Published: May 25, 2015


Project "Lion" is an autonomous (time driven) sensor network for smart homes that can activate functions by set times and signals. The features can appear as variables of time, weather, or interference on the network. Autonomy is essential in Smart Homes; it enables periodic elements to be decoupled from random processes. Lion is a growing project with features that evolve with new technology. The version of the project we are introducing now is "Lion v1.0", which was published in May 2015.

The prototype of this project is a model implementation that is used to demonstrate a set of Smart Home automations. The major features are divided into three sub-systems:

  1. Light Control
  2. Temperature Control
  3. Security Control

Light ControlThe Light Control module has a variety of features. "Autonomy" enables control to be handled by the controller. An example is outdoor lighting which is managed asyncronously meaning the module activates external lights at sunset and deactivates them at sunsrise respective of times and seasons daylight saving inclusive. This module also controls indoor lights using a variety of sensors. It's difficult to keep a record of lights especially in large houses. The Smart lighting system activates and deactivates sections of lights by assesing several criteria's such as "presence" or whether a movie is playing in the theater room.

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A second distictive feature is what we've come to refer to as "Fading Lights". Normally lights are powered on at full brightness. What if you have the control of setting the brightness level all around the home as you do on your phone? We've adopted this feature from Smart Phones and let you have full control of your lights from your device. The feature can also synchronize with your mobile device which means when your phone brighness deams so do your house lights, which helps conserve on your energy.

Temperature ControlTemperature is another important problem Smart Homes need to address. As the seasons change, depending on what climate you live in; humidity and weather all factor in the temperature. It's quite annoying to set the AC on one tempetaure and the humidity keeps raising the room temperature above it. The Smart Temperature Control (TC) analyzes every factor including seasons and increased humidity levels to regulate the temperature much more efficiently.

Security ControlHome Security is perhaps the most important feature we've integrated into Smart Homes, hence the name of the project "LION". Lion Security uses strong interference/ intrusion dection mechanics including sensors and surveillance to prevent any intrusion. Several Manual triggers are also available including hidden indoor signifiers or on phone SoS features. These tools are effiecient to notify emergency response agencies. This system includes asyncronous features to enable night features including motion detection. Several major functions are integrated with automated door and window systems to seal the building until first responders. This artitle is a summary of Project Lion introduced by Team Lion in May 2015. Newer concepts blooming from this project have be published in other articles. More details are available at the end of the article.