ENABLING SMART HOMES USING WEB TECHNOLOGIES Andreas

375 Pages·2013·16.69 MB·English

ENABLINGSMARTHOMESUSINGWEBTECHNOLOGIES
AndreasKamilaris
ADissertation
SubmittedinPartialFulfillmentofthe
RequirementsfortheDegreeof
DoctorofPhilosophy
atthe
UniversityofCyprus
RecommendedforAcceptance
bytheDepartmentofComputerScience
December,2012
(cid:2)c Copyrightby
AndreasKamilaris
AllRightsReserved
2012

ENABLINGSMARTHOMESUSINGWEBTECHNOLOGIES
AndreasKamilaris
UniversityofCyprus,2012
Sensors and wireless sensor networks are being deployed around the world, measuring local
andglobalenvironmentalconditions. Theiradvancedsensingfunctionalitiesenablecontext-aware
ubiquitousplatforms,middlewareandapplicationstoproliferate.
Residencesaretransformedintosmarthomes,incorporatingembeddedsensorsandpervasive
technology. Moreover, residential smart meters, smart power outlets and smart appliances have
appearedin themarket, facilitating electricitymeteringand controlofindividual electricalappli-
ances, extending homes into smart energy-aware environments. Smart metering provides energy
awareness to home residents, and new generations of energy recording devices transform the en-
ergyconservationinitiativesinsidethesmarthomeintoasimpletask.
In an idealized vision of a fully integrated smart home, all the operations of a house can be
efficientlycontrolledbyaunifiedsmartubiquitousapplication. However,wearefarfromrealizing
thisscenario. Amainbarrieristheproliferationofincompatiblestandardsandprotocolsusedby
various device manufacturers, which makes the smooth integration of appliances from different
vendors a complex process. Having a heterogeneous ecosystem of devices, implies that even the
developmentofsimpleapplicationsrequiresadvancedprogrammingskillsandconsiderabletime.
In recent years, technologies like short-range wireless communications, RFID and real-time
localization are becoming largely common, allowing the Internet to penetrate into the real world
ofphysicalobjects. TheInternetofThingsallowshouseholddevicesthatliveinsidesmarthomes
AndreasKamilaris––UniversityofCyprus,2012
to seamlessly communicate through the Internet while the forthcoming Web of Things ensures
interoperabilityattheapplicationlevelthroughstandardizedWebtechnologiesandprotocols.
In this thesis, we exploit these new technological possibilities to bring smart homes towards
theWeb,achievinghighinteroperabilityandflexibility. Byemployingstandardized,well-known,
reliableandscalableWebtechniques,hardwareandsoftwareheterogeneitybetweentheembedded
devicesofthesmarthomecanbeaddressed.
We present the development of a Web-based application framework for smart homes, sup-
portingconcurrentinteractionfrommultiplefamilymembers. Byemployingintermediaterequest
queues, associated with the physical devices of the smart home, our analysis shows that we can
mask transmission failures and faults that occur in the wireless environment, thus enhancing the
performance of smart home operations by means of fast retransmissions, load balancing and re-
questprioritytechniques. Inouranalysis,wealsoderiveformulasforestimatingtheresponsetime
ofrequestsandforsettingtherequestqueueretransmissioninterval,animportantdesignparame-
terofthesystem. Inthisway,reliabilityandtimelyresponsesfromthedevicesareensured.
We demonstrate that, by using the Web as application layer, flexible applications for smart
homes can be built, on top of heterogeneous embedded devices, with little effort. In this con-
text, Web mashups may be extended into physical mashups, by exploiting real-world services
offered by physical devices and combining them using the same tools and techniques of classic
Web mashups. Urban mashups may also be developed, for adapting to the high dynamics and
unpredictabilityofafutureurbanenvironment.
WeaddressmanyissuesrelatedtoWeb-enablinghouseholddevices,fromtheirlocaldiscovery
and service description to the uniform interaction with them. Our technical evaluation indicates
thattheprocessofWeb-enablingphysicaldevicesofferssatisfactoryperformance,mainlyinterms
AndreasKamilaris––UniversityofCyprus,2012
ofresponsetimeandenergyconsumption,whilemodernWebtechniquessuchasWebcachingand
event-basedWebmessagingcancontributeinfacilitatingsmarthomeoperations.
The initiative of enabling smart homes to the Web unfolds novel applications. By means of
thesepervasiveapplications,itisdemonstratedthatWeb-basedsmarthomeshavethepotentialto
provide flexible solutions to challenges such as home automation, energy awareness and energy
conservation. At first, we show how we can extend our framework into an energy-aware Web
application. We explain how we can easily define energy-efficient smart rules, by following the
physicalmashupparadigm.
Afterwards, we demonstrate the feasibility of merging Web-based smart homes with online
social networking platforms. This merging can help social groups such as families, workers and
friends,tointeractwiththeircommonphysicalenvironmentthroughtheirfavoritesocialnetwork-
ing application. Moreover, to motivate people to become more energy-aware and reduce their
electrical consumption, we created a social competition between neighboring flats in large resi-
dential blocks. Our findings show that people react positively in such energy-saving initiatives.
In a similar context, we introduce Social Electricity, a Facebook application allowing people to
comparetheirdomesticelectricityfootprintwiththeirfriendsandtheirneighborsinawidescale.
SocialElectricityhasbeenawardedthefirstprizeinaprestigiousinternationalcompetitionabout
greenICTapplications. Ingeneral,socialcomparisonshavethepotentialtoincreasetheenviron-
mentalawarenessofcitizens,helpingthemtounderstandtheirconsumptionandsaveenergy.
Then, we illustrate how Web-based smart homes can be seamlessly integrated to the forth-
comingsmartgridofelectricity. Weproposeanarchitectureforenablingtheinteractionbetween
smart homes and smart grid controllers, through the Web. This architecture is used in two case
AndreasKamilaris––UniversityofCyprus,2012
studies we performed. In the first, demand response programs from electric utilities can be har-
nessedthroughtheWeb,toscheduleelectricity-relatedtasksinlow-tariffhoursoftheday. Inthe
second, a load shedding scenario is considered for maintaining frequency stability by removing
intentionallysmallloadsfromenergy-awaresmarthomesthatparticipateinthesmartgrid.
Finally, we consider some issues beyond the smart home environment, which involve the
generalizationoftheapplicationframeworkforotherindoorandoutdoorpervasivescenarios,the
global,real-timediscoveryofenvironmentalservicesthroughtheWebandalsotheadvancedinfer-
enceofenvironmentalknowledgeinurbanenvironments,followingtheurbanmashupparadigm.
We briefly touch upon security both inside the smart home environment and between the home
andthirdparties,definingsomebasicguidelinesthatneedtobefollowed.
Ourworkconstitutesaresearchtowardsaflexible,interoperable,energy-efficientandsustain-
abledigitalfuture. Smarthomeshavethepotentialtoeffectivelycontributeinthiseffort,usingthe
Webasaplatform.
DEDICATIONS
Tomyfather,formotivatingandencouragingmyresearchfromtheheavens.
Tomyfamily,forbeingalwaysnexttome,duringthehappyandbadmomentsofthiswork.
Tomygirlfriend,whoshowedgreatpatienceinmyoverloadeddailyschedule.
Tomyfriendsandrelatives,fortheirpsychologicalencouragementandsupport.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation wouldnot have been possible withoutthe guidance, the advice and thesup-
port of several individuals who contributed in the completion of this study. First and foremost,
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Andreas Pitsillides, Professor at the Department of
ComputerScience,UniversityofCypruswhosehelpandencouragementIwillalwaysremember
and appreciate. Heartfelt thanks to him, for not only supporting me a supervisor, but also as a
friend. Moreover, I would like to express my special appreciation to Dr. Pavlos Antoniou, who
encouraged me at the beginning of my research. Moreover, this work would not have been real-
izedwithoutafruitfulcollaborationwithvariousstudentsoftheDepartmentofComputerScience,
University of Cyprus namely Michalis Yiallouros, George Taliadoros, Diomidis Papadiomidous,
Giannis Kitromilides, Marios Michael, Andreas Loizou and Koula Papakonstantinou. I would
like to thank them all here. Furthermore, I would like to express my special thanks to researcher
YiannisTofis,PhDstudentattheKIOSCenterforIntelligentSystemsandNetworks,forhisnice
collaborationtowardsintegratingenergy-awaresmarthomeswiththesmartgridthroughtheWeb.
I am also grateful to Dr. Vlad Trifa, co-founder and chief product officer of EVRYTHNG
company,forgivingmetheinitialstimuliandmotivationtoexplorethischallengingandinterest-
ingresearchareaoftheWebofThings,andforprovidinglotsofgoodideas. Hisexpertiseinthe
fieldofpervasivecomputingandWebtechnologieswasquitevaluabletodevelopthisthesis.
IwouldliketothankDr. VasosVassiliouandDr. GeorgePallis,bothmembersofthefaculty
of the Computer Science Department, University of Cyprus for serving as readers of my thesis
andforprovidingvaluablecomments. Specialthanksalsototheexternalcommitteemembersof
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this dissertation Dr. Giuseppe Anastasi and Dr. Ioannis Stavrakakis, who honored this work by
visitingCyprus,givingvaluablefeedbackinordertoimproveit.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the academic and technical support of the Department
of Computer Science, University of Cyprus and especially the Networks Research Lab (NetRL),
which have provided the support and equipment I needed to produce and complete my thesis. I
am indebted to all student colleagues, members of NetRL, for providing a stimulating and fun
environmentinwhichtogrowandlearn. AspecialmentiontoChristianaIoannouandJosephine
Antoniou for being the best colleagues in my office, as well as to Andreas Panayides, Zinon
Zinonos,MariosKoutroullosandPanayiotaNikolaouforthefunnymomentswesharedtogether.
”Thisresearchisbasedonrealevidence.”
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