Blog – ND Assistive - Friday, September 20, 2019 at 4:17 PM
Getting Started on Building a Smart Home
One of these items will be needed to upload your application.
Last month I covered the basics of smart home technology. In this blog I’m
going to cover items to consider when taking the steps to turn your home into a
smart home.
There are many things to consider before investing in smart home systems.
Current Set Up
First, one needs to look at if their current set up at home. Before starting to
set up a smart home network, these items should be considered:
– What is the make/model and age of the mobile device, tablet, or computer
where the application will be loaded?
– What kind of signal and bandwidth does your internet have and does it include
Wi-Fi?
– What type and age is your modem/router?
A majority of the smart devices on the market rely on wireless radio signal
(Wi-Fi or Bluetooth). This signal is essential for all devices to connect along
with the device used to control them through an application (typically smart
mobile devices). Ensuring there is a good wireless router in the home that can
reach all corners of the home will be very important. Smaller homes that use a
standard router should not have an issue. However, when it comes to having a
larger multi-level home or living in an older building with thick, concrete or
brick walls; one may need to consider purchasing a better router, a Wi-Fi mesh
system, or network extenders to extend the range of the wireless network in the
home.
Picture of an Echo Dot and Amazon’s application on an iPhone.
Identify the Need
When starting your smart home automation, I would recommend making a list of
all the items/categories you want your smart home to do, choosing the area of
most concern. Identifying the need will then lead to the question of what
company (Amazon, Google, or a hub) will provide this automation. It is
important to do research on the company you choose so future purchases will be
compatible with your older purchases. There are many smart home devices that
will work with multiple companies/control systems but there are others that
will not crossover to multiple control systems.
I would recommend starting with 1 or 2 simple products to get familiar with how
they work. Simple systems such as smart bulbs or smart plugs take little to no
time or instructions for set up. There is no need to buy everything at once.
Starting out slow and simple will allow one to get the right device for the job
to be done and allow for high usage and success.
How Smart Devices Will Be Accessed
For people with disabilities, knowing how the individual will control the smart
home devices will also be a key factor. For individuals with limited mobility
external switches or voice command can be used to navigate their smart mobile
device to control their smart home. For those individuals where both physical
mobility and speech are limited, eye gaze can be used to control a laptop or
speech-generating device.
Technology Support
Smart home devices typically don’t require much maintenance. However, these
products will occasionally loose network connectivity, require replacing
batteries, or need to be charged. With this being said one should consider how
tech savvy you are. Do you have the ability to troubleshoot or will you need to
identify tech support you can get from family/friends?
There are many things to consider before starting down the road of purchasing
and building a smart home system or even adding a few connected devices. ND
Assistive AT Consultants are available to provide information on how to start,
which smart device(s) to begin with, and which products that would be a good
match.
Please give us a call 800-895-4728 to schedule an appointment for a
demonstration at our Mandan or Fargo offices to see how these smart home
devices can make a difference for those living with disabilities.
https://ndassistive.org/blog/getting-started-on-building-a-smart-home/
David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info<http://WWW.DavidGoldfield.info>
