An Internet of "ears" | Hitech News Daily.

Houses are becoming more and more "smart" for times, but the next generation of smart homes could present something that Case Western Reserve University scientists call "Internet of Ears."

Today's smart home features appliances, heating and cooling systems, entertainment systems, security cameras and lighting, connected to each other and to the Internet.

This technology integrates industrial, commercial or government buildings or the entire community is called "Internet of Things" or "IoT".

However, two computer science teachers and electrical engineering professors from the Case School of Engineering are working on a new set of sensors. This system would read not only sounds and vibrations, but also the specific rhythm and other movements related to animals and people in the building. The sensors will also detect any imperceptible changes in the dominant ambient electric field.

Although the technology is still in ten years, future housing could be a building that adapts to your activities using a few hidden sensors and small in the floors and walls and without the need for intrusive cameras.

Ming-Chun Huang, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, said, "We are trying to create a building that can listen to the people inside. We use principles such as those of the human ear, in which vibrations are captured and our algorithms decipher them to determine your specific movements. That's why we call it the Internet of the ears.

Huang directs the research on the follow-up of the movement and the human step. At the same time, Soumyajit Mandal, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science for T. and A. Schroeder, is studying changes to the existing electric field and detecting the vibrations of domestic animals and animals.

Mandal adds, "In fact, there is a constant electric field at 60 Hz all around us and, as people are somewhat conductive, they slightly reduce the field. Thus, by measuring the disturbances in this field, we can determine their presence, even their breathing, even in the absence of vibrations associated with sound. "

Mandal and Huang published their research in detail in October at the IEEE Sensors conference in New Delhi, India. The technology has also been tested in Ohio Living Breckenridge Village's Smart Living Lab, an elderly community in Willoughby, Ohio, and conference rooms in the campus electrical engineering department.

They expect more benefits from the system.

Huang added, "The first benefit will be the energy efficiency of buildings, particularly in the areas of lighting and heating, because the systems adapt to the way humans move around." One room to the other, which helps to distribute the energy more efficiently. "

"Another benefit could be the ability to track and measure the structural integrity and safety of a building, based on human occupancy – which would be essential in an earthquake or hurricane, example, "said Huang.

"This has not really been explored to what we've seen, but we do know that humans create a dynamic load on buildings, especially in older buildings," Huang said. "In collaboration with our colleague YeongAe Heo of the Civil Engineering Department, we are trying to predict whether there will be structural damage due to increased weight or load, depending on the number of people on the ground or in the way they are distributed. ground."