Supportive Smart Home Systems: Utilization Assessment for Internet Service Provider Networks

The use of residence-based well-being assessment through ambient and, in some cases, wearable sensors has led to many research projects for residential monitoring systems and supportive smart homes that are connected over the Internet to cloud processing. Many of these systems have been pilot tested and some early examples are entering commercial release. This report focuses on a key aspect for scaled use that has not been extensively considered which is the telecommunications provider network between the residence and the cloud. This work reports a 10-fold difference in network traffic generated between systems performing the same functionality and predominance of very small packets which must be routed. The project compares two smart home systems providing well-being monitoring and two smart bed sensors that assess vital signs and sleep. The results show how the design of sensing systems can vary greatly and that widespread deployment, such as many residences in a multi-tenant building, will force consideration of these effects within the telecommunication provider services.