• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Microcontroller Tips

Microcontroller engineering resources, new microcontroller products and electronics engineering news

  • Products
    • 8-bit
    • 16-bit
    • 32-bit
    • 64-bit
  • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Connectivity
    • Consumer Electronics
    • Industrial
    • Medical
    • Security
  • EE Forums
    • EDABoard.com
    • Electro-Tech-Online.com
  • Videos
    • TI Microcontroller Videos
  • EE Resources
    • DesignFast
    • eBooks / Tech Tips
    • FAQs
    • LEAP Awards
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EE Learning Center

Tips on designing smart home devices – Part 1

February 15, 2021 By John Koon Leave a Comment

The smart home market is growing rapidly, with many developers striving to get a piece of the pie. As a result, competition is fierce. To create a highly competitive smart home device, designers want to make devices that are compatible with industry standards and easy to use. And they want to get these devices to market quickly.

While developers understand what they want in a smart home device, they also have specific questions about the design process, design criteria, the wireless protocol/standard, and cloud platforms.

In this series, we will answer some of the key questions developers have raised.

smart home

What are the design criteria to consider when creating a new smart home device?

Essentially, a smart home device is a remote control on/off switch with some built-in artificial intelligence (AI). Whether you are designing a smart thermostat or a remote sprinkler controller with weather sensing features, consider the following recommended design checklist. It can help remove some of the complexity from the technology platform decision.

  • For a simple remote switch to be used for, say, turning a light on and off, you do not need a fancy design. Focus on low cost, simple switching. If you are designing a solution with an Apple or Android smartphone app offering comprehensive control of many household devices, you need to consider either the Zigbee or Z-Wave protocol and understand the smartphone platform. Both the Zigbee consortium and the Z-Wave consortium offer comprehensive design support.
  • Typically the more compact the device, the higher the complexity and cost. For example, if you design a wearable home device to monitor residents’ vital signs and their safety, then compact size and reliability would be critical. Cost considerations become secondary. On the other hand, if you design a smart thermostat with no strict size constraints, then use commonly available components to reduce cost.
  • Almost all smart home devices require a sensor of some sort, whether for temperature, motion, fluid detection, voice input, or light sensing. Many different types of solutions are available. Some are very basic, and others have built-in artificial intelligence (AI).
  • Determine the required amount of storage and the need for dynamic and/or static memory within the unit. If the device communicates in real-time and does not need storage, the overall unit cost can be reduced.
  • Wireless technology. There are many wireless technologies available for smart home devices. (See below answers for more details.)
  • Energy management. Unless the device is connected to the AC supply, energy management will be a significant factor. The guidelines for a low power wide area network (LPWAN) device specify that battery life should be in the 5-to-10-year range. Consumers prefer the convenience of changing batteries infrequently. In your design, consider software development tools that provide energy profiling. Consider integrated solutions for ultimate energy savings, such as a microcontroller with built-in security and/or sensors. Finally, consider energy harvesting, which will potentially eliminate the use of batteries entirely.

Which smart home protocol /standard should I select?

For a long time, many different types of smart home protocols have been deployed. However, in recent years, Zigbee and Z-Wave have emerged as the two leading standards in the smart home marketplace. If you are designing a new smart home device, it is advisable to follow one of these standards. In late 2020 the Z-Wave Alliance announced an upgrade to its existing specification. The new Z-Wave LR (long-range) extends the wireless communication range from 300 feet to a range measured in miles. The Alliance plans to extend the range ever farther and stretch battery life up to 10 years. These actions will potentially expand applications beyond smart homes to smart buildings and smart cities.

Both Zigbee and Z-Wave have security provisions. Zigbee provides concentric layers of security measures, including Device-unique Joining Authentication, Device-unique Re-entry Authentication, Pairwise Privacy and Integrity, and Secure Over-the-Air (OTA) updates.

Z-Wave provides a software development kit (SDK) that includes the Z-Wave Security S2 Framework to eliminate the risk of man-in-the-middle attacks. The Framework also uses the Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman key agreement protocol, an industry-wide secure key exchange scheme, to increase security.

Part 2 will continue with additional design considerations including cloud platforms, developer tools, and a walk-thru of the design process.

You may also like:

  • smart home
    Designer’s guide to smart home tech, Part 2

  • Designer’s guide to smart home tech, Part 1

  • What is the Z-Wave protocol?
  • Z-Wave specification
    Z-Wave spec to become ratified, multi-source wireless standard
  • IoT standards
    IoT standards: The End Game

Filed Under: Applications, Connectivity, Consumer Electronics, FAQ, Featured, microcontroller, Wireless Tagged With: FAQ

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

DesignFast

Component Selection Made Simple.

Try it Today
design fast globle

EE Training Center Classrooms

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Subscribe to weekly industry news, new product innovations and more.

Subscribe today

RSS Current EDABoard.com discussions

  • Requirement of a 3-D vertically stacking RGB LED
  • Help with simple op amp circuit
  • Strange ATmega328 problem
  • Using the HFSS feature mode solver for an open structure
  • Understanding the phenomena triangle wave using event vs interrupts

RSS Current Electro-Tech-Online.com Discussions

  • Pic32 Not Working with 18.432MHz Crystal
  • Momentary push button DPDT switch with alternate action
  • ST7066U 20x4 LCD problems
  • Help needed with Soft Start Circuit for 12V High Current Load
  • How to get an esp32-S2 recognized as USB device on a mac

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by MicroContrlTips

Footer

Microcontroller Tips

EE World Online Network

  • DesignFast
  • EE World Online
  • EDA Board Forums
  • Electro Tech Online Forums
  • Connector Tips
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips
  • Wire and Cable Tips
  • 5G Technology World

Microcontroller Tips

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About us
Follow us on TwitterAdd us on FacebookFollow us on YouTube Follow us on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy