Smart Home Multi-Factor Authentication Using Face Recognition and One-Time Password on Smartphone

Recently, the adoption of smart home technology has been on the rise and becoming a trend for home residents. The development of Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology drives the smart home authentication system with biometric systems such as facial recognition, fingerprint, and voice control techniques. In the context of homeowners, security is always the primary concern. However, conventional home security and the existing smart home security system have some limitations. These techniques use single-factor authentication, which provides limited protection for home security. Therefore, this project proposed a design for smart home multi-factor authentication using facial recognition and a one-time password sent to smartphones for a home security system. Rapid application development was the methodology for conducting this study. A usability evaluation suggested that the proposed smart home multi-factor authentication is acceptable, but some usability issues can be improved in the future.

A qualitative assessment of the impact of smart homes and environmentally beneficial technologies on the UK 2050 net-zero carbon emission target

PurposeThere are 29 million homes in the UK, accounting for 14% of the UK's energy consumption. This is given that UK has one of the highest water and energy demands in Europe which needs to be addressed according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Smart homes technology holds a current perception that it is principally used by “tech-savvy” users with larger budgets. However, smart home technology can be used to control water, heat and energy in the entire house. This paper investigates how smart home technology could be effectively utilised to aid the UK government in meeting climate change targets and to mitigate the environmental impact of a home in use towards reducing carbon emissions.Design/methodology/approachBoth primary and secondary data were sought to gain insight into the research problem. An epistemological approach to this research is to use interpretivism to analyse data gathered via a semi-structured survey. Two groups of participants were approached: (1) professionals who are deemed knowledgeable about smart home development and implementation and (2) users of smart home technology. A variety of open-ended questions were formulated, allowing participants to elaborate by exploring issues and providing detailed qualitative responses based on their experience in this area which were interpreted quantitatively for clearer analysis.FindingsWith fossil fuel reserves depleting, there is an urgency for renewable, low carbon energy sources to reduce the 5 tonnes annual carbon emissions from a UK household. This requires a multi-faceted and a multimethod approach, relying on the involvement of both the general public and the government in order to be effective. By advancing energy grids to make them more efficient and reliable, concomitant necessitates a drastic change in the way of life and philosophy of homeowners when contemplating a reduction of carbon emissions. If both parties are able to do so, the UK is more likely to reach its 2050 net-zero carbon goal. The presence of a smart meter within the household is equally pivotal. It has a positive effect of reducing the amount of carbon emissions and hence more need to be installed.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed using a larger study sample to achieve more accurate and acceptable generalisations about any future course of action. Further investigation on the specifics of smart technology within the UK household is also needed to reduce the energy consumption in order to meet net-zero carbon 2050 targets due to failures of legislation.Practical implicationsFor smart homes manufacturers and suppliers, more emphasis should be placed to enhance compatibility and interoperability of appliances and devices using different platform and creating more user's friendly manuals supported by step-by-step visual to support homeowners in the light of the wealth of knowledge base generated over the past few years. For homeowners, more emphasis should be placed on creating online knowledge management platform easily accessible which provide virtual support and technical advice to home owners to deal with any operational and technical issues or IT glitches. Developing technical design online platform for built environment professionals on incorporating smart sensors and environmentally beneficial technology during early design and construction stages towards achieving low to zero carbon homes.Originality/valueThis paper bridges a significant gap in the body of knowledge in term of its scope, theoretical validity and practical applicability, highlighting the impact of using smart home technology on the environment. It provides an insight into how the UK government could utilise smart home technology in order to reduce its carbon emission by identifying the potential link between using smart home technology and environmental sustainability in tackling and mitigating climate change. The findings can be applied to other building types and has the potential to employ aspects of smart home technology in order to manage energy and water usage including but not limited to healthcare, commercial and industrial buildings.

Analysis of Smart Home Technology Acceptance and Preference for Elderly in Dubai, UAE

The elderly are the most predicted users for smart home technology in the United Arab Emirates and the population over 65 is expected to increase to 24.3% by 2030. Despite the rapid development of smart home technology, research has been mainly focused on technology development. To encourage conservative elderly users, however, smart home technology should be implemented for UAE elderly users to accept and integrate it into their daily lives. The objective of this paper is to analyze the preferences and needs of smart home technologies to understand the behaviors of UAE elderly users, and the factors affecting the acceptance of technology. As a methodology, a survey and interview were conducted for 110 people in their 40s and 60s and a total of 105 valid survey responses were collected and used as data for frequency, mean, cross-analysis, independent sample t-test, one-way variance analysis, and multiple regression analysis with IBM SPSS statistics 27. The results showed that 67.0% of UAE elderly users have chronic diseases such as high blood pressure (16.2%), heart disease (3.8%), diabetes (32.4%), or arthritis (10.5%). Therefore, smart home technology for health management is inevitable to improve overall lifestyles. It was statistically proven that UAE elderly users want automatic fall detection in the living room (39.0%) and bedroom (25.7%). Lifestyle monitoring in living room (44.7%) and bedroom (18.1%); the elderly preferred living room most for daily life assistance (36.2%), environmental control (50.5%), health and biometric monitoring (49.5%), and video conferencing (82.9%). In the case of sensors, elderly preferred the switch at the entrance (36.2%), and motion detecting sensors (42.9%), video cameras (56.2%), and voice recognition (50.5%) sensors in the living room. However, UAE elderly users do not think smart home technology can protect their privacy. It is found that age group and computer technology affinity are the most influential variables and UAE elderly users have an anxiety about technology, which influenced the acceptance of smart home technology.

Development of a prototype of an automated control system for household devices based on the “smart home” technology

The relevance of the studied and solved problem lies, on the one hand, in the possibility of automated control of your home devices, and on the other, in the absence of unified control systems for a smart home as a project. The latter thesis implies the actual absence of such an automated control system among the existing and sold ready-made solutions, which could be expanded by the user himself, that is, by the buyer. In this regard, there is a need to improve and develop our own product in this area. This approach will allow you to combine both the creation of your own working prototype of a smart home, and your own implementation of the automated control system, which will allow each user to refine, modify and implement new devices independently in an already assembled system based on his house or apartment. This article presents the main aspects of the design and software solution used. The software implementation is performed in the JetBrains PhpStorm development environment in PHP, Apache web server, MySQL DBMS.

A review of assistive smart-home technology for people with physical and mobility disabilities

Home automation, through computers, electronics, and telecommunications, is at the service of people with disability in terms of security, comfort, and social bonding. It is based on the ability to interact remotely with the house's equipment, which makes it "Smart". Thus, the fact of being able to activate equipment without moving by utilizing voice or a remote control allows reducing movements and therefore retain a certain autonomy.