Scenarios and operator business models for management of digital homes

Digitaalisen kodin käsite on levinnyt nopeasti kuluttajien päivittäessä kotien laitteistoja digitaaliselle aikakaudelle. Digitaalisen kodin tunnusmerkkejä ovat kasvava verkkokykyisten laitteiden määrä ja niiden liittäminen sekä toisiinsa että Internetiin. Digitaaliset kodit muuttuvat koko ajan monimutkaisemmiksi ja niiden hallinta yhä haastavammaksi. Tämä työ pureutuu syntyvään hallintaongelmaan. Oletuksena on, että yritysten tarjoamat digitaalisten kotien hallintapalvelut ovat tulevaisuudessa keskeisessä asemassa kotikäyttäjiin suuntautuvassa palveluliiketoiminnassa. Tämä tutkimus esittelee neljä hallintaskenaariota, jotka kehitettiin asiantuntijahaastatteluista ja kirjallisuuslähteistä kerättyjen ideoiden ja tiedon avulla. Skenaariot tarjoavat näkemyksiä mahdollisista tulevaisuuden kehityssuunnista, ja selittävät hallintapalveluiden asemaa muuhun palveluliiketoimintaan nähden. Skenaariot on rakennettu tarkastellen toimialaa operaattorin näkökulmasta käsin. Esimerkit operaattorien liiketoimintamalleista ovat olennainen osa tämä tutkimusta. Ne yhdessä skenaarioiden kanssa osoittavat, että eri palveluiden yhdistäminen kokonaisuuksiksi (kytkykauppa) tulee olemaan tärkeä menestyksen aines. Kuluttajat eivät ole valmiita maksamaan digitaalisen kodin hallinnasta yksinään, vaan hallintapalveluiden kustannukset tulee peittää suurempien palvelukokonaisuuksien sisälle.The digital home is a new concept that has spread rapidly while consumers have been upgrading their electronic devices into the digital age. The increasing number of network-enabled devices, and connecting them with each other and to the Internet are the key characteristics of digital homes. This thesis attacks the problem that arises from the increasing complexity of managing the digital home systems. Management help offered by service providers to home users is assumed to play an important role in the future of digital home service business. With the help of ideas and information gathered from expert interviews and various written sources, four management scenarios were developed in this thesis. The scenarios provide insight into possible directions for future development, and explain the role of management provision in relation to the other domains of digital service business. The scenarios are constructed from the operator point-of-view. This thesis also presents examples of operator business models that together with the scenarios show that effective service aggregation will be an important success factor. The consumers will not be willing to pay for management as such; the cost of management should be hidden within a service bundle

A smart home anomaly detection framework

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial ful lment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophySmart Homes (SHs), as subsets of the Internet of Things (IoT), make use of Machine Learning and Arti cial Intelligence tools to provide technology-enabled solutions which assist their occupants and users with their Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Some SH provide always-present, health management support and care services. Having these services provided at home enables SH occupants such as the elderly and disabled to continue to live in their own homes and localities thus aiding Ageing In Place goals and eliminating the need for them to be relocated in order to be able to continue receiving the same support and services. Introducing and interconnecting smart, autonomous systems in homes to enable these service provisions and Assistance Technologies (AT) requires that certain interfaces in, and connections to, SH are exposed to the Internet, among other public-facing networks. This introduces the potential for cyber-physical attacks to be perpetrated through, from and against SH. Apart from the actual threats posed by these attacks to SH occupants and their homes, the potential that these attacks might occur can adversely a ect the adoption or uptake of SH solutions.This thesis identi es key attributes of the di erent elements (things or nodes and rooms or zones) in SHs and the relationships that exist between these elements. These relationships can be used to build SH security baselines for SHs such that any deviations from this baseline is described as anomalous. The thesis demonstrates the application of these relationships to Anomaly Detection (AD) through the analysis of several hypothetical scenarios and the decisions reached about whether they are normal or anomalous. This thesis also proposes an Internet of Things Digital Forensics Framework (IDFF), a Forensics Edge Management System (FEMS), a FEMS Decision-Making Algorithm (FDMA) and an IoT Incident Response plan. These tools can be combined to provide proactive (autonomous and human-led) Digital Forensics services within cyber-physical environments like the Smart Home

Building Information Modelling [BIM] for energy efficiency in housing refurbishments

Building Information modelling offers potential process and delivery improvements throughout the lifecycle of built assets. However, there is limited research in the use of BIM for energy efficiency in housing refurbishments. The UK has over 300,000 solid wall homes with very poor energy efficiency. A BIM based solution for the retrofit of solid wall housing using lean and collaborative improvement techniques will offer a cost effective, comprehensive solution that is less disruptive, reduces waste and increases accuracy, leading to high quality outcomes. The aim of this research is to develop a BIM based protocol supporting development of 'what if' scenarios in housing retrofits for high efficiency thermal improvements, aiming to reduce costs and disruption for users. The paper presents a literature review on the topic and discusses the research method for the research project (S-IMPLER)

Using 4D BIM in the Retrofit Process of Social Housing

There is a large stock of solid wall homes in the UK presenting poor thermal insulation and low energy performance. Although the UK Government has supported improvement efforts in the area, the identification of appropriate technical solutions that effectively improve the existing stock remains a challenge. BIM offers opportunities for building performance optimisation, through improved design and simulation. This research investigates how BIM could improve the retrofit process for social housing. This paper describes a research project looking into the use of BIM to develop what-if scenarios for retrofitting existing ’no-fines’ solid wall homes. The scenarios enable the analysis of alternative solutions considering costs, energy performance and user disruption. More specifically, this paper focuses on the use of 4D models to evaluate disruption for end users. The research process includes simulations, meetings, interviews, documents, and observations. Results indicate that the development of 4D BIM models supports a better understanding of the retrofitting process on site, enabling the definition of production processes with as minimal disruption as possible for users, whilst still delivering energy-oriented and cost effective solutions

Architectures for smart end-user services in the power grid

Abstract-The increase of distributed renewable electricity generators, such as solar cells and wind turbines, requires a new energy management system. These distributed generators introduce bidirectional energy flows in the low-voltage power grid, requiring novel coordination mechanisms to balance local supply and demand. Closed solutions exist for energy management on the level of individual homes. However, no service architectures have been defined that allow the growing number of end-users to interact with the other power consumers and generators and to get involved in more rational energy consumption patterns using intuitive applications. We therefore present a common service architecture that allows houses with renewable energy generation and smart energy devices to plug into a distributed energy management system, integrated with the public power grid. Next to the technical details, we focus on the usability aspects of the end-user applications in order to contribute to high service adoption and optimal user involvement. The presented architecture facilitates end-users to reduce net energy consumption, enables power grid providers to better balance supply and demand, and allows new actors to join with new services. We present a novel simulator that allows to evaluate both the power grid and data communication aspects, and illustrate a 22% reduction of the peak load by deploying a central coordinator inside the home gateway of an end-user

“No powers, man!”: A student perspective on designing university smart building interactions

Smart buildings offer an opportunity for better performance and enhanced experience by contextualising services and interactions to the needs and practices of occupants. Yet, this vision is limited by established approaches to building management, delivered top-down through professional facilities management teams, opening up an interaction-gap between occupants and the spaces they inhabit. To address the challenge of how smart buildings might be more inclusively managed, we present the results of a qualitative study with student occupants of a smart building, with design workshops including building walks and speculative futuring. We develop new understandings of how student occupants conceptualise and evaluate spaces as they experience them, and of how building management practices might evolve with new sociotechnical systems that better leverage occupant agency. Our findings point to important directions for HCI research in this nascent area, including the need for HBI (Human-Building Interaction) design to challenge entrenched roles in building management

Visions, Values, and Videos: Revisiting Envisionings in Service of UbiComp Design for the Home

UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies making our everyday lives ever more convenient. Yet the same vision has also attracted criticism for encouraging a solitary and passive lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to explore and elaborate these tensions further by examining the human values surrounding future domestic UbiComp solutions. Drawing on envisioning and contravisioning, we probe members of the public (N=28) through the presentation and focus group discussion of two contrasting animated video scenarios, where one is inspired by "calm" and the other by "engaging" visions of future UbiComp technology. By analysing the reasoning of our participants, we identify and elaborate a number of relevant values involved in balancing the two perspectives. In conclusion, we articulate practically applicable takeaways in the form of a set of key design questions and challenges.Comment: DIS'20, July 6-10, 2020, Eindhoven, Netherland