Is 'Internet of Ears' Next Big Thing for Smart Homes?

Houses have been getting progressively "smarter" for decades, but the next generation of smart homes can be found in the United States.

Today's smart home appliances, entertainment systems, security cameras and lighting, heating and cooling systems are connected to each other and the Internet. They can be accessed and controlled remotely by computer or smart-phone apps.

The technology of interconnecting commercial, industrial or government buildings, someday even whole communities, is referred to as the "internet of things," or IoT.

But a pair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science professors in the Case School of Engineering have been experimenting with a new suite of sensors. This system would read not only the vibrations, sounds and the specific gait, or other movements-associated with people and animals in a building, but also any subtle changes in the existing ambient electrical field.

While still maybe a decade or so away, the home of the future could be one of a number of things that you would not want to know about.

A Building that 'Listens'

"Ming-Chun Huang, an assistant professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, said," We are trying to make a building that is able to 'listen' to the humans inside.

"We are using principles similar to those of the human ear, where vibrations are picked up and our algorithms decipher them to determine your specific movements. That's why we call it the 'Internet of Ears.' "

Huang is leading the research on human gait and motion tracking, while Soumyajit Mandal, the T. and A. Schroeder Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, focuses on vibration sensing and changes in the existing electrical field caused by the presence of humans gold even pets.

"There is actually a constant 60 Hz electrical field all around us, and because people are somewhat conductive, they just out of the field," Mandal said. "So, by measuring the disturbance in that field, we are able to determine their presence, or even their breathing, even when there are no vibrations associated with sound.

Huang and Mandal introduced their work in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Sensors conference in Glasgow, Scotland last year, and published in this year's IEEE Sensors in New Delhi, India. A longer version of their results will appear in the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement early next year.

Photo of Soumyajit Mandal in the labThey've also tested the technology in conference rooms in the electrical engineering department on campus and at the Living Living Smart Lab at Ohio Living Breckenridge Village, a senior-living community in Willoughby, Ohio.

Mandal said they have used a few small windows in their room. As for privacy concerns, Mandal said the system would not be able to identify individuals, but it could be calibrated to recognize the different people.

Energy Savings, Building Safety

They expect the system could provide many benefits.

"Huang said," The first advantage will be energy efficiency for buildings, especially in lighting and heating, as the systems adjust to how humans are moving to one another, allocating energy more efficiently.

Another benefit could be the ability to build a structural integrity and safety, based on human occupancy, which would be critical in an earthquake or hurricane, for example, Huang said.

"Huang said," This has not really been explored, but we know that people are creating a dynamic load on buildings, especially in older buildings. "In collaboration with our colleague YeongAe Heo in Civil Engineering, we are trying to predict whether or not they are struc- "