Thursday, November 12, 2009

Mr.Venkat Challa (on Intelligent technologies)

Mr. Venkat Challa, JMD Aliens Group giving his views on Intelligent Technologies

1. What are the new Intelligent building technologies being used in construction today?

The construction industry involves vast implementation of latest technology to bring the modern look, convenience factor and safety measures in residential, commercial, infrastructure projects.
The new intelligent technologies being used in smart/intelligent homes is named under the umbrella term called Home Automation or Network to home. Home automation is an upcoming trend that the public looks for in residential houses, apartments, and commercial businesses. Although many techniques used in building automation (such as light and climate control, control of doors and window shutters, security and surveillance systems, etc.) are also used in home automation, additional functions in home automation can include the control of multi-media home entertainment systems, automatic houseplant watering, domestic robots and pet feeding, automatic scenes for dinners and parties, and a more user-friendly control interface. Other automated tasks may include setting the air conditioning to an energy saving setting when the house is unoccupied, and restoring the normal setting when an occupant is about to return. Some practical implementations of home automation are for example when an alarm detects a fire or smoke condition, then all lights in the house will blink to alert occupants. If the house is equipped with a home theater, a home automation system can shut down all audio and video components to alert the user to a possible fire or a burglar.


2. Do they differ in commercial and residential spaces? If yes, please explain in detail?

The technology remains same, however the application differs. For example, biometric access system used in the house is for security and convenience, for a commercial purpose the same system is configured for inventory check, tracking employees’ attendance etc.

3. How expensive are these technologies and how do they match with the benefits accrued from their use?

The intelligent building technologies provide convenience and luxury. An automated home can be a very simple grouping of controls, or it can be an automation extravaganza where just about anything that is plugged into electrical power is remotely controlled. Again, the cost depends on the customer’s budget. The basic costs mainly include; equipment, components, furniture, and custom installation.
The foremost benefit is convenience. Also, automation helps in saving power and energy in the form of energy efficiency mechanisms. For example, when a motion sensor senses no movement in a room, it puts off the lights. Auto cut off pumps, virtual home options etc help in saving power, electricity and energy.

4. How is client response to them?

Customers are highly amazed when they hear about technologies not even been used in countries like Europe except intercom facilities. They feel highly safe and secure under the shelter of booming technology implementation in their living space. Moreover, it is a great convenience and support in their hurry- burry, stressful lifestyle.

We have home automation features to make our customers life more comfortable and secure. Master remote to control everything in your home, remote access to the home appliances, touch panel integrated automation system, video streaming of visitors in the main gate, bio-metric access, electrical fencing around the campus, centralized billing of water, power, & gas, maid/kids mode to keep an eye at your home when no one is around, motion sensors, gas/smoke leak detection system, fire alarm, wet sprinklers and refuge areas in case of fire.


5. Anything else on intelligent building technologies.

Robotic vacuum cleaner /Floor cleaner, more sophisticated systems can maintain an inventory of products, recording their usage through an RFID tag, and prepare a shopping list or even automatically order replacements. For instance, Refrigerators can set to threshold level which enables order your groceries even before they are over. White goods to be operated via integrated system, Parking management system, Visitors management system. In extreme installations, rooms can sense not only the presence of a person but know who that person is and perhaps set appropriate lighting, temperature and music/TV taking into account day of week, time of day, and other factors. There are still miles to go.