SAA, 1st version - Net!Works

Future InterneteMobility – Strategic Applications AgendaV.3. HomeFuture Internet could be used to help in automating a great deal of the home maintenance, due to a combinationof high speed connectivity and intelligent home maintenance system, a ―majordomo‖.V.3.1. ScenariosBuild a garden in the backyardJoe is at work, and remembers that he wanted to ask someone for the best way to build a garden in thebackyard of his house, which right now is just a patch of ground. He connects to the maintenance system of hishouse and asks the majordomo to take care of it.The system, using the cameras installed around the house for surveillance, takes some pictures of the backyard.Then looks up in the different available guides on the Internet for professional gardeners, select the 5 mostrecommended by customers and other possible references; maybe sends messages to Joe‘s friends on his behalf,asking for recommended gardeners. Then he sends a message to the 5 selected gardeners, sending the picturestaken and an estimation of the area, address of the house, etc. and asking for budgets estimations, timeplanning, options and solutions to build a garden on the backyard.When Joe is back, the majordomo has a list of budget estimations and other information sent by the differentgardeners, who had recommended them, the available choices, etc.If Joe is on a business trip, Joe could select the appropriate gardener, make the initial payment, and themajordomo would take care of sending the gardener appropriate security tokens or other authenticationinformation to be able to get in the house during Joe‘s absence. The majordomo would grant access to thegardener and will keep Joe updated on the progress, sending daily pictures showing how the works are going.Solving electrical issuesJoe is, again, at work. The majordomo at home is taking care of the usual aspects of home maintenance, likesearching for the best offer on some online grocery stores looking for some food that is missing at home, doingthe payments and ordering the deliveries, when it detects an electrical failure on the upper floor of the house.The majordomo makes a system check and identifies possible causes based on knowledge of house facilities andsensor information. It then notifies Joe, and if Joe consents, it will take care of the problem.The majordomo will send available information on the system, the symptoms (―lack of electricity in thebackyard‖), the information gathered from the sensors, and following a similar process as in the preceeding case,will contact a set of selected electricians to ask for a budget and planning estimation. If the problem is not big,once Joe gives the authorization to proceed, the majordomo will then carry on with the selected offer, proceedagain as in the previous use case, and when Joe‘s back at home, the problem has been already solved.As an alternative flow, the maintenance system could detect a leak on the heating system circuit. After checkingthe different cameras from within the house, it could detect a radiator leaking liquid on the floor (maybeautomatically or with assistance from Joe, who would be checking the webcams once received the warning to seeif a leak was apparent). The majordomo could take pictures of the leak from one of the cameras from within thehouse, and send it to the insurance company, who could quickly evaluate the circumstance and send someone tofix the problem. Joe, who is abroad, could make the necessary authorizations so that the insurance company andthe majordomo could exchange relevant information on the problem, and the needed security measures to let theplumbers and the insurance people get in the house.V.3.2. Key technological aspectsSensors. In order to obtain the desired sensoring and control abilities over the house, whether for themajordomo or the owner, it must count on a good number of sensors and actuators. These sensors andactuators could be attached to the electrical system or not, in which case it would need self sufficientand long lasting batteries. The data gathered should flow into the data network of the house, in order tobe used and analysed by the system.60