ENABLING SMART HOMES USING WEB TECHNOLOGIES Andreas PDF
Preview ENABLING SMART HOMES USING WEB TECHNOLOGIES Andreas
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. vii 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 viii 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.” ix
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