Shanghai Research Institute
M2MAPPS: What are the applications and solutions that you focused on in your research during the last couple of years?
LI PING: My focus of research has been on IOT-based Home Security Systems which have seen growing demand in the last years due to the improvement of people's living standards. Nowadays, residents in China's Tier 1 and Tier2 cities are seeking for fast, efficient and interactive security solutions, turning their homes from an isolated space, to interactive units that are capable to exchange information with outside networks.
M2MAPPS: What does an IOT-based Home Security System bring to people's lives?
LI PING: At present, citizens in China are confronted with different security threats. The external challenges come from crimes such as malicious break-ins, while the internal ones come from the application of gas and electronic appliances which has raised the danger of fires and explosions. Smart home security will automatically monitor home appliances and send out danger alarms even when the owners are not at home. Citizens living with children or elderly people have a particular demand for this kind of service.
M2MAPPS: What is the current development status of IOT-based Home Security System globally?
LI PING: Security systems are playing a more and more instrumental role in smart homes, which may be evidenced, at least partially, by the latest initiatives of some global leaders, including Microsoft's funding of Itran, an organization specializing in R&D and design of home security systems, and IBM's partnership with constructors to deliver smart homes powered by advanced security systems.
M2MAPPS: What about the status in China?
LI PING: Currently in China's home security market, wireline systems from leading brands have been widely deployed around newly built condominiums. The advantages of these systems are higher performance and lower possibility of false alarms thanks to ad hoc connections and guaranteed power supply.
Wireless systems on the other hand are still more expensive and the technology is less mature in terms of reliability, intelligent identification and image transfer. The big advantage of the wirelss systems, however, is that they don't require costly and extensive renovations of people's well-decorated homes.
M2MAPPS: Technically, how do we achieve an interactive home security system?
LI PING: An IOT-based home security system consists of front-end detectors and cameras, gateway, M2M management platform and information delivery platform.
The front-end consists of wireless detection/measurement and video. The first subsystem, wireless detection/measurement, delivers such features as data acquisition, aggregation and device control. Temperature, humidity, light, smoke, gas, infrared and immersion detectors are installed around endusers' homes to collect information in real time, and then converge and transfer them to the gateway through a wireless sensor network.
In addition to data acquisition, this subsystem also controls on/off of sun-blinds, gas valves etc. The video subsystem delivers such features as video capture, camera control, local storage and real-time transmission to endusers' mobile stations through a 3G network, wherever they are.
The gateway provides unified interfaces to the M2M and information delivery platforms, implementing control and management of front-end measurement and video devices, information processing and transmission, data conversion from non-generic wireless protocols to standard ones, local management provisioning and field device fault management.
The M2M platform delivers consistent management and authentication for mobile stations and access options that have not been implemented on mainstream gateways. It supports multiple network access options and provides standardized interfaces to ease data transfer.
Other features include data routing, monitoring, user authentication and accounting. In a home security system, the M2M platform's major roles include data transfer from the gateway to the information delivery platform, control and management tasks, and implementing AAA (Authorization, Authentication and Accounting) for the user.
The information delivery platform provides an integrated management system for home security information services, implementing sensor information processing, video surveillance, information query, event/alarm notification, device fault alarm, remote configuration management and user privilege authentication.
M2MAPPS: What do you find is the most amazing about IOT-based Home Security System and Services?
LI PING: One of the great things about them is that the services can either be actively or passively applied, which means the users can either actively monitor the safety conditions of their homes through portable terminals, or chosoe to be automatically alarmed by any emergencies that may occur. The services can be tailored to the individual preferences of the users.
