Making your home 'smart', the Indian way

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 20 Februari 2015 | 21.43

Most home automation platforms offer a trifecta of 'sensors-apps cloud' — a central hub connected to sensors equipped to detect movement or heat; apps that allow users to control these sensors; and access to remote systems, or the 'cloud,' to store and analyze data.

That's where the similarity ends for WiZN Systems. The home automation company's CEO Amit Premy has advanced beyond the trifecta to develop a new network protocol that can make the sensors last longer and communicate faster over a longer range.

Most existing sensors transmit data using protocols such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee or Bluetooth Low Energy, which operate at bandwidths greater than 1 Gigahertz and are, thus, not ideal for India.

"I tried out all of them at home, and none of them deliver what they promise in an Indian setting," said Premy, a soft-spoken entrepreneur who works out of his home in Bangalore's Whitefield area.

At large bandwidths, hubs need more power to transmit information, draining sensor batteries. Also, large bytes of data are transmitted even for small actions: Imagine using a truck to ferry two people, instead of a two-wheeler. It is slow, uses more fuel, and wastes a lot of space. Such large "overheads," as they are called in network parlance, delay a sensor's ability to switch on the lights or detect smoke or a burglary.

When he began his project last year, Premy, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and a former executive of US-based semiconductor firm Texas Instruments, started with a fairly simple question: Why not use a lower bandwidth?

He did and the result: batteries that can last five years, responses that can be transmitted in 0.3 seconds, a central hub that can control more than 100 sensors, far more than ZigBee's 30-node capability.The new network's range of up to 1,000 ft is also much superior to ZigBee's standard 60-ft range.

"Anyone who wants to add smartness to their device can adopt this approach. It's a great help to 'make in India,'" said Arvind Tiwary, who heads the Internet-of-Things group at The Indus Entreprenuers, or TiE.

Currently, WiZN Systems' main competitor is a US-based company called Z-Wave, which also operates in the sub-Gigahertz range. Z-Wave makes its own chipsets, while WiZN does not.

The Bengaluru-based company, which has filed a patent for the new architecture, aims for its home automation system to be in 1,000 city homes this year.

"It's (WiZN platform) interesting technically. But commercially, it will be a tough one to crack," said Bahubali Shete, a maker of IoT solutions who sold his company Connovate Technologies to Binatone last year. "Home automation is all about the ecosystem. Even companies like Apple and Samsung don't do this, because interoperability is key." But what is entrepreneurship without chutzpah and a few risky bets?

"Platform adoption may be a problem, but we have a solution that works. That's why the customers will come to us," said Premy.

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