On Friday 23rd February PETRAS held an IoT in the Home workshop at BRE (Building Research Establishment) Watford.
The goal of the workshop led by Alisdair Ritchie, PETRAS Impact Champion, and Jeremy Watson, PETRAS director, was to prepare thinking for a Demonstrator project on IoT in the domestic context.
A good span of interests was represented, with the key User Partners of BRE, Pinsent Masons, BT and Which?, plus academics involved in aligned projects from Edinburgh, Imperial College, Lancaster, UCL and Warwick.
Discussions centred on the opportunities afforded by BRE’s unique Innovation Park – more than eight houses fitted with sensors; three with PV generation and battery storage, and one equipped as a fully ‘Smart Home’, full of voice activated and automated appliances using IoT technology.
The workshop exposed concerns about new cyberattack surfaces that might be exposed by pervasive deployment of IoT devices, and identified the need for IoT data structures that layer data with contextualised information, device identity, application definition, and permissions for use.
The key themes that emerged from presentations and discussion covered social and technical aspects of IoT deployment in the home. Participants homed in on energy management and micro-trading within a street or a district, and how well IoT and voice-activated devices would be accepted, when they are part of a standard house design, rather than being fitted by geeky enthusiasts.
Tools and advisory frameworks for procurement, deployment and maintenance of IoT systems were also discussed, along with the qualification of products and services.
While at BRE two lunchtime visits allowed all delegates to see the Innovation Park and buildings of particular relevance for the Demonstrator.
If you are interested in contributing to this Demonstrator project, or have knowledge you would like us to incorporate, please contact Jeremy Watson CBE, Director of the PETRAS Hub and Professor of Engineering Systems at UCL.