Most electrical contractors and installers will by now be aware (even if perhaps only dimly) of the ‘Internet of Things’, in which every device can communicate with every other for reasons good, dodgy or bad, but now comes the news that even a smart bed can ‘talk’ with devices – such as Philips’ Hue lighting system – what might this mean for our electrical installation sector?
The advent of the Internet of Things means even your bed can ‘talk’ to your lighting
Most electrical contractors and installers will by now be aware (even if perhaps only dimly) of the ‘Internet of Things’, in which every device can communicate with every other for reasons good, dodgy or bad, but now comes the news that even a smart bed can ‘talk’ with devices – such as Philips’ Hue lighting system – what might this mean for our electrical installation sector?
Turn your bed into a ‘smartbed’ exclaims Luna, which aims to put onto the market a bed that can monitor your health, aid comfort, measure sleep phases and environment changes to perform historical sleep data analysis and wake you up. Oh, and it can also ‘talk’ to other Wi-Fi connected devices from brands Philips Hue, WeMo, Lifx, Honeywell, Dropcam, etc.
So, what’s this to do with Voltimum? What’s it to do with YOU?
Google and Philips Lighting have got together for Nest Lab’s intelligent wireless thermostat and home automation devices to work with Philips’ Hue IP-connected LED lamps and LG smart fridges in an ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) initiative.
Philips’ Hue allows homeowners to obtain full control over the light in their lives by setting the mood and changing the ambience using varying light output and colour. Nest’s home automation devices wirelessly connect to many household systems, such as boilers, doors, lighting, washing machines, smartphones, and now fridges, but there will be a great many more.
The bed in the scheme of things
So now we also have the ‘talking’ bed. How does this fit into the scheme of things? How will it affect the electrical contracting and installation sector? Will it, indeed, affect it at all?
Luna’s smart mattress cover manages bed temperature, tracks sleep, and makes the bed smart. It turns a conventional bed into one that intelligently manages temperature, tracks sleep and integrates with the smart home .
Sensors detect breathing and heart rate, accelerometers track sleep patterns and microphones listen to the occupant’s snoring. As you lie down, the temperature (of both the bed and the room), and the music (if you want it) all adjust to a setting of your choice. The lighting too, which is where Philips Hue comes in.
Luna also learns your regular bedtime and sets the bed to a comfortable temperature, which can be personalised and different on each side (my wife is always cold) to help you fall asleep faster. Furthermore, it tracks sleep quality, including sleep phases, heart rate and breathing rate. It combines this knowledge about your night with information about your day and uses those insights to recommend what works best for any user’s sleep.
More still, a built-in smart alarm wakes you at the right moment of light sleep, so you can, the company explains, ‘say goodbye to groggy mornings’, and another sensor identifies the correct moment in your sleep cycle to wake you up at your highest energy level.
When needed, homeowners can control Luna from their smartphone or tablet from anywhere, such that – for example – they can warm his or her bed on a cold night while returning home.
Luna is powered via a mains plug (110-240VAC); the mattress cover however is powered with 15V DC. The maximum 90W is rarely used, so the energy consumption shouldn’t be too high.
But why?
Why? What are the reasons for this?
Without trying the mattress cover on bed for some time, we have to take Luna’s word that it will improve sleep and wellbeing, but it clearly has potential (especially for ‘techies’ perhaps), and especially when it can talk to what will become a fast growing list of other intelligent WiFi and IP-connected devices – such as Philips Hue.
Make no mistake, the IoT – of which Nest products, Hue and Luna are all part - is here to stay and it is growing very fast indeed.
A Wikipedia definition of the IoT is ‘the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure’. Typically, the IoT will offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications. The interconnection of these embedded devices (including smart objects), is expected to usher in automation in nearly all fields, while also enabling advanced electrotechnical applications like the ‘smart grids’ now being designed and built.
‘Things’, in the IoT, can devices as diverse as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, electric clams in coastal waters, vehicles having built-in sensors, smart meters, or field operation devices that assist fire-fighters in search and rescue. Current market examples include smart thermostat systems (as in Nest) and washer/dryers that use WiFi, 4G Long-Term Evolution, Bluetooth etc for remote monitoring. It also already encompasses wearable technologies and – for example - being able to learn all about paintings in an art exhibition as you view each one.
The benefits
Benefits – The IoT will allow literally billions of everyday objects to communicate with each other over the Internet, so will have enormous potential to change all of our lives. Benefits include boosting productivity, of keeping us healthier, making transport more efficient, reducing energy needs and making our homes more comfortable.
Disadvantages – The amount of data that will need to be communicated very fast will become hugely bigger and require much better indexing, (cloud-based?) storage and processing power and systems.
More power will be consumed by all the devices, just when it is urgent to reduced energy consumption for Climate Change reasons – although the IoT also has the potential to save much energy.
Security and privacy will be big issues. Look at the big hacking and other security issues we have even now and imagine the potential for hackers, criminals and shadowy Government departments when everything is interconnected (note, though, that Luna says its mattress is ‘completely secure and uses public key cryptography. Its security features include HTTPS, SSL, and 128-bit encryption’).
For you?
What does this all mean for electrical contractors and installers?
Although many – perhaps most - IoT devices now and in the future will be electronic or extra low voltage (ELV), and many will be battery-powered (and available through retailers or on-line for installation by homeowners), it is worth considering that currently, there are about 14 billion objects connected to the Internet. With full realisation of IoT, this is expected to rise to 20 to 100 billion by 2020.
With this sort of growth, switched on and business savvy electrical contractors and installers should surely be able to find really significant extra business for themselves.
At Voltimum, we’ll be looking at the world of IoT increasingly closely from now on, so keep your eyes proverbially peeled for the latest developments, from technologies, though applications, to standards development, training, and all the opportunities for YOU!
