Technology is developing at a rapid pace. With this, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart homes are being used by more and more people every day. The amount of network protocols that is being used in relation to smart homes are many and they come with different features and challenges. With one of the main challenges being the issue of interoperability between the protocols. This has led to the introduction of Matter, a new protocol that uses Thread, Wi-Fi and Ethernet as networking technologies underneath. The goal is to enable smart devices from different companies to seamlessly talk to each other. There is a gap in how the different protocols are perceived by users as well as how a standardized protocol like Matter could impact the experience of a smart home. The aim of the study is to better understand the need of consumers for their smart home protocols. This by using a mixed method approach to get the insight of consumers located in Sweden. The data in the study was collected by conducting a survey and two focus group sessions. The survey was answered by 34 respondents and was structured to answer research question 1. The focus group had 4 participants in the first session and 3 participants in the second session and was structured to answer research question 2. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data which concluded into 7 themes from the survey and 5 themes from the focus groups.  The findings were then discussed subsequently with each theme. Using UTAUT2 as the theoretical framework the similarities and general findings were connected to the constructs of the UTAUT2 model. The themes showed that the perception of protocol is closely tied to its influence on factors like performance, reliability, and functionality of smart home devices. Additionally, it was concluded that adopting a standardized protocol such as Matter could potentially enhance interoperability, make it less complex, and address security and privacy concerns. As a result, this could significantly impact the user experience of individuals in their smart homes.

Smart home is a topic that emerged in the 90s to improve the quality of human life. The evolutions of ambient intelligence, recent technology advancements, internet, and smart devices have had a large impact in smart home environment. In the traditional smart home environment, devices are connected physically in the environment and there are interoperability issues between the devices, because the environment is heterogeneous and the devices do not allow to communicate with the outside world such as the internet.In this master thesis we propose a conceptual design of a platform for better home entertainment experience. Smart phone, smart TV and a personal computer are the most important devices in this platform design. The platform provides a high degree of interaction and integration among devices within the environment. The proposed platform model helps software architects and engineers to have an early involvement in the design process. We proposed the platform to be implemented with the help of hybrid cloud computing model. Our suggested platform design is able to overcome the deficiencies of the previous models and approaches in this domain. We conducted direct interviews with seven computer science teachers at Malmö University for the evaluation of our platform design. The results show that the platform design can be physically implemented with the specified devices, the clouds are better than the traditional approaches and hybrid cloud model is more acceptable in terms of security and economy. We encourage software architects, developers and project supervisors to adopt this proposed platform model in physical smart home environment.

智慧家庭環境是一個典型的分散式系統，在此類環境中的智慧服務大都由一至多個節點組成，例如一個智慧空調服務需要冷氣機、溫度感測器和邏輯判斷節點。然而，只要服務其中一個節點故障，整個服務就無法正常運作。由於居住在家庭中的大都是不具技術能力的使用者，故理想的智慧家庭服務，即使在有節點故障的狀況下，也應能在短時間內盡可能自動偵測與排除錯誤，使服務的運作不被中斷。本研究主要目的在於提出一個智慧家庭的強健服務管理系統，基於創新的複合式架構，結合集中式與非集中式錯誤偵測機制的特色，能在短時間內偵測到節點失效，進而恢復由於軟體所造成的節點故障或尋找待用節點，使得服務能繼續運行。 / Smart home systems are different from traditional computing systems. In a smart home system, a service is composed of several service nodes. For example, a smart air conditioning service needs a temperature sensor, an application logic, and an air conditioner. A service fails if one of its affiliating nodes fails. However, unexpected failures are undesirable for mission critical services such as healthcare or surveillance. Moreover, a smart home lacks professional system administrators. Users are generally unable to repair a service when it fails. Consequently, in a smart home system, the failed services have to be diagnosed and recovered automatically. In this paper describes a hybrid failure detection and recovery method for smart home environments. Experiments show that the proposed architecture is able to enhance overall availability of a smart home system in a short time.

隨著ontology應用及語意網的普及，可以預見將有越來越多的應用系統以ontology做為異質系統間之資料交換格式。若現行的分散式監控系統，也能夠以ontology做為程式外部的溝通及資料描述介面，那不同的監控系統彼此要交換資料就會更容易。此外，系統本身若也採用ontology做為與外部溝通的語言，則系統在面對裝置異動或邏輯修改時，將能更快速的反應需求也能更有彈性的面對異動。本研究的目標，便是想要從監控系統中分離出程式應用邏輯及設備描述邏輯，改以ontology的描述方式來取代，進而建立一套以ontology為核心的監控系統，並藉由ontology的導入來改善現行監控系統修改不易及彈性不大的缺點。 為了驗證上面的論述，我們設計了一套以ontology為組態描述的webpanel系統。製造商可以用符合ontology的語法來描述設備的規格，系統整合商也能透過ontology設計監控系統的應用邏輯，結合兩者的ontology描述，便能讓webpanel系統執行監控程序。透過我們的實驗證明，以ontology做為監控系統的應用邏輯描述是可行的。在建構監控系統的過程中，系統整合商能很快的藉由應用系統描述檔完成監控系統的描述，同時webpanel在面對設備故障發生時，也能迅速的透過ontology的搜尋，找到此區域中可用的設備來替代。 對系統整合商來說，建置另一套全新的監控系統只需依據新環境的狀況，適度的調整應用系統描述檔，便可以開始進行監控系統安裝及測試，比起傳統每換一個環境就需要重新撰寫程式的作法會快上許多。另外，藉由ontology描述的特性，可以讓設計的經驗完整的保存下來，供重複使用，對於人才流動快速的企業來說，也可以有效的降低訓練人力及開發系統的時間。 我們希望能夠藉由設計webpanel過程中獲得的相關經驗來簡化傳統監控系統的設計流程及維護時間，將ontology的優點導入相對封閉的監控領域中，讓其更易與其他領域相結合，為人類生活帶來更大的便利。 / As ontology becomes more common and more popular, we are expecting to see an increase in its usage among heterogeneous applications with a need of information exchange. If current distributed monitoring system can utilize ontology as an external communication platform, it will be much easier for different monitoring systems to share and exchange information. In addition, if the systems are able to use ontology as its external communication language, it will be more flexible and faster for the system to make necessary logical changes. The purpose of the research is to differentiate application logic and description logic out of a monitoring system, replace them with ontology, and eventually make it the core of the monitoring system. This could overcome the drawbacks of the current monitoring systems such as lack of flexibility. In order to justify the objective, we designed a system called webpanel . Manufacturers can use languages that are compatible to ontology to describe the equipment’s specification. System integrators can also use ontology to design system application logic. With these two types of information, we can allow the webpanel to conduct process monitoring. Through our research we found that using ontology to monitor application logic is a good way to construct a flexible surveillance system. During the construction period, system integrators can finish the monitoring description promptly based on the system description. When an equipment failure is encountered, though the search capability of ontology, the system can automatically look for replacement equipment within the area. From a system integrator’s perspective, rebuilding a brand new monitoring system only depends on some factors in the new environment. With a few minor changes in the system description file, we can deploy a monitoring system shortly. It is highly flexible compared to the traditional way where a new environment will need a new set of programs with customized application logic. Ontology allows us to preserve reusable design experience. Companies that are facing huge turn-over rates can really benefit from it by reducing the cost of training and system development. We are not the first one to use ontology but we hope that through the design of webpanel, we can acquire experiences to help simplify design in traditional monitoring system and maintenance time. We hope by introducing ontology into the conservative monitoring industry, it can help connect with other industries and bring greater convenience to people’s life.

近年來科技匯流發展日行千里，新興無線寬頻的接取技術（Broadband Wireless Access）不斷升級，為民眾的生活帶來更便利的創新應用，而寬頻接取服務的亦由以往一種技術提供一種服務的方式，逐漸轉換為涵蓋數據（Data）、語音（Voice）及影音內容（Video）等三種服務的匯流。加速了電信、廣電與網路通訊產業升級的需求，也帶來了新的市場動能與發展契機。 本研究以台灣為研究範本，以個案研究方法來探討在網路為基礎的數位匯流環境下數位生活之發展趨勢、個案公司科技產品未來的發展趨勢及因應策略。 而本研究發現未來家用閘道器產品市場，將會朝向整合家中所有可上網設備的整合性產品特性發展。亦將會是國內網通設備商值得切入的新領域。娛樂型家用閘道器，目前市場上多以機上盒(Set top box, STB)加上Router的功能型態出現，惟必須等待STB零售市場打開後，國內的廠商將會有機會創造更大利潤空間。而個案公司在研發方向應以Cable Docsis的核心技術為中心,從水平方向擴展至家庭網路的Home applications。追求更快的速度,更多元化的網路技術和更方便的寬頻服務。在縱向方面,我們則以完整的解決方案為主軸,往頭端CMTS技術和網管為發展重點。

Based on the fact that many electronic devices are digitalized in our world in order to facilitate our lives, there is a large potential for development in the home. Smart Home solutions are giving us the opportunity to control and manage for example alarms, electricity and surveillance but the technology's rapid improvement paves the way for issues related to security. The objectives for this work will bring up common communication technologies, security and vulnerabilities in the context of a Smart Home and what could be done for future work. In order to investigate the objectives, a literature study has been conducted together with an experiment. The experiment result exploits a weakness in a common Smart Home technology used in the network enable devices in the form of threats and vulnerabilities. In order to mitigate and minimize threats and vulnerabilities one conclusion is that a security policy could be produced. This security policy should provide the user with good practice of how to manage security in order to mitigate vulnerabilities and threats within the Smart Home.

Les progrès de la technologie des capteurs et leur disponibilité ont permis de mesurer diverses propriétés et activités des habitants dans une maison intelligente. Cependant, l’obtention de connaissances significatives à partir d’une grande quantité d’informations collectées à partir d’un réseau de capteurs n’est pas une tâche simple. En raison de la complexité du comportement des habitants, l’extraction d’informations significatives et la prédiction précise des valeurs représentant les activités futures d’un occupant sont des défis de recherche [6]. L’objectif principal de notre travail de thèse est d’assurer une analyse efficace des données recueillies à partir des capteurs d’occupation dans une maison intelligente. A ce propos, ce travail se base sur la reconnaissance et l’évaluation des activités quotidiennes d’une personne âgée dans le but d’observer, de prédire et de suivre l’évolution de son état de dépendance, de santé et de détecter par la même occasion, la présence d’une perte ou d’une perturbation de l’autonomie en temps réel. / Advances in sensor technology and their availability have measured various properties and activities of residents in a smart home. However, obtaining significant knowledge from a large amount of information collected from a sensor network is not a simple task. Due to the complexity of the behavior of the inhabitants, the extraction of meaningful information and the accurate prediction of values ​​representing the future activities of an occupant are research challenges. The main objective of our thesis work is to ensure an efficient analysis of data collected from occupancy sensors in a smart home. In this regard, this work is based on the recognition and evaluation of the daily activities of an elderly person in order to observe, predict and monitor the evolution of his state of dependence, health and to detect by the same occasion, the presence of a loss or a disruption of autonomy in real time.

Les maisons intelligentes sont des habitations équipées de technologies de l'information et de la communication qui anticipent et répondent aux besoins des occupants. Malgré les nombreux travaux et solutions existants, seulement peu d'exemplaires de maisons intelligentes ont été construits et vendus. La raison cachée derrière cette lente diffusion est l'orientation technologique des approches existantes. Cette thèse de doctorat vise à démontrer qu'une maison intelligente peut fournir des fonctionnalités conçues avec une approche centrée utilisateur, en prenant en compte de considérations ergonomiques sur l'activité domestique et sur la cognition humaine. Ceci est réalisé en collaboration avec des ergonomes cognitifs, qui aident à "prendre garde" à l'écart entre le contexte humain et le contexte compréhensible par une machine. En utilisant une instrumentation légère, qui minimise les problèmes d'acceptabilité et de protection de la vie privée, ce travail de thèse a mené aux contributions suivantes: (i) la conception interdisciplinaire de fonctionnalités adaptées, en collaboration avec des ergonomes cognitifs; (ii) la conception d'un système sensible au contexte qui capture et raisonne sur des informations contextuelles incertaines de façon distribuée; (iii) la réalisation d'un prototype qui démontre la fourniture de fonctionnalités qui réalisent des économies d'énergie, tout en préservant le confort des habitants. / Smart homes are residences equipped with information and communication technologies that anticipate and respond to the needs of the occupants. Despite the numerous research and industrial efforts, today only few expensive smart homes have been built and sold. The reason behind this slow uptake is the technology-driven approach characterizing existing solutions. The doctoral Thesis aims at demonstrating that a smart home can provide functionalities designed with a user-centered approach, taking into account ergonomic considerations about domestic activity and human cognition. This is achieved in collaboration with cognitive ergonomists, which help "minding the gap" between human context and machine-understandable context. Using off-the-shelf and lightweight instrumentation (also minimizing privacy concerns), extending existing context modeling, reasoning and management tools and following the Ubiquitous Computing principles, the doctoral work led to the following achievements: (i) the inter-disciplinary design of suitable functionalities, in collaboration with cognitive ergonomists; (ii) the design of a context-aware system that captures and reasons about uncertain contextual information in a distributed fashion; (ii) the realization of a working prototype that demonstrates the provision of energy-saving and comfort-preserving functionalities.

Energy consumption in the form of fuel or electricity is ubiquitous globally. Among energy types, electricity is crucial to human life in terms of cooking, warming and cooling of shelters, powering of electronic devices as well as commercial and industrial operations. Therefore, effective prediction of future electricity consumption cannot be underestimated. Notably, repeated imbalance is noticed between the demand and supply of electricity, and this is affected by different weather profiles such as temperature, wind speed, dew point, humidity and pressure of the electricity consumption locations. Effective planning is therefore needed to aid electricity distribution among consumers. Such effective planning is activated by the need to predict future electricity consumption within a short period and the effect of weather variables on the predictions. Although state-of-the-art techniques have been used for such predictions, they still require improvement for the purpose of reducing significant predictive errors when used for short-term load forecasting. This research develops and deploys a near-zero cooperative probabilistic scenario analysis and decision tree (PSA-DT) model to address the lacuna of significant predictive error faced by the state-of-the-art models and to analyse the effect of each weather profile on the cooperative model. The PSA-DT is a machine learning model based on a probabilistic technique in view of the uncertain nature of electricity consumption, complemented by a DT to reinforce the collaboration of the two techniques. Based on detailed experimental analytics on residential, commercial and industrial data loads, the PSA-DT model with weather profiles outperforms the state-of-the-art models in terms of accuracy to a minimal error rate. This implies that its deployment for electricity demand planning will be of great benefit to various smart-grid operators and homes. / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Computer Science)

This study is an attempt for providing a socio-historical perspective to the smart home concept that is a proposal for the future domestic sphere by the application of intelligent technologies. For achieving this attempt, the smart home is investigated with its roots within the social history of domestic technology, by posing the question of a relation between the machine house idea of modern architecture and the smart home concept as the main question of the research. After an inquiry on the smart home concept and on the future private sphere that is envisaged within it, the emergence of modern private sphere, the transformation of private sphere under the impacts of industrialization, the appearance and the social consequences of the machine house idea, the introduction of mass produced appliances to the home and the impacts of it on private sphere, the development of communication and information technologies and their domestication processes are investigated. The coconstructive relationship of technology with the private sphere is pursued throughout this investigation. The research questions of the study are answered in the light of the gained knowledge and critical perspective throughout the investigations. At the end, it is revealed that the smart home has conceptual, technical, and ideological constructive roots within the histories of the modern private sphere, modern architecture and design, and domestic communication and information technologies. It is discussed that these roots constitute the smart home as a domain of social reproduction, which also provides the ground for its conceptualization and promotion as the future domestic sphere.