ADPM's multimedia home

My multimedia home

(To move correctly in my house, you will need a fast-enough computer and a recent browser such as Netscape 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0)

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The project denominated "multimedia home" consists in an electric plant home in which all the traditional functions are controlled by sensors and realizer (generically definable as peripheral) connected together in a network: the system is supervised by a personal computer (Pentium II), that also deals with the vocal commands, the speech synthesis and the modem connection. Currently available functions are the followings:

control of every taking 220V, with max load of 800-1200W;

reading of switch and buttons to wall, easily configurable for the

control of the various appliances (both the single click on the button, and the prolonged pressure or the double-click are managed);

reading of passive infrared sensors for survey of the presence of the people: these are used both to automatically turn on the light, both

for the activation of the anti-theft alarm when it passes in anti-theft mode;

read and pilotage of other son-in-laws of signals as the intercom and the door-opener or her application of help in bath;

reading analogical values as the inside and external temperature or light environment to establish the automatic lighting of the lights;

control of the bright level of the illumination details thanks to dimmer controllable by computer software, and automatic check and centralized of the blinds;

intelligent control of the loads with signaling of overloaded e/o intelligent management of loads priority (in case of overcoming of the threshold it they automatically extinguishes the least important loads, avoiding break of the master interrupter);

system of detection of the intrusions based on the IRs sensors and magnetic (reed), with different types of acoustic signaling, visual and also with calling phone/SMS;

timed pilotage of electric boiler and heater, with automatic variation of the duration of the timer according to the environment temperature;

hi-fi audio in all rooms, piloted by the computer with adjustable volume, separately from whatever point, and automatically adjusted in base to the time of the day (stronger in the daytime, softer in the evening);

sonorous signals, diffused through the same loudspeakers, activated to discretion, for instance used for the bell and the intercom, or as repeating of the telephone ringing;

vocal synthesis used for signalling conditions of alarm of overload, energetic or of malfunction of the peripheral boards, or for monitoring the temperature environment or the absorbed power;

active microphones in all the rooms, usable with functions of monitoring (i.e. overseeing children) or to quickly dictate clipboard and memo;

diffusion of sampled Hi-fi music and recorded on hard disk in fully grown compressed MPEG (availability of around 500 passages every 2GB of capability of the disk);

acquisition of the video signal coming from a TV tuner or from a VCR with visualization in window resizable; the audio comes mixed to the other sources sonorous. It's optionally possible to spread the video signal in the whole house to be able to see again on other televisions the menus of the system overlapped video to the images aforesaid;

acquisition (manual or timed and automatic) of the video signal coming from one or more television cameras, to purpose overseeing, with possibility of visualization;

display LCD from 4 lines for 40 columns, used as clock/date/alarm or as interface with the plant, provided of keyboard;

possibility to pilot all the functions of the plant through a remote control to four buttons, that activate a vocal menu;

accessed the system through modem: it is possible to connect oneselves with a terminal to enable every load or for monitoring the state of the system (the same modem also acts from automatic answering machine and fax);

remote access to the system in analogous way to a vocal box, using a telephone to tones and a vocal memo-box;

remote access to the system through Internet browser (in the future also in mode 3D/VRML);

cuckoo clock, with touch of the time and the half hour (sound customizable, i.e. Big Ben);

synchronization with clock atomic via Internet (standard protocols more diffused);

Synoptic map of the plant realized in fully grown DXF and animated by the computer software in base to the given formulations;

control of the breakdowns to level of personal computer or of the peripheral ones, with acoustic signalings and automatic reset of the peripheral ones that don't answer anymore (watchdog);

management of the recurrences and the scheduling with vocal alert sounds e/o through SMS on the cell-phone or e-mail.
Skynet recently got a gift: an amazing Panel-PC built by DMD computers!

The personal computer deals with the whole system. It is endowed with multimedia capabilities (board audio and CD-ROM/CD audio) and of modem, and it is networked (with a system twos wire + earth) with the peripheral devices. These are constituted by boards (internally developed) with processor Z80, 32KB of ROM and 16KB of RAM, provided with a connection bus that can support up to 8 boards of input/output: the I/O boards exist in different versions, from the digital pilotage of loads to low tension or to 220Vca, to the contact to relay, to the analogical I/O. Every peripheral device has one address of his that distinguishes it on the net and every board of I/O has in turn of the dip-switch of config: at the moment it uses a board for every room, for a total of reading point equal to around 40 and an about thirty in output. As the peripheral devices are complete computers, they are effectively able to develop functions of elaboration of the inputs autonomously, but this function is not currently used (except the pilotage of the display LCD). The computer software of the PC in C++ is written for Windows (3.1/95/98/NT): the interface with the end user is not very sophisticated as most of the functions are controlled usually from the plant itself. Besides the picture sinotticos in graphics, menu commands are available to pilot the lights and the other functions of the plant. The computer software has been structured in modular way, so that to be able to replace the drives peripheral with others simply changing the drivers interfacing them.
Future functions.
speech recognition for the activation of all functions; substitution of the actual net with one in fiber optics, with the purpose to be able to spread on the same medium, in the whole house, the audio, the video (also video-citofono) and the I/O data; remote pilotage of the system through internet, with seedling in VRML (three-dimensional, navigable with the mouse);

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Experiments of domotica

THE HOUSE OF THE FUTURE TAKES SHAPE. WHICH?

Only after having installed the chandeliers to vocal command, we realize that it was easier to press an interrupter… And not only!
Well, it was one of my childhood dreams to be able to control every light every instrument, of house with a computer.
Yes, in that epoch computers existed only in the films of science fiction, but however the idea was that: I would like the lights to automatically ignite to lower of the sun, that the bell of house rang a musical passage rather than the usual one din-don, that the gates automatically opened as I pass.
After having tried for years to make to drive crazy my mother disseminating in my room small circuits of this type, I finally got to buy a house of mine: it was the right occasion.
In the meantime the computers had arrived, and they were also powerful. But isn't it a waste to use a multimedia Pentium to turn on a few lights? The precision of the nanosecond to keep under control events that happen a few times a day? As we will see, it is correct, and for some aspects it would better have even more power.
I just had the keys, before beginning whatever restructuring, then we are looked in face and we said: "OK, first it was this way. It won't be anymore later the same one thing." Between me and me I hoped that at least the walls would have been standing, at least up to the expiration of the loan. And so we have started to make the project and quickly we passed to the realization.
First of all the lights: it's expected that when anyone enters house the lights ignites, therefore it takes a sensor in every room and a fotoresisteance to let the computer realize when it is day or night. Then it is supposed, that also any instrument or connected appliance to any taking has to be under the control of the system: and, since to trust the PC is good but you never know, we climb on the buttons to wall to have a hand-feed control however.
Then the electric blinds could be piloted, to make automatically open them in the morning: I was a little bit undecided, on this that can be considered a luxury even if it is not controlled by a computer, but then it is definite that it was correct to foresee them.
And then it takes the music: I have been listening to music for morning to evening and therefore I want to have a loudspeaker in every room (well, there are not many of them, only 5 in total plus the closet!) at that time it assisted me the great idea that from the same boxes they would have been able the most varied sounds to be produced, the alarms of the antifurto, the speech synthesis.
And then: it takes an anti-theft. Of course a Pentium can serve better as anti-theft than whatever existing centrals on the face of the Earth: all it takes is putting the opportune sensings. And as we are already there, a beautiful modem with vocal functions: considering that the computer is always powered on, it can serve as automatic answering machine, as fax and I can also use it for Internet.
To this point, the electrician is a little bit worried. The quantity of wires to be passed is indeed notable: for this first realization, in fact, we have not used any type of radio device. It's more safe.
However, in less than one month the system is ready and operational. The computer is installed in a room and from it him they leave the linkings with the peripheral device (one for room) that deal with driving the instruments currently on the net; ther we find also the modem.
All the takings (except one, stright, for every room: it can always be an emergency!) they are controlled by the system and so all the lights, included the lampshade, the bath mirror (!) and the electric part of the kitchen (oven, roaster). All the buttons to wall, included the intercom and the bell they go to to activate the inputs of the system. There is of course a IR sensor in each room; at the moment I still miss the sensor in the mail boxes, but soon there will be.
Different versions of the computer software and different configs have been realized (v. box)
And these months' most notable result has been that it works!
I mean: it not only works from a point of view electronic-mechanic-computer. It's indeed functional.
As I enter house, I deactivate the anti-theft and I open the gate (with the key: for now I don't have yet replaced the old lock with an electric one). And it ignites the light of the entry (if it is dark), the computer greets me with a metallic "hi, dario", the radio or the CD automatically switch on and they are planned to a proper volume to the time (stronger in the daytime, lower to the evening), then I am told if I have of the messagings in reception office. When I move, the light follows me.
Nice!
But, as I told the beginning, there are some things that it is better to do in the way usual. To turn on the electric oven, I had initially foreseen the recognition of few words (the microphones in the rooms... I have put them really in forecast of this): but when I have realized that I'd spent more there to to turn on the oven than to heat the food, I set aside the idea. The failure has been partly due to the quality of the vocal recognition and the distance from the microphones, but also if everything worked to the perfection there was undoubtedly a loss of time.
It makes sense to automatically turn on the light when somebody is in, which makes me save pushing a button, but to replace the pressure of a button with one rambling speech in front of an inanimate sprite is rather a backstep, not fore. I came to the idea that, for the definite multimedia house, we will have to directly pass to the telepathic interface!
And therefore, to check all the functions of the house we have used a remote control to four buttons that it goes to enable a vocal menu: it recalls the computer (that, correctly, responds "computer": a tribute to Star Trek!) and then it is chosen the group and the subgroup of the function that it interests us. The part that according to me it makes more "science fiction" is the one related to the monitoring of the environmental parameters: enabling this function, every eight seconds the computer says how much tide we are consuming and/or the inside and external temperature.
Besides, if they overcome the 2,5KW, the overload is signalled and automatically are disconnected the inferior priorities appliances. The same remote control, when I go out, it changes function and it allows me to open the front door of entrance (useful if the busy hands are had).
On the comodino, in bedroom, I have installed a LCD display on which the date and the time are displayed, with possibility to regulate the alarm clock: but, on application, the menu of which above can also be displayed on that displays and you can read, rather than listen, the parameters of which we spoke before.
Quite a lot care has been devoted then to the anti-theft. In practice, enabling the anti-theft (with the remote control or with a key electronics) it doesn't do anything else other than to change program: the lights extinguish and the computer sets on waiting mode. If an intrusion is noticed, there are different possibilities: to enable a siren to make to flash the lights of the whole house, to call one or more telephone numbers.
If then it is used vocal synthesis, is lets us do whatever: to try a psychological therapy convincing the thievish of his/her misdoings… or to bring the volume to the maximum and to ask help to the neighborhood - needless to say that this part has never been made a test on the field!
Obviously everything is protected by a UPS!
Ah, and there is also finally the cuckoo, that plays every hour
Undoubtedly a lot of other things can still be made, (v. box). However it has been one big satisfaction: and, once that you have created the bases putting under everything the control of the computer, you can realize any type of automatism. You can decide from whatever point of the house you want to be able to enable any other thing or that you want that it is the computer that enables it when certain conditions are verified.
And then, can you ignore it: we had the possibility to cutomize the sounds of Windows. Now we can cutomize the sound of the intercom, of the bell, of the telephone and even of the anti-theft!

BOX 1: technical look.
The first prototypes used software written in MS-DOS and they ran on small computer (386).
The perspectives opened by the multimediale and by the communications pushed then us to use Windows 95 and more powerful computer: in our case we have a Pentium 120 with 16MB of memory and hard disk from 1,2GB. The computer software is realized in C++ with extenders (DLL) in machine language: it is very modular in how much possible to define is to different levels the peripheral ones with which it is interfaced. In the actual realization we have used some boards based on the processor Z80, networked and endowed with power interface toward the appliances.
According to the demands we have also linked a parallel interface to control a display LCD and a analogic to digital converter to measure temperature, power etc.
Through the board audio of the computer we have the possibility to listen to the sounds and the vocal synthesis: besides it is used as mixer drivable by software to dose the levels audio (to lower for es. the volume of the music when the computer speaks). Its exits are connected to a power amplifier for the pilotage of different loudspeakers and to its inputs are linked the microphones situated in the rooms, pre-mixed also.
The modem is a standard model from 33,6/56Kbps, with vocal functions: his capability is exploited making use of the functions of the TAPIs of Windows.

BOX 2: future expansions.
By now, after some months, we have understood which things are most useful and those less useful. We are there therefore wondering what should be changed in future realizations.
First of all, the wiring: if one completely re-wires the plant there are not afresh problems to pass some thread in more, but troubles are born in the case of an already existing plant to automate. It will need to pass to the radio waves or to a system of "intelligent object" that can "talk" with the central drive without further linkings.
It would be useful to bring in all the rooms then, besides the audio signal, also that video: both for the television, and for the news and the information. Considering that this it would behave the gateway of a further cable, we are thinking if, in alternative to all the threads put already till now in account, it would not be better to pass only a fiber optics on which, in digital form, they pass all the data audio, video and of the sensings and of the takings.
And then, Internet: for now we have the possibility to check the whole house with a modem or with a telephone to tones and a vocal menu. A footstep before it would be to be able to navigate in a virtual representation 3D of the house: says so, it seems again one of that technological play of which we have already spoken, however, for a discourse of costs and standardization the road must however be experimented.
Finally, naturally, to enable the vocal recognition: the most practical application that it comes us to mind it is to tell the computer to call a certain telephone number now, or of to open a file to store a note that comes us to mind while we are going around the house.

BOX 3: applications.
What we have described sets the bases for different applications.
It can be thought, banally, to use it all as a sophisticated gadget for the one that is a maniac of the technological novelties.
Or advantage can be taken of the automation: for instance to turn on the heating of a house of mountain with the cell phone or to realize a sophisticated system of remote overseeing. It's true that a lot of things are already possible with other systems, but the advantages to have an unified system that supervises everything do exist indeed.
Besides, to cutomize a system under Windows is surely simpler than having to learn the operation of about ten small computers.
A rather important application would be towards the carriers of handicap: vocal synthesis for the blinds, speech-recognition or centralized functions for the those that have difficulties to move themselves. The simple calling of help would also be managed by the personal computer.

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Automatic translation mostly performed by Lernout & Hauspie translator

Partners: bTicino DMD computers ST Il punto di vista Microsoft

Projects: Mike's electric stuff Mika I2VIU CircuitCellar PC

More things for multimedia home: Smart Home

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Skynet recently got a gift: an amazing Panel-PC built by DMD computers!

Experiments of domotica

THE HOUSE OF THE FUTURE TAKES SHAPE. WHICH?

Only after having installed the chandeliers to vocal command, we realize that it was easier to press an interrupter… And not only!

BOX 1: technical look.

BOX 2: future expansions.

BOX 3: applications.