"Like the Gates home, the
systems in this home
effectively track the
movements of residents and
guests ..."

Smart Spaces - Really Hands-free

Creative Solutions and the Bottom Line

When Mark and Carol Johnson want to
escape to a restful retreat, they just go
home.  Upon arriving, they are transported
into a peaceful environment of hands-free
automation, created by Destiny Networks
Home Positioning System, an intelligent
sensor architecture, and Ubiquity 2.2
Software.

What Mark really enjoys about his house is
scene continuation.  Thanks to Destiny
Networks Domain 5000 Controller, when
Mark walks from the kitchen to the living
room, the LiteTouch lighting system
automatically illuminates the lights as he
enters  the room and turns them off as he
leaves  all without his ever having to push a
button or flip a switch.  Simultaneously,
classical music from the media room's
Sony SAT-B2 DSS receiver follows his
progress through the house, utilizing
Destiny's Follow-me Music software.  

In the evening the couple can enter the
living room, where a preset romantic scene
ignites the fireplace.  Mark and Carol can
relax, knowing that if the children leave their
second-floor bedrooms, the sensors will
pick up the movement and flash the living
room lights brightly to alert them.

During the pre-wire discussions, Mark told
installer Ken Klarfeld, of Fusion Audio
Technologies, that he wanted to wow his
friends and family with state-of-the-art
technology.  Mark was excited about the
idea of hands-free automation, and Carol
liked the idea of always knowing where the
children are by looking at her Web tablet or
laptop.  Plus, she never has to worry about
the kids turning off the lights after leaving a
room.

News reports and magazine articles about the
construction and outfitting of Gates’ $60 million
estate on Lake Washington outside Seattle have
played heavily on the home-controls angle and
technophiles everywhere are eating it up.

Lately, the subject of Gates’ home has come up
several times in initial client interviews, notes
Klarfeld.  Indeed, tales of the computer magnate’
s home has set the bar very high for system
integrators Such was the case in September of
1996 when Klarfeld and his partner John Maxon
met with a computer programmer who was
building a 9,600 square-foot home in Los Altos
Hills, Calif.

He too, wanted the ability to move through rooms
and have everything operate in a predetermined
manner, depending on the time of day or night.  

Like the Gates home, the systems in this home
effectively track the movements of residents and
guests – not with RF bracelets, but through the
use of scores of motion detectors.  The system
can tell not only when a person is present in a
room, but also which direction they are moving
via zone tripping schemes.  Not pictured in this
story are numerous Spy motion detectors
manufactured by Visonic.  They pick up
movements via small holes hollowed out of door
jabs throughout the home.

At night pathways are lighted at the push of a
button, or simply by the movements in and out of
rooms.  In the evening, on the way in from work,
an access card opens the driveway gate, lights
up the garage and car port areas and plays
music throughout the home.  Exterior lights go
out after there has been no motion detected for
10 minutes.

- Home Systems Installer

- Electronic Home