• Cameras will track your home's exterior even if it's pitch-black outside.
• Plug your tabletop lamp into a dimmer instead of the wall socket, and you can brighten and dim at the push of a button.
• A video door phone provides more than a doorbell -- you get a picture of who's at the door.
• Motion sensors will send an alert when there's motion around your house, and they can even tell the difference between pets and burglars.
• Door handles can open with scanned fingerprints or a four-digit code, eliminating the need to fumble for house keys.
• Audio systems distribute the music from your stereo to any room with connected speakers.
• Channel modulators take any video signal -- from a security camera to your favorite television station -- and make it viewable on every television in the house.
• Remote controls, keypads and tabletop controllers are the means of activating the smart home applications.
• Devices also come with built-in web servers that allow you to access their information online.

There are many ways of integrating smart home technology in to your life, for example you could control electrical items using your PC, a wall mounted pad or a portable tablet style device such as the Phillips pronto remote. Along side this sensors can be fitted to detect things such as motion, heat or light levels which feed information in to your lighting and heating control units to automatically turn lights on or off when motion is/is not detected, open or close curtains, have your favourite music follow you around the home or even remotely feed video to your mobile phone if an intruder is detected. Virtually any electrical device can be integrated in to your smart home system.

How Does It Work?

The concept of home automation is to connect all of these systems and devices so that they can be controlled from anywhere and react to one another. For example, as you arrive home, your home-automation system can automatically open the garage door, unlock the front door and disable the alarm, light the downstairs, and turn on the TV. Or if you power on the DVD player, it could react by dimming the lights, draw the curtains, and directing all calls to your answer machine.

To make all this possible your devices must be controlled by a network, the sort backbone for your smart home. There are many different types of network solutions available, all suited to the individual client's needs and the scale of the project. Say for instance if the client was building a new home and wanted sensors, audio visual and data outlets in almost every room. This would be an ideal case for installing a structured wiring system to the property. Arguable the most reliable networking option; this would consist of coaxial wiring for entertainment systems, Cat-5 wiring for data and communications, as well as wiring for in-wall speakers and touch panels. However if the client simply wanted to have remote control of their lights, then simple solutions are available which can be integrated seamlessly in to existing household wiring.

The other critical component of a home-automation system is the interface. Rather than a single interface, most homes will have many different ways to access and control systems. Most include a software interface that lets you control the system from any PC, at home, in the office, or on the road. There is also the option to have wired or wireless touch screens or even mobile devices such as phones that also let you perform the same tasks in any room, much the way you do with a universal remote. These can be customized with graphics and buttons specific to the individual rooms of each client's house to ensure that they look and work exactly how they want.