Smart Homes Part 2: Staying Connected
In part 1 of this series, Should You Make Your Home a Smart Home?, you read the word “connect” many times. What exactly “connects” all of your smart devices together, and how can they be controlled in one place? Read on to find out.
The Smart Hub and Automation Protocol
The smart hub is one way that your smart devices can connect together. From your hub, you can control all of the devices that are connected. You can also control all of your devices from the supported app that comes with the hub. A hub is ideal if you have many different types of devices, and may even be required by certain brands to connect your devices together.
A smart hub is connected to something called an automation protocol, which is a “language” that your smart devices can use to communicate. Essentially, an automation protocol is a type of “mesh Wi-Fi,” which can connect all of your devices together, and allow them to be connected to and controlled by one hub. Some popular protocols are Zigbee and Z-Wave. We know this can all sound very confusing, so for more information on hubs and protocols, check out this article.
Different companies offer their own hubs.
Google has all of its own smart devices, which are part of it’s Nest “ecosystem.” It offers the Nest Hub and the Nest Hub Max. These hubs are smart displays, so they have a screen where you can control all of your devices and view video footage from cameras. Google is a special case, since it actually has its own automation protocol, called “Weave,” built into its devices, so you don’t actually need a hub.
Amazon offers the Echo Show, which is very similar to the Nest Hub, as it also has a screen. Unlike Google, Amazon doesn’t have it’s own line of smart products, but the Echo is compatible with Zigbee (both an automation protocol and brand of devices), as well as many brands of smart devices. One can connect all their compatible smart devices to the Zigbee protocol, and then to the Echo, where they can all be controlled.
Samsung has its own line of smart devices, under the name SmartThings. They offer their own hub, which doesn’t have a screen, but can still connect all of the devices together. These devices can then be controlled from the SmartThings app.
Once again, this is not an exhaustive list, but it contains some of the most popular hubs out there. To learn more about the Nest Hubs and the Echo Show, check out our future blogs in this series.
Voice Assistants
Companies such as Amazon and Google have voice assistants, Alexa and Google Assistant, respectively. If you don’t have many smart devices, you may be able to connect and control all of your devices from a smart speaker, such as an Amazon Echo or Google Nest, that has a voice assistant. These speakers aren’t hubs per say, but still allow you to keep your devices connected and control them from one place. Amazon and Google all have their own apps, which allow you to connect your devices together to be controlled by their respective voice assistants.
Smart speakers can actually connect to smart hubs, so even if you’re using a smart hub, you can still control your devices with your voice from your speaker! Learn more about smart speakers in the fourth blog in our series, Speakers and Entertainment.
The Cloud
Another way to connect your devices, if you don’t have many, is through a cloud. With a cloud, you download the supported app, and then you can connect and control all of your devices from that app. This is a more limiting method of connecting your devices, but it is good for beginners and those with fewer devices. However, if you want to have many smart devices and perform many different types of actions, this may not be the best option.
We hope you now have a better understanding of how smart devices in your home connect, and how they’re controlled. Continue on to our next post to learn about different security systems and security devices for your smart home!
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Sources
Smart Home Solver. Ultimate Guide to Starting and Growing a Smart Home. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/-_vtoUmkot4.
PC Magazine. What is a Smart Hub (And Do You Need One?). Retrieved from https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-a-smart-home-hub-and-do-you-need-one.
Amazon. Alexa Routines. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/alexa-routines/b?ie=UTF8&node=21442922011&ref_.
Google Nest Help. Set Up and Manage Routines. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7029585.
Google Store. Compare Smart Displays. Retrieved from https://store.google.com/us/magazine/compare_nest_hub.
Amazon. Echo Show (2nd Gen). Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/All-new-Echo-Show-2nd-Gen/dp/B077SXWSRP.
