fridge and manage your groceries.
What is a Smart City?
Smart cities are smart houses, but way bigger. Jokes apart, smart cities include services, devices, and technology working with IoT to manage bigger problems like water, electricity, roads, transportation, public areas, buildings, and digital services like broadband.
Smart cities aim to make the citizens’ lives more comfortable and smart cities safer, modern, and reliable to boost the economy. These cities replace regular machines with smart machines containing sensors to sense and collect data, and actuators generate efficient responses based on the data coming from the sensors.
Application of IoT in Smart Cities
There are numerous devices of IoT in smart cities that are working to make day-to-day tasks easier while relieving pain points related to public safety, traffic, and environmental issues. Let us take a look at some examples:
1. Smart Transportation
Experts say connected vehicles are the future of better and more reliable public transportation. IoT can provide vehicle logistic solutions, passenger information systems, automated fare collection, integrated ticketing, and many more. All of these applications help in managing public transport. To learn more about IoT applications in transportation, you can read my in-depth article on it.
2. Smart Utility Meters
These devices are usually attached to buildings and connected to a smart energy grid, allowing utility companies to manage energy flow more effectively. In addition, these IoT meters can help users to track their energy consumption. According to multiple reports, utility companies are expected to save approximately $160 billion by 2035 because of smart meters!
3. Smart Grids
The application of IoT is one of the most significant implementations of smart architecture and infrastructure, as it helps with resource conservation. For example, Amsterdam has been experimenting with offering home energy storage units and solar panels for households connected to the city’s smart grid.
4. Air Quality Monitors
We all know that our carbon footprint is continuously increasing as there is a constant rise in air particles, dust, dirt, cleaning chemicals, and many other impurities. Smart air quality monitors can detect these particles and inform users of pollutants. Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) monitors do an even better job of alerting people of unsafe pollutant levels via notifications.
5. Waste Management Solutions
Generally, waste management is both inefficient and expensive. However, smart waste management solutions can eradicate some of these pain points by monitoring trash can levels and sending that data to waste management companies, providing the best waste pick-up routes. In addition, smart bins can tell users which items should be composted or recycled.
Examples of Smart Cities
Smart cities are not just a concept on a drawing board. Many cities have already implemented this idea and benefited a lot. In fact, Europe is currently leasing the world in smart city development. So let us take a look at some examples of smart cities around the globe.
1. Paris
The proposal of multiple high-rise buildings with positive energy output (BEPOS) was developed by the French firm ‘Vincent Callebaut Architectures. This plan was later followed by the Plan of Paris, which aimed to reduce 75% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
2. New York City
Times Square — the busiest place on earth, yet so clean. This is because they implemented the smart city concept. For example, the connected vehicle project helps eliminate traffic-related deaths and reduces crash-related injuries and damage to vehicles and infrastructure.
3. London
London deployed a smart parking project back in 2014 in Westminster. This system allows drivers to quickly locate parking spaces and prevent the need for lengthy searches for an open spot, drastically reducing urban traffic congestion in the narrow streets of London.
4. Copenhagen
With the help of the smart city concept, Copenhagen aims to become the first carbon-neutral smart city by 2025. They are using heating and smart-grid integration to show how electricity and heat, energy-efficient buildings, and electric transport can be integrated into one energy system.
5. San Francisco
This beautiful city implemented the Smart Traffic Signals Pilot that will explore the use of Multimodal Intelligent Traffic Signal Systems. This idea of San Francisco uses Short Range Communication, Transit Signal Priority, and Emergency Vehicle Preemption technology to improve safety, reduce collisions, and decrease emergency vehicle response times.
Smart homes in smart cities
Smart cities in smart homes are going to be a widespread occurrence, as they are capable of reducing the cost of living and the cost of construction. Furthermore, in the future, it will be possible for smart homes to connect to smart cities to provide further benefits to the entire city.
This might sound like a completely bizarre idea today, but one day, the technology will come to inter-connected smart cities and smart homes on a broader scale and network.
Summary
You have now learned what smart homes and smart cities are as we discussed various IoT applications. We have also seen some examples of smart cities and the benefits of a smart home.