Dedicated software agents in smart home system - Smarts

This paper describes a proposal for implementing complex, continuous control in a smart home system in a functional, but user-friendly way. The proposal assumes usage of software agents (called Smarts) running on the central controller, which operates on a given set of devices in a logical area. The proposed approach ensures that the system operates as expected even when without an internet connection. Additionally, the direct connection between smart devices and the central controller ensures much faster response times. To allow easy configuration, each agent is coupled with its own visual representation on mobile applications, in a similar way as devices. As a result, end-users can use the complex control functions on a large device set in a smart home in a very simple way, since the complexity is hidden behind the agents. For the concept validation and testing, pre-developed agents were used, but a future approach may also support a dynamic definition of agents.