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he essence of this report is in the deployment of computers allowing them to take over and monitor various systems in the

home with the minimal need of human involvement. This utilisation is known as Home Automation or Demotics and the areas covered took in Types of Connection, Introduction to the Technical Elements, Environmental, Audio/visual, Security (including personal safety) Aspects and the Future Applications of these systems. Research into reports and recommendations from various companies, official bodies and universities were used to give comprehensive cover of the areas listed above and how they can best be utilised in the home. Penultimately the author covered aspects of automation that are already being developed but which are still in the experimental or testing stages and have yet to made available to the public. Finally, the writer drew some conclusions from the report as to the main advantages and disadvantages that automation provides and provided further resources and addresses that the reader may want to pursue in order to seek more in depth learning. Introduction Since the advent of the first true personal computer in the early 1970s both consumers and businesses alike have been looking at ever more constructive uses for such machines and with the speed of development increasing year on year it was only a matter of time before the simple electronic calculator of the 1930s evolved into the personal computer of the 21st century and thus became an integral part of peoples homes. Even though a primitive form of computer was built by Konrad Zuse in 1936 it was not until 1974 when a company called Scelbi developed the first personal computer based on Intel's 8008 micro processor that the world of personal computers met, and fell in love with, the world of automation. So it was then that in the 1980s the friendly war between the two great computer companies, Apple and Microsoft, began and it was around this time that the term Domotics was born when, in 1984, the journalist Bruno de Latour coined the name. In this report the writer has outlined what the term Domotics means, the uses that it has in todays domestic environment, the expectations of domotics in the

future together with the costs, advantages and disadvantages that it holds and so has begun with a definition of the main components that were be covered. , Automation, Domotics and Fuzzy Logic i. Computer Systems A computer is a piece of machinery that can perform routine calculations automatically and calculations can be anything that requires complex subconscious thought such as moving, on wheels, across a room. Computers have been developed that are easily capable of this and can be classed as a basic form or automation. The first computers were the size of a small room and were impractical for home use and even though the most common form of computer in the world today is an embedded computer which is a computer that controls another appliance such as a digital camera, the most popular form is that of the personal and the laptop computer, the latter is now commonly known as a notebook computer owing to its diminishing size and portability. It is the personal computer that will be the centre of this report and the applications that it can perform. ii. Automation Automation is a task that can be performed by a human but is usually easier and safer if performed by a machine and many household chores can be performed by use of automated systems such as heating, light and security. Specific computers called Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are used to synchronise automated events and are used to keep strict control of these processes. Human Machines Interfaces (HMI) are used as communication devices between the PLCs and other human users for such things as monitoring temperatures, other automated controls and emergencies nevertheless, it is still the onus of the householder to monitor and control these processes according to the needs of the residents. Domotics When one combines the power of computers with the usefulness that automation brings the term domotics is now commonly used and utilises the application of a computer to domestic appliances such as air conditioning, climate control, security, audio and TV functions, garden sprinklers etc.

Domotics should be capable of gathering together information about such things as room temperature, and make adjustments accordingly, monitor the amount of light in a room and adjust the lighting to compensate, open or close sun-blinds and curtains, adjust the sound level of music according to an individuals preferences and even be able to report unwanted intruders directly to the police. A Radio Frequency Identification is a tag that a user wears so as to be identified by the domotic sensors. These are used in the more basic of systems and allow preset levels of ambience, audio etc to be adjusted accordingly. More highly developed systems can now recognise individuals by movement, body heat and other personal characteristics. iii. Fuzzy Logic Fuzzy logic is a form of data processing that is used by advanced computer systems where a yes or no answer is insufficient. In most systems an event is expressed as either being false or true, yes or no etc and are represented by the binary digits 0 and 1. In fuzzy logic systems varying degrees of expressions, known as truthhood and falsehood are used as in: wont occur, might not occur and might occur. As more data is gathered the system can adjust and evaluate the outcome or event and so can learn from their mistakes and can even be considered to have a primitive form of artificial intelligence. Even though experiments in fuzzy logic happened in the 1980s one of the first fuzzy logic systems to be used in the domestic environment wasnt until the 1990s when a washing machine learned to detect and therefore adapt to different types of wash cycle. Forms of fuzzy logic which many of us have used are Handwriting Recognition programs such as that used on graphic tablets, PDAs (Personal Data Assistants) and Voice Recognitions Systems as on some word processor software packages.

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