Result of the project is a smart home system and services based on it, to benefit both the tenants and the operators of a property. There was certainly a need: none of the available home automation solutions for locks, fire and smoke detection or for technical monitoring was fully satisfactory. All vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, operate as standalone systems and, frequently, cost so much that they are unaffordable.

IMMS has contributed significantly to the Smart Home Services solution by creating a shared communications infrastructure to be used by all the sensors, actuators and processing units involved. There is to be a single pivot enabling integration and coordination of the various subsystems: the SHS system node, a compact, low-priced, energy-efficient mini computer that will acquire, process and transfer data within residential or other types of buildings. This node is a tiny box calling up the data from switches, sensors and utility meters then preparing them for further processing.

IMMS has developed a modular hardware and software platform – there are extension boards to allow the interface to be expanded. The Institute has laid the full software basis to enable future developers to exploit SHS potential in its fullest possible way. This basis is a Linux operating system optimized by IMMS for this purpose. It enables the hardware on which it is installed to be run with maximum energy savings, even for applications that require realtime capabilities. The base board consumes only 1 Watt (approximately) and at full load within the network it runs on only 1.7 Watts. No solution with comparable performance has achieved such low energy consumption to date.

IMMS further developed the SHS platform for different applications such as environmental monitoring.