ThereGate - Be here and there
ThereGate is a solution based on an open Linux platform enabling the home owner to build a technology-neutral smart home that can be controlled with a mobile phone, using a unified user interface. ThereGate supports the most common smart home technologies, including Z-Wave as well as enabling the incorporation of proprietary technologies. Thus, it allows third parties to develop their own solutions and services on top of the platform, expanding the system to support new services and smart home technologies.
Background - A puzzle that does not fit together
Building blocks for an intelligent house are readily available in the market. Putting it all together is, however, like trying to build a house from blocks that do not fit with each other. There are smart refrigerators, energy-saving washing machines, heating systems that can adjust the room temperature with one-Celsius-accuracy, security systems with touch panels, low-energy walls, programmable thermostats, self-adjusting curtains, configurable set-top boxes, self-operating yard lights and much more. The problem is all these systems are separate and you end up having a dozen remote controllers and miles of cables in the living room.
Until now, solutions to home automation challenges have been sought through the development of better sensor networks. Although they are, of course, very important parts of new smart home solutions, no single sensor network technology can solve the challenges in this field. Z-Wave, ZigBee, and KNX are all attempts to define a common command language for home networks. So far, there has not been a clear winner in the battle for the de facto standard of home networks. Hence, it can be assumed that a future home will use several different technologies.
ThereGate solution - When the development of a common language fails, build a dictionary
ThereGate acts as a dictionary that translates different technological languages so that they can be presented in a unified user interface. Furthermore, the platform enables grouping different physical devices, even from different manufacturers, to be presented for the user in an easy-to-understand way.
The whole ThereGate solution consists of four main components:
1. The heart of the solution is the ThereGate which is built on top of standard gateway architecture.
2. Two most important control nodes are the mobile phone and web browser.
3. The back-end server architecture ensures a seamless and secure link between a mobile device and the home gateway and also makes possible updating and upgrading software easily.
4. The partner devices. In addition to the components that There corporation is providing, the value for the end customer comes from the integration of different third party devices and systems under the control of one user interface.
It will be possible for example to monitor and control electricity usage, to switch devices on and off, and monitor different objects, such as temperature, camera, and motion. On one hand, ThereGate can be used as WLAN gateway. On the other hand, the platform covers everything from a basic security solution to a more sophisticated heating control system. Users are free to build a solution that fits to their needs and expand it whenever they want.
Smart Home has been “coming” for 30 years – Why now?
Mobility is becoming increasingly important in home environments, as wireless technologies for smart home solutions are emerging. As structure wiring is no longer required, these are no longer niche market products meant for new houses. Wireless broadband has become main stream and multimedia consumption over home networks is increasing. From many studies we know that moving from a multimedia network to a smart home network is a much smaller step than building a wired smart home from the scratch. Finally, the last barrier of high equipment prices is breaking down as the technology becomes more and more common.