The new trend in home improvement is the smart home and it has become the wave of the future! While companies are still fine tuning their products, it is important as a consumer to familiarize yourself with the terms being used. When thinking about the best way to transition your home into a smart home, you first need to know what the new terminology terms are and what they mean to your smart home.

The Hub

The hub is your WiFi router that sends signals to your smart devices like smart LED bulbs, smart locks and smart thermostats. This is how your devices communicate. The hub sends out signals over what is called ZigBee.

ZigBee

Every router operates with a signal that travels over different wavelengths or channels, much like a radio wave. ZigBee is a low-level channel that a lot of smart home devises use to communicate. ZigBee  is used to create networks that require a low data transfer rate, energy efficiency and secure networking.

IoT

IoT means The Internet of Things which refers to the ever-growing network of physical objects that feature an IP address for internet connectivity, and the communication that occurs between these objects and other Internet-enabled devices and systems. Nest Thermostats are part of IoT as well as Philips Hue.

IFTTT

IFTTT means If This Then That. Not every device is capable of IFTTT (pronounced if-t) so make sure to look for this amazing feature. IFTTT is a recipe that you can customize by using triggers to assist your smart home. An example of this is that when the device enters the bedroom, the smart light will automatically turn on. IFTTT is available on the App Store as well as Google Play.

Geofencing

Think of geofencing as an invisible perimeter around your home (or any other real-world location for that matter) that allows for a true home automation detection system to be setup.

By utilizing WiFi, Bluetooth or GPS in your smartphone, watch or other portable device, geofencing enables you trigger actions from other connected devices within your home as soon as you enter the geofenced ‘boundary’.

A good example of a geofencing setup in action would be for your garage door to automatically open, your lights to turn on and the thermostat to change to your preferred temperature as soon as your connected devices ‘detect’ that you’ve arrived home from work in the evening.

Geofencing operates in reverse of this as well, ensuring that when you leave the house (and exit the geofence boundary), lights turn off, heating turns down and doors lock behind you, without you having to worry about it.

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

The ability for a computer or device to understand a spoken command or question given by a human is known as Natural Language Processing and is one of the fundamental cornerstones of AI, smart home technology, and the quest for truly intelligent machines.

NLP can be thought of as the ability for a system to take in an audio input in the form of a voice command, and output an action, trigger, or audio response based upon the instruction given or question asked.

With the underlying technology behind NLP getting more advanced by the day, the major leaps forward in smart, listening machines is now more prevalent than ever in the range of smart speakers and smart home voice controllers from giants such as Google, Apple, and Amazon’s Alexa as well as from smaller companies beginning to break into the market.

The New Smart Home is a home filled with appliances and apps that help make life much easier as well as being able to add a touch of luxury to your home! Educating yourself on the basics of smart technology will help you to find the best fit for your home.