The Home Automation Journey Part 2: Where do we want to go

In the last post (The Home Automation Journey Part 1: Let's get goingVenkat Swaminathan) we looked at getting started with home automation. Since this is not a classroom session and I figured linear is boring, let's look at one of the "end states" and go about deconstructing the setup.

Operational Dashboard

The image shows one of the operational dashboards for my home. This is the primary dashboard that appears on my phone and other devices so I can quickly access any of the devices in the house that are connected. The top row has indicators that takes input from motion detectors and video cameras to present a consolidated view of activity. This is basic sensor fusion at work where multiple sensors are used to extract a single state. The switches, lights, and sensors in each part of the house are grouped together in zones. There is an external door that is showing in red, and therefore presumably open. The garage doors are showing in green and therefore, closed. Pressing any of the buttons will toggle the corresponding device.

Monitoring Dashboard

This is a secondary view that is primarily a view of the sensors so I can figure out if something is amiss by looking at this.

The top row indicates activity in different parts of the house.

One of the batteries in the sensor is low at 23% so I should probably look at replacing it. Note that the cars are reporting their battery charge -- because these are connected cars. I can get lots of information from them too.

Temperatures in different parts of the house are reported from the sensors. Clicking on the buttons will provide a historical graph showing the trend.

As doors are opened and closed there is a visual representation of their states over a period of time.

I had deactivated the Alarm routines for some maintenance and hence it's showing an error. What is not visible here is the automation around a lot of these devices. Lights turn on at dusk and turn off at dawn. Motion sensors trigger lights in sequence as doors are opened (e.g. stairs, basement) or people move about (e.g. I walk into my office). Presence sensors are used to automatically dim the lights movie-theater style when I turn on the projector.

Elements of home automation

What do I use to build these out. Here are some of the foundational elements.

• Home Assistant: The core platform that supports connecting to and managing sensors using native and community plugins to communicate with devices using WiFi, Zigbee, Matter, and ZWave

  
  

• Frigate: A network video recorder (NVR) that can run on multiple hardware platforms and uses OpenCV (computer vision) and Tensorflow(machine learning) to analyze the video streams and detect motion and objects.

  
  

• MQTT: A communication platform that allows software systems to exchange data in the form of messages with each other using a publish-subscribe (aka, "pub-sub") pattern

  
  

• Node-red: An IOT integration platform that enables connecting sensors using a graphical interface to enable automation so that you can turn lights on/off, open doors, operate blinds, and even send notifications to your phone.

Cool use cases and frugal hacks

Over the years my family has gotten used to lights turning on and off randomly in the house and, while they may not admit it easily, they have also gotten used to the convenience. The true test of any automation is when people don't notice it.

• Probably one of the most useful things that I built is a lightbulb in the kitchen area that changes color depending on whether I am in an audio call, video call, or just working. Family members know whether to call me for lunch or anything or even walk by out of camera range.

  

  Light bulb changes color depending on whether I am in an audio or video call on Teams/Zoom

• When I turn on the movie projector the video receiver/amplifier is automatically turned on and the lights are then gradually dimmed before going dark after a delay so people can find their comfy seat. The following image shows the automation in node-red.

  

  Automation flow in node-red to automatically dim the lights and turn on the receiver/amplifier when the projector is turned on

• When the garage door opener had a problem where the light wouldn't turn on, I created a simple automation that uses the door sensors of the garage and motion sensors to automatically turn the light on and turn it off after a delay

In the next post, we shall look at some of the hardware that is involved in making this work. I will list out the sensors and devices that I am using and some tips and tricks on getting things to work.