Kai Kreuzer updates us on the progress of the open home Automation Bus (openHAB) software project…
Only 8 months after our 1.0 release we have reached release 1.2 – what sounds like an unimportant change in the version, indicates in reality that openHAB has now spread out to lots of areas of home automation. This is obvious by checking out the number of bindings: We have reached 30 bindings now (openHAB 1.0 had 14 bindings) – this indicates a new binding every two weeks!
When somebody asked me last year, what kind of hardware he could use to start with, the answer was difficult. KNX was our focus, but this is not a suitable system for the average user – especially not, if you are not building a new house, but want to retrofit one. By now the question is much much easier to answer – let me give you an introduction of the new possibilities that the openHAB 1.2 brings:
Homematic Binding
At least for users in Germany, one of the most interesting bindings is the one for Homematic – this is a radio-based (868 MHz) option with a long list of available sensors and actuators that covers a large range of home automation needs. openHAB can now integrate with the Homematic CCU, the central gateway of a Homematic installation. You can as a result now make use of all the great UIs of openHAB and its powerful automation possibilities. but a lot of importantly, you can now very easily integrate your Homematic devices with all others that are supported by openHAB – e.g. you could extend your KNX installation by Homematic devices, where ever you cannot reach out with a KNX bus cable.
Philips color Binding
If you are trying to find a basic option for light control, the Philips Hue system is a best fit. You can simply replace your existing bulbs and you can quickly switch them, dim them, change their color temperature or change their color altogether. The color System can be extended by the Living Whites plug, i.e. you can also include your existing lights or switch other sockets.
Note that a Philips color system is not really helpful if used standalone. You can only use the features through a smartphone app. and yes, it is very tedious to always get hold of your phone when you need to switch the light. thankfully Philips encourages developers to integrate it. In combination with openHAB, you can as a result use wall switches (Homematic, KNX, etc.) or NFC identifies to take pleasure in all the power of the color bulbs.
DMX Binding
If you like a a lot more professional touch, you could choose the DMX binding. DMX is typically used for stage lighting and effects. The DMX binding makes use of the Open lighting architecture (OLA). You can program it to do fades and loops and lots of amazing things. This is probably the binding of choice for illuminating your house for next Christmas
Koubachi Binding
Want to integrate your plants in your home automation? have a look at Koubachi! Koubachi uses sensors that you simply stick in your plant pot and which supplies information about soil moisture, temperature and brightness. Koubachi then calculates watering instructions and makes sure that you will never forget to take care of your plants. The openHAB Koubachi now gives you access to all sensor values as well as to the calculated instructions. Koubachis’ slogan “give your plants a voice” thus becomes reality with openHAB text-to-speech. but instead of picking up the watering-can yourself, you could instead also automate your irrigation system!
Further new bindings include RFXCOM, Samsung TV and PulseAudio.
HABDroid with NFC-Support
The Android native client is now available on Google Play Store! Besides full support of all new runtime features such as the color picker widget, it now comes with a wonderful NFC-support: You can very easily program NFC identifies to use them to open a certain page in HABDroid or to directly activate an action. This makes it possible to have quick access to what you need in a certain context (e.g. room). It can also be used instead of a physical button whereever it is tough to have one – e.g. at a socket in the garden, at the garage door, etc. I bet you can think of a million other use cases for it!
There are lots of other new features and enhancements in this release – just check out our release notes to find out about all details. If you are interested in openHAB, you shouldn’t miss our upcoming talks and live demos: On April 24 you will find us at JAX 2013 in Mainz and on may 16 at GeeCON 2013!
openhab.org : Republished from original with Kind authorization of Kai Kreuzer
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