I had plans on writing a post about NFC & (home) automation a long while ago but the post “NFC stands...
I had plans on writing a post about NFC & (home) automation a long while ago but the post “NFC stands for Nobody F*** Cares” definitely gave me the spark I needed to sit down and start writing.
Let me first start with a little trip back at the core of the Web of Things‘ idea: the Internet of Things stands for the network layer, where all smart things out there should be connected using IP protocols to facilitate interoperability. Similarly, the Web of Things advocates using Web blueprints such as REST and it’s implementation in HTTP, at the very least as a protocol for controlling devices (a typical stateless task).
So, let’s assume all devices in my home were offering a REST interface (which, isn’t far off reality in my case), either directly, or through a smart gateway. Then, to reach home automation I could probably setup a very smart middleware that “thinks for its users” and accommodate their environment to the current context. One of these systems that ends up turning off the light when you need it the most, ensuring that the heating suddenly turns on when you reach the “NaN” temperature of 35 degrees Celsius (it is Switzerland after all!) and that the window blinds go down at Sunset (because of course developers do work 9-5 all year long). The same type of system that plays the Beatles’ “Something” when coming home right after your girlfriend dumped you ;-)
Or you could go “the human in the center” way, where everything can be configured by using a central interface issuing REST requests all over the place. An interface that upgrades you as the commander of the Enterprise while, all you wanted was to come home, grab an iced-tea and read the latest Internet buzz!
Well, I think there is a world in-between and NFC, which apparently, no-one cares about might be the most straightforward answer, no programming involved!
Let’s go back to my home where the radio system (a Squeezebox), the alarm clock (a Chumby or an app on my phone), some of the lamps (plugged to a Plogg smart meter) and the TV (plugged to a Raspberry PI running Raspberrymc) feature a RESTful Web interface. My phone, a Galaxy Nexus, offers an NFC reader. Then, all I needed to do to setup my own home “automation” system was to download an Android “tasker” app, purchase some tags and off we go. The NFC Task Launcher app, like a number of others, let’s you program reactions when a tag is read, mainly phone-related reactions: turn off the the ring-tone, disconnect from WiFi, call a URL, launch a specific app, Wait, call a URL? But didn’t we say most of my home appliances have a REST interface? REST, URL? Got it?
Here is a typical day in the life of Dom: Dom wakes up takes his phone and throws it in the bucket below, Dom’s phone then connects to the WiFi, syncs the daily calendar of a busy CTO, turns on the Squeezebox to Frequence3 (a rather pop oriented Web radio, perfect for morning push-ups!).
