Home security system: Alert door or window is opened. The Korner

The Internet of Things market is full of home sensor systems, many of which can be applied to home security by including motion detectors or two-part magnetic sensors that can tell when a door or window is opened. But none is quite as simple as Korner

Each Korner sensor tag is a small right triangle that sticks to the top corner of a door or window, flush against the frame. It’s a one-piece sensor, so there’s no need to line up a pair of magnets. And unlike motion detectors, Korner can’t be triggered by a pet or other false-alarm scenarios.

The exact combination of sensors Korner uses to tell when a door or window is opened is patent-pending, so the designers haven’t released specifics -- except to say that it’s more than a simple accelerometer. Presumably there’s also some kind of proximity detection, which would explain why the tag needs to live at the corner, right up against the frame. The designers also claim that the tags have been optimized to ignore small vibrations like a knock or light wind, but will trigger an alert for heavy vibrations like a window breaking. The tags connect over Zigbee and run for up to three years on a replaceable coin cell battery.

Up to 15 tags can be supported on a single hub, which is a small fob that plugs into an ethernet port on the home’s wifi router. In the event of a break-in, the hub emits a shrill audio alarm and pushes an alert to the homeowner’s phone. In the Korner app, an alert presents two options: one to call police; the other to notify friends, family, or neighbors that the user has added to their “security circle.”

Wireless Sleep Sensors

There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep, and the Withings Aura promises a high-tech solution to make sure you get your Zs. It’s the latest in Withings’ line of connected health products that includes scales, activity monitors, and blood pressure cuffs.

Aura consists of two devices, connected through a smartphone app. One is a thin sensor pad that lays across your mattress at about chest height. It senses very small motions, like breathing and heart rate, and also the large motions created by tossing and turning. The other is a combination device that can replace your alarm clock and bedside lamp, and also includes a Bluetooth speaker.

At bedtime, the multicolor LED lamp shifts into a spectrum of light known to stimulate the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate our sleep cycle. When it’s time to wake up, the lamp shifts again into the melatonin-suppressing spectrum. Meanwhile the speaker can produce soothing noises to gently ease you in and out of sleep.

Sensors in the bedside device record ambient light and sound levels, which it can compare with your movement, breathing, and heart rate to determine how soundly you’re sleeping throughout the night and identify disruptions or patterns. All this data, of course, is available on your phone so you can further optimize your sleep schedule.

Although Aura was unveiled this week at CES, it won’t be available until spring 2014. And as CNET noted in their coverage, this is a product that you’d probably want to try for yourself before deciding whether it really works or not. The scientific evidence that melatonin is effective for improving sleep is only so-so, according to the National Institutes of Health. But data from the motion-tracking and other sensors could provide useful insights for any sleeper.

 

 

 

Detecting the flood in citizen

The Oxford Flood Network is a citizen science project to keep tabs on flooding in local waterways. It’s an example of how the Internet of Things can enable a community to be more connected to its environment (Which is especially relevant in this area after the destructive season of flooding that has plagued much of the UK since the end of 2013).

Ben Ward, founder of UK startup Love Hz, is the brains behind the project. His company specializes in wireless sensor networks, and is leading development of the low-cost, open-source equipment and software that will monitor water levels in the Oxford floodplain.

The idea is to design sensors that are cheap and easy for citizens to build and install; the data will be published openly so anyone can use it to improve emergency alerts and gain a better understanding of the ecosystem. All of this comes on the heels of some of the worst flooding the UK has seen in years with two severe warnings still in place.

Each sensor is designed to live under a bridge or overhang above the water. An ultrasonic rangefinder sends out “pings” -- like a bat’s echolocation -- to determine the water level at five-minute intervals. The latest version runs on a small battery and includes a temperature sensor that helps account for the speed of sound varying with air temperature, which could otherwise throw off readings by several centimeters.