An introduction to smart home systems
Smart home systems integrate smart devices and technologies to automate your home. You can make your daily routine easier through the use of smart home systems. You can make your home more secure, more energy efficient, and so on.

Home automation possibilities
The idea of smart home systems is not a 21st-century concept. Smart home systems were available from the 1970s, for security systems, lighting, etc.

Now, with the huge advancement in wireless technology, smart devices, communication, etc., smart home systems are becoming more commonplace.

What can you automate?
You can automate anything that is covered by the current technology:

• You can start with smaller modules of smart home systems, like lighting systems, security systems, temperature control systems, and smart locks.
• You can have several home automation modules all connected to one hub and have centralized control over everything.

Do you want to control your lighting?
Lights are little things, but they can quickly boost your energy bills if used unnecessarily and mostly, they do. You may forget to turn them off when you leave home or when you fall asleep while reading a book, but that’s changed with smart lighting.

• You can buy smart lights to detect the brightness or movement automatically in a room to adjust their brightness, or even turn themselves off or on.
• You can connect your lighting to a control system that is programmed to turn certain lights on or off at specific times.
• You can issue a command through your mobile app before you reach home to turn on only certain lights, while keeping the others switched off.

Do you want to come back to a cozy home?

• Heating systems and your air-conditioner can consume a lot of electricity. By connecting them to smart control centers, you can set the thermostat to low temperatures when you are out and increase the temperature a while before you reach home.
• During summers, air-conditioners can be set to switch on a little while before you reach home.

How about energy savings?

• Lights, heating systems, etc. can all add up to your energy bills. As mentioned earlier, you can control your lighting when you are away and when you reach home.
• You can use smart home systems with light sensors to turn off the lights when it is bright inside the house and switch them on when it gets dark.
• You can issue voice commands through a voice control system like Alexa to switch off the light when you are about to fall asleep.
• Have motorized window blinds? Connect them to smart systems. When the weather is cold, temperature sensors can trigger a control to pull up the blinds, to let in heat and reduce heating bills.
• Is the weather hot? The control system can sense the temperature and keep the blinds down to prevent the rooms from heating up, cutting down on air-conditioner usage.

Would you like a more secure home?

• While you are away, movement sensors can detect and track intruders, and the smart home hub can send an alert to local law enforcement.
• If you are at home, you can receive the alert and then make a decision on whether to call for help.
• In case of emergencies like a fire, the home automation system can sense the threat, sound off alarms in each room, and call the fire service.

How about smart door systems?

• Smart locks can be controlled from anywhere in your home using a remote or your smartphone, to lock up at night or when you go out.
• You can have video doorbells installed and use your cell phone or tablet to actually see who is at the door before opening it.
• You can also monitor whether everything is secure through your mobile or laptop interface, to reassure yourself when you leave home.

Do you desire good control over who has access to your home?
Giving out keys to kids, neighbors, guests, home cleaning services, etc. can be a security hazard. They might lose the keys, and you will also find it hard to keep track of who has which keys.

• With a smart lock system, you can give access codes to whoever you want to enter your house.
• You can also control the level of access, block off certain rooms, restrict access only to one room, etc.
• You can delete the access codes when the guests leave or when the repair service job gets done.

As smarter appliances come into the market, you get more control over various aspects of your home—cooking, cleaning, entertainment, etc. Video cameras can help you monitor your home and watch over your pets while you are at work. You can receive alerts when your kids get home from school, or when something goes wrong—for instance, a smoke alarm is triggered, you receive an instant sound alert and a message through your smartphone.

Smart home systems will soon become the norm rather than the exception, especially because of the affordable prices that they are sold at.