Smart Home devices & technologies

Connect all smart devices through a Smart Home system. What you need for a Smart Home? Read our newsitem to find out!

You connect various smart devices via a home automation or Smart Home system so that you can control them centrally. Examples of Smart Home products are: smart lighting, smoke detectors, thermostats or security cameras and sensors. Smart devices make life a little easier for consumers, but the technology behind this seems complicated. Read the text below to find out what it takes to make these smart devices communicate with each other.

 

Smart Hub or Gateway

A hub or gateway is a station that you can give commands, allowing you to control all your smart devices from one place. A hub communicates with smart home devices through protocols. A hub is therefore compatible with more devices if it has different protocols. Well-known hubs are:

• Apple Homepod

• Google Nest Hub

• Google Home

• Amazon Echo Smart Hub

 

Control Smart Home via your phone

Purchasing a hub is not essential for operainge your smart devices. You can often also control devices via apps on your phone. Well-known apps/technologies are:

• Apple Homekit: Easy to control via voice assistant 'Siri' and to have it come together in the 'home' app. The following brands work with HomeKit: Fibaro, Honeywell, IKEA Trådfri, Logitech, Netgear, Philips HUE & Tado.

• Amazon Alexa: Set up your system via the app and control Alexa via (English) voice commands. In the Alexa app you can see which products Alexa works with. You can find them in the smart home section in the app. For example: Belkin Wemo, Ecobee, LiFX, Nest, Philips HUE, etc.

• Samsung SmartThings: You can control various devices via the SmartThings app on your phone. These devices connect with your phone using WiFi. For connection via other wireless protocols (without a bridge) you need a SmartThings hub.

 

Smart Home Protocols

The protocol determines how devices communicate with each other. There are several types of protocols available, the best known are:

• Bluetooth

• WiFi

• Zigbee

• Z-Wave

Would you like to know more about the different protocols? Then click here!

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