Why Home Automation and Control Systems? - Understand the Need

The world is abuzz with the concept of ‘green’. To conserve the earth’s natural resources and save energy for our future generations, many a citizen across the world today is exploiting green technology concepts. The first step to going green is turning your home into a green home, making it energy efficient. Use of automation and control systems to control usage of energy saving lighting, HVAC, and security systems, and other electric appliances is what creation of a green home is all about.

Home automation and control systems are innovative, facilitating people reinvent the way they live and work. Motor controllers, PLC, wires and cables, etc. are integrated with lights, HVAC, fans, window blinds, security systems, audio, video, and other electronic devices and are all connected via a smart centralized control interface (remote, i-pad, smart phone). Just a touch of the button on your smart interface and you enjoy the convenience in controlling your world around you at your home and even while being away.

Why not change your home environment for a green purpose. It is time we understand the need of energy saving lighting, HVAC, and other electronic products at home so that we create a sustainable earth. Moreover, the more energy we save, the more money we save, month after month. Visualize, if every home is a green home, the earth would soon turn into a greener place to live in. Exploit home automation and control systems and use energy saving products to save maximum energy and enjoy convenience of living the luxury way.

“The idea of a home varies from person to person. A green home can be customized and tailor made according to individual requirements. Installation of automation and control systems is more cost effective at the building construction stage during electrical layout. But there are alternatives to installing these systems in old buildings without much refurbishment. Solutions available today are highly flexible,” says Mr. C P Singh, Founder and Chief Mentor of Smart Automation (a leading service provider of home automation solutions and energy saving products).

Greater ease and comfort are what home automation and control systems facilitate. Right from making a room brighter or dimmer depending on mood, monitoring and allowing/disallowing entrance of visitors to your home, controlling our home theatre, closing or opening window shades, lighting your washrooms / corridors / pavement areas / garage according to motion or occupancy to auto opening of gates as you enter home from outside, setting a pleasant room temperature or heat according to your need, controlling your electronic appliances, monitoring your kids at home from your office – possibilities of comfort and convenience with the touch of a button are many!

Smarten up your home, use energy saving products, and go green the smart way! 

What is Home Automation? - An Overview

All geared up to give supremacy to your imagination at home? It can happen only with automation. Let home automation systems allow you to control any task in and around your home your way with the touch of a button on your smart phone! Right from controlling window blinds of your room or your entire home to controlling lighting, zoned heating, security systems, and more, the convenience of a luxurious lifestyle goes endless.

So, what is automation? In short, it is the facilitation of automated activities. Futuristic technology marks the USP of automation systems directed towards improving living standards. Controlling your world at your home rests at your finger tips. Want to create the mood you want? Exploit mood lighting in shades that well synchronize with your disposition – red for passion, blue or white for calmness. Dim the lights according to the occasion, say, creating an environment equivalent to a candle-lit dinner! Don’t want to attend the stranger at the door? Use your video phone to leave a message. Want the lights of the corridor, garage, and other specific rooms of your home get switched on according to day-night settings? Use pre-set timings in the automation systems that control the lightings. Want the lighting and HVAC of every room of your home get switched on and off according to occupancy? Use motion sensors; you will save significantly on energy. Want to monitor your kids and helpers at home or the security of your home while you are away at work or for shopping? Just a touch of your smart phone lets you access the same. Thanks to the security systems installed.

Key Benefits of Home Automation Technology

·         Enjoy convenience and luxury of controlling your home systems from your smart phone

·         Avail round-the-clock security at home; your home is secured even while you are miles away

·         Save maximum energy, thus saving big on electricity bills, month after month

·         Get connected to your world at home remotely, using your smart phone

·        Live the green life comfortably, contributing to the creation of a greener earth.

There are countless possibilities with home automation systems. Automation providers recommend use of LED lights and maximum-star rated HVAC and electronic products for maximum energy savings. When we speak about security, it is an integration of myriad products, viz. CCTV cameras, video door phone, burglar alarms, gas leak sensors, glass break sensors, DVRs, and other surveillance systems that are connected to a centralized control. The differently abled, senior citizens, and kids gain a competitive advantage of living in a smart and safe environment.

Enjoy the wonders of home automation technology! Control your living space the way you want!

Threats to Industrial Automation and Safeguarding Tips!

Enter any industrial segment; you will be shipped to a terrain of challenges, competition, and the war of the survival of the fittest. If automation and control drive most of the industrial activities in hotels, offices, factories, institutes, malls, etc. the cyber security quotient does arise. Cyber threats can lead to brand erosion and potentially significant monetary loss.

Asset owners who exploit automation and control systems like PLC, SCADA, and RFID are aware about the possible threats and accordingly install security solutions to minimize the risk of cyber attacks and breakdowns. Cyber attacks are generally aimed as a result of personal grievance or interrupting industrial activities for various gains, which may be political or monetary gains or business rivalries.

“Industrial automation involves use of open and collaborative networks. Users should be aware of the various threats and exploit measures to safeguard their industrial activities. It is generally a blend of inadequate firewalls, unsecured remote access, and lack of segmentation of network that makes automation and control systems more vulnerable to threats,” says Mr. C P Singh, Founder and Chief Mentor of Smart Automation (a leading service provider of home automation solutions and energy saving products).

Possible cyber threats / what causes cyber threats
•    Error by installer / designer in configuring/installing the system
•    Hacking of automation and control systems – SCADA, PLC, RFID
•    Manipulation of industrial protocol simulated in a control system
•    Manipulation of hardware devices
•    Keeping a foothold by putting down a Trojan to maintain access
•    Exfiltration of VPN configuration files
•    Using SQL injection to do HMI attacks
•    Cross-site request forgery and stealing of credentials
•    Error in running processes and systems by the operator
•    No adequate maintenance and upgradation of SCADA, PLC, RFID
•    Malicious attacks from internal sources.

Network loopholes not to mention hardware and software issues can also facilitate easy cyber threats. When we speak about hardware and software issues, it is all about unsecured remote terminal units (RTUs), computers, specific HMI, smart phones, peripherals, USBs, etc. How the software is controlled also matters!

Here are few tips asset owners in the industrial segment can follow for safeguarding control systems from cyber attacks:
•    Establishing base lines at the port and channel level
•    Disable Internet access if you see a threat
•    Prioritize on basic password management or changeover management
•    Use a USB media lockdown
•    Reduce observables for hackers to find you
•    Put the control system on a sub-net to deny access to other systems
•    Any unused feature of your control system should be secured and maintained
•    Do not use unsecured and outdated hardware and software.

Addressing the challenges posed by cyber threats is what many an asset owner today is prioritizing when using automation and control systems.

How Industrial Automation Products Influence Business Activities?

Yes, there are noticeable ways of enhancing profit margins by keeping costs to the minimum and enhancing productivity. How? Irrespective of how small or big your business venture is and irrespective of the business sector, you can exploit a number of areas to improve efficiency. Think of any office space, malls, trade buildings, factories, institutes, hospitals – operational efficiency is achieved via automation and control.

Almost all business processes are supported by automation and control systems like PLC, RFID, SCADA, what is in a phrase termed as ‘industrial automation’. When it comes to staying ahead in competition and generating bottom-line savings, it is all about investing wisely in industrial automation technology. Automating electromechanical processes, managing and controlling power consumption to the optimum, tracking and monitoring inventory and assets, and more are facilitated by PLC, RFID, SCADA, and other automation and control systems.

“Few of the key resources of any business are energy and water. Cost effective management of these resources via use of industrial automation technology can pave the way in driving cost savings and enhancement of productivity. Huge saving of energy bills every month can leave a positive impact on your overall profits. In the process, carbon emissions are reduced thus enhancing environmental credentials,” says Mr. C P Singh, Founder and Chief Mentor of Smart Automation (a leading service provider of home automation solutions and energy saving products).

RFID or radio-frequency identification addresses an assortment of business applications today. It is a tracking and monitoring system that uses intelligent tags or bar codes to track movement of goods, assets, animals, and people. Few of the business segments that exploit RFID include military supply chain, retail supply chain, automated payment solutions, asset tracking, document tracking, container / baggage tracking and management, vehicle, paper and aircraft assembly, pharmaceutical management and tracking, reusable pallet and container management, hotels, hospitals, and the list goes on.

PLC or programmable logic controllers are sophisticated digital computers that effectively serve the purpose of automation and control. Programming languages the PLC follows include function block diagram, structured text, IEC 61131-3 standard, ladder logic, mnemonic instruction, and more. Performing multiple inputs as well as output arrangements happens with the PLC.
SCADA or supervisory control and data acquisition, as the abbreviation suggests, is an advanced digital computer that monitors and controls industrial processes on a large scale. Today, small and big business houses use increased number of connections between SCADA systems integrating the same with the Internet and office networks.

Let industrial automation steer your profit improvement program, well aligned with your business goals.

Top 4 Must-Have Industrial Automation Products!

Thanks to inventors and innovators who have designed and developed control systems for a broad range of applications. Industrial automation runs on these control systems, especially PLC and SCADA. Users enjoy key twin benefits of enhanced productivity and reduced operating costs.

PLC
Before the PLC was introduced, closed-loop controllers, relays, cam timers and scores of related devices were integrated and used as control systems, which were highly expensive, time consuming, and required regular maintenance. PLC has given controlling or automation of electromechanical processes a new dimension. Right from system expandability, input/output control to sequential/position control, effortless storing, timed counting, and more, features of the PLC are myriad. In short, it is a multi-tasking digital computer system. High flexibility, durability, and cost-effectiveness are the USPs of this industrial automation product.

SCADA
Another indispensable industrial automation product is SCADA or supervisory control and data acquisition. This industrial computer controlling system is regulated by PLC or RTU. Monitoring and controlling of industrial processes has never been so easy! Besides monitoring and controlling energy consumption related to lighting, HVAC, the scope of SCADA also includes industrial and infrastructure processes. The journey of SCADA architectures from ‘monolithic’ wherein computing was done by mainframe computers; ‘distributed’ that saw distribution of processes across multiple stations to ‘networked’ involving use of standard protocols and security techniques, has seen innovative additions and upgradations. Today, it is ‘internet of things’ involving cloud computing that implements more complex control algorithms, that is increasingly being used as SCADA architecture.

Motor Controllers
Industrial automation of any industrial space is again incomplete without Motor controllers. Right from controlling sprinklers, window curtains, door openings to other various kind of repetitive activities, a motor controller executes all according to set programs.

RFID
When it comes to addressing safety issues, especially tracking of inventory and assets, RFID is the solution. With workplace safety and discipline being the need of the hour today, RFID technology plays an effective role in maintaining the same. Whether it is enhancing security and visibility of shipments by exporters and importers or gathering ambient data of perishable products or tracking non consumable items in hospitals or patient tracking in all environments, the scope of RFID is vast.

Mentor Talk
“Increasing productivity, reducing costs, workplace safety, improving quality, and conserving energy through optimum power consumption are issues that industry bodies including hotels, hospitals, malls, institutes, factories, offices and other industrial units seek to address today. The answer is industrial automation. Use of this technology is gaining big impetus today,” says Mr. C P Singh, Founder and Chief Mentor of Smart Automation (a leading service provider of home automation solutions and energy saving products).

So as an industry owner, what are you waiting for? Automate your industrial space and avail the many benefits of industrial automation!

Why Industrial Automation and Control Systems? - Understand the Need

Who isn’t familiar with the concept of green building! Whether it is residential or commercial spaces, energy saving measures are implemented the big way today to save the earth’s natural resources. Besides, it helps manage rising energy costs through optimum usage. Month after month, you save huge on your electricity bills. Green building is not only about utilizing energy saving techniques but also reducing environmental footprints. No wonder for many an organization big and small, one of the first strides towards achieving sustainability is building energy efficiency. Industrial automation systems make it possible!

When we speak about a commercial green building, it is about using industrial automation systems to centrally manage and control the entire functioning of the building in terms of power supply, water supply, security, fire and ventilation and the scope expands according to requirements. Once you are geared up to automate your commercial space or building, your chosen reliable automation service provider will visit your premise, understand your requirements and the space, and accordingly identify and implement the most effective solutions for achieving sustainability.

Without the use of industrial automation and control systems, implementing the aforesaid measures aren’t feasible. PLC, Scada, RFID, cables and wires, smart control interface, motor controllers, touch panels, and more are the industrial automation systems that give shape to a green building.

Industrial Automation enables:
·        Reduced operational costs
·        Improved quality of work and business processes
·        Increased productivity
·        Quick and efficient handling of repetitive tasks
·        Security and safety of workplace, premise, and staff
·        Completing of specific tasks that are too tedious or difficult for humans
·        Involvement of few manpower
·        Tracking of inventory with the touch of a button
·        Controlled energy usage through optimum usage of lights, HVAC, and other power systems.

“Sustainability in a competitive environment today is all about using resources of your commercial space efficiently. Many an industry body including hotels, hospitals, institutes, factories, offices, malls, trade buildings, individual commercial spaces install industrial automation systems for energy saving, security, and reduced operational costs,” says Mr. C P Singh, Founder and Chief Mentor of Smart Automation (a leading service provider of home automation solutions and energy saving products).

The more energy you save, greener is your initiative. Turn your building into a green building installing energy saving LED lights, HVAC, and other electric devices and managing and controlling them for optimum usage via use of industrial automation systems. Choosing the right automation service provider does matter to give shape to your green initiative the right way!

What is Industrial Automation? - An Overview

Increasing profitability is the key objective behind the subsistence of a company or commercial establishment. A host of factors goes into the fruition of this objective, one being industrial automation. Implementation of this technology not only reduces operational costs but also ensures business efficiency, power management, and convenience. In short, industrial automation is the use of control systems to control and manage digital, electrical, and electronic tasks.

Where the concept of green building is gaining momentum, industrial building automation and control systems equally play an instrumental role in the conservation of energy, thus contributing to the preservation of the earth’s natural resources for future generations. Today, building automation has become an integral part of the commercial segment.

Industrial automation and control systems ensure true value for money. With a one-time investment, a significant life-time saving month after month is ensured. Irrespective of whether it is a small or big building, a small or big business, a plethora of different functions can be performed through automation. Factories, schools, hospitals, institutes, malls, offices, trade buildings, hotels, individual commercial spaces – the scope of automation encompasses all segments. The compass of automation also covers security, safety, and convenience, which connote installation of security and surveillance systems.

Few of the industrial automation and control systems include PLC, Scada, RFID, motor controller, touch panels, smart interface for centralized control, and more.
Expediencies include the following, to mention a few:

·        Use of LED lights and automated lighting control of the entire space

·        Tracking of inventory in real time

·        Monitoring of power usage, ensuring optimum usage

·        Power point control of board room, meeting room, and other spaces

·        Lengthening lives of UPS, lights, and other power devices

·        Detection of fire and smoke through alarm systems to avoid any possible emergency

·        Monitoring of projectors and other commercial equipments

·        Customized security management, ensuring recruitment of fewer manpower but enhanced security

·        Online central video surveillance via installation of CCTV cameras and other security products

·        Enhanced security within the campus round the clock

·        Wise control of HVAC for smart power management

·        Decrease of greenhouse gas emissions.


All the aforementioned happens via centralized control from a smart interface – it can be a smart phone, an i-pad, a remote or a computer system. Keeping tab on the progress the commercial or office space and keeping check on veiled threats happens with the touch of a button. This is the wonder of industrial automation and control systems!

Are you looking for automating your industrial space, contact Smart Automation Technologies India for the best in class technology and accountable workmanship.