One of the first features many people want from their smart home is a powerful security alarm system. This is something you basically get for free and so much more, assuming your smart home is reliable, can function when the mains power is switched off and is also not dependent on an Internet connection.
We have designed our Home Control System with these requirements in mind and it has a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to ensure all the important features continue to work through power outages. As all the intelligence resides within our home it also functions without an Internet connection but, it can obviously do more with this present. The Internet connection is also one of the things our contextual smart home monitors as part of the overall operating context.
Our smart home system required the addition of three important devices to enable its powerful alarm capability:
All of the alarm features are implemented in software and run on our Home Control System, providing an extremely powerful and configurable alarm system. This has numerous advantages over and off-the-shelf alarm system:
The alarm functionality needs to be capable of being switched on or off and the many user interfaces in our smart home allow this, where the user can be authenticated and they have the permissions to allow this.
Our AI interface enables trusted users to control the alarm via text and voice, where they are using authenticated devices to access it.
We have integrated keypads to enable trusted guests and visitors to control the alarm. Since each code is unique to a given person, we can also use the keypads around our home to provide occupancy and presence. Keypads don't have to be physical hardware. They can also be implemented in software as the examples below show.
We have developed RFID/NFC readers that use Smartphones and tags to enable trusted users to control aspects of the alarm system. Since each tag is unique, we can also use the RFID readers around our home to provide occupancy and presence. NFC/RFID is not considered to be particularly secure in isolation but, it is used in conjunction with other technologies and context, to basically enable multi-factor authentication in this application, whilst maintaining the simple user experience.
The basic functions of an alarm need to be driven by local context and our Home Control System is no exception. The triggers and behaviours adapt to the current mode of our smart home:
We are also researching and have enabled threat detection analysis and the complete security system is adapative to the current threat level.
In our view, privacy and security go hand-in-hand. Keeping your smart home information and context private makes for a much more secure smart home. There are no 3rd parties involved, to allow the alarm system to be compromised externally.
Our Home Control System self-monitors its systems and performance. It will preemptively let us know if something has failed or something unexpected has happened. This includes cameras going off-line, sensors missing or mains power failure.
The alarm system can easily be configured to work with any of the 400+ in our contextual smart home, which means it is isn't just a security alarm system but also a safety alarm system, checking things like temperature sensors for early fire detection, smoke sensors, carbon monoxide sensors, air quality sensors, flood/leak sensors, glass break detectors, etc. Because it models these different types of sensors it can adapt its behaviour based on the detected threat.
Monitored alarms are less popular in the UK than in countries like the USA. If our external alarm sounded, our neighbours would hear it and come and have a look to see what was going on, so our current solution is self-monitoring for now. It can also easily configured to notify family members, relatives and neighbours as well though. It just knows if we are away on holiday and will adapt its behaviour accordingly.
The required systems are in place for it to be used with a professional monitoring service if required though. This would require some level of validation and certification, which we are currently researching.
This is a responsive, web-based UI we have developed to show how our alarm system can be controlled via authenticated user interfaces and also deliver a personalised user experience.
In our contextual smart home will generate a voice announcement if it is triggered, telling us which sensor triggered it an where.
Our contextual smart home will also generate a voice announcement if it is triggered by one of the safety sensors.
