Home technologies, smart systems and eHealth

Initially, building automation services were provided for larger buildings by means of a set of non-integrated subsystems. By the late 20th century, the concept had developed to include home automation through concepts such as the Digital Home, eHome or iHome based on smart systems and which supported the evolution of the traditional automation services to include entertainment and communication supported by home networks and residential gateways. The 21st century brought with it new paradigms such as “ambient intelligence” and “ubiquitous computing”. In the case of ambient intelligence, this sets out to define a context in which people will be surrounded by intelligent and intuitive interfaces embedded in everyday objects which recognise and respond to their presence and which autonomously and intelligently adapt and respond to their needs while ubiquitous computing distributes processing power throughout the network of smart objects. The evolving constructs now encompass not only the home, but wider concepts such as those of the Smart City. The implementation of smart home and related technologies involves a number of systems issues for the short, medium and long terms such as the choice and future proofing of technologies, ethics and costs. The chapter therefore considers the development and application of smart home technologies and systems before looking at one particular area of application, that of eHealth and mHealth, in more detail.