Making Existing Homes Smart

Smart homes have been a central theme in ubiquitous computing and intelligent environments. Various research projects and adventurous companies have tried to tackle the challenge, but still smart homes are nowhere to be seen on the consumer market. So far the research has focused on new housing and laboratory prototypes instead of our current homes, and without much consideration for rented households. In my thesis I will focus on the new challenges brought by these two factors, take a look into the current state of smart home research, summarize the wishes made by potential users and write about the various themes in smart home design. I will conclude by proposing a simple design that has the potential of lifting our current homes and the homes of the future to the realm of intelligent environments. Key words and terms: smart homes, intelligent environments, ubiquitous computing, software architecture