The smart home is getting even more intelligent

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT) are revolutionizing intelligent homes. Increasingly, this technology is becoming mainstream — you no longer have to be tech savvy to enjoy the benefits. If you have a smartphone and Wi-Fi, you’re good to go.
 

Observe, command, control

Let’s take a quick tour of where the intelligent home is headed. You’ll note from the outset that the smart home is built on AI and machine learning, all happening in intelligent edge devices. Each of these devices requires ample performance, low power, and small-footprint memory and storage to deliver intelligent decisions.

We’ll start at the front door, where smart doorbells are among the most popular technologies today. Many have video capabilities, so you can see exactly what’s happening outside. Forbes notes that some smart doorbells even integrate “temperature-taking functionality so that people can screen their guests for one of the most basic COVID-19 indicators before allowing them inside.”

This technology is part of the home’s increasingly sophisticated intelligent security system, which allows you to observe, command and control from afar. More than just cameras, these AI-based systems can differentiate between the harmless (a neighborhood dog running through your front yard) and the concerning (an unknown figure approaching your front door). 
 

The personalized home

As we enter the home, it’s all about personalization. As Wired reports, “homes will soon become intelligent enough to distinguish between family members and guests within physical spaces and adapt to individual needs based on biometrics like fingerprints, body temperatures and even the rhythm of our own heartbeats.”

Your smartphone or a wearable “will authenticate your identity by pairing itself to your specific biometric signature, allowing your home to automatically adjust the lighting and room temperature and play custom music based on personalized preferences and pre-configured profiles.” 

In the kitchen, your intelligent refrigerator’s cameras and sensors not only alert you when you’re low on items but reorder them for you. It can even suggest healthier alternatives to what you’re now eating (if you desire). And your dishwasher, range and microwave can all contain preventative maintenance sensors to identify problems before they escalate. 

In the bathroom, your medicine cabinet can monitor medication consumption, alert you or your pharmacy about upcoming refills, and warn of potential drug interactions or allergic reactions.

The home’s smoke alarms alert you to heat and smoke and can tell if someone is cooking, the fireplace is lit or your house is on fire. If the smart system detects cooking smoke, it automatically turns on the exhaust fan or even opens windows. If it detects a fire, the system immediately alerts the fire department. 

Throughout the house, air purifiers, water filtration systems and air conditioners are also run by preventative maintenance systems that reorder filters based on your appliance models. These systems are not time-based. Instead, checkup alerts are based on the actual use and duty cycle of each device.

Even the basic infrastructure of your house can contain sensors to identify the source of water damage. And with sensor visibility into your walls, you can be alerted to the location of termites or other pest infestations — before any damage is done. 
 

Energy management

One of the biggest priorities for homeowners is managing energy more efficiently and in real time. 

Intelligent thermostats can align preferred temperature to your routines, increasing efficiency and lowering utilities bills. Systems like Nest claim to save U.S. customers an average of 10% to 12% on their heating bills and about 15% on their cooling bills annually. Homeowners save – and do their part for the environment.
 

Low-power solutions for the intelligent home

The intelligent home has come a long way from turning lights on and off with a smartphone. Today, these AI-enabled systems are connected home ecosystems, controlled by dedicated hardware touchscreen panels on your wall or coffee table or in the palm of your hand. 

These technologies have almost become an expectation instead of a luxury. Multiple touchscreen edge devices mean that data —and intelligence — is moving closer to the edge and with it comes the requirement to efficiently capture data and make informed decisions with it. 

Many of these devices use minimal data, but others can require quite a lot. Anything that’s streaming can use 100MB per hour, and high-resolution security cameras use 140GB per month. If your camera has facial recognition, the amount of data used can jump to ~400GB.

This much data means that intelligent home devices require higher DRAM performance for more efficient machine learning execution. And embedded storage size will increase as more endpoints are managed by a single edge device. The right selection of memory and storage plays an essential role in supporting these functional and system architectures.

Micron’s leading memory and storage solutions are accelerating the growth of IoT devices that power the intelligent home. Our low-power DRAM (LPDRAM) solutions are ideal for small form factor devices where battery life is critical. Managed NAND solutions provide compact, nonvolatile storage for both code and data. And Micron SSDs have high capacity and superior performance for aggregated data analysis.
 

Summary

Micron’s high-performing, low-power, small-footprint memory and storage products are optimized for these always-on devices, providing the necessary features, performance and reliability to facilitate everything from personalization to energy management. These memory and storage solutions enable consumer applications to enrich your life and automate your world.