ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces important notions tied to smart home research and the goals of the practical guidelines. It describes the challenges to face in the design of the hardware portion of smart homes. In particular, the criteria to take into account when choosing sensors are discussed, accompanied by a description of the advantages and disadvantages of each type. The chapter provides information about communication technologies and about the importance of the effectors. It also introduces the crucial software functionalities that should be implemented toward the goal of rapid prototyping focusing particularly on artificial intelligence (AI), and discusses some important criteria for software development for smart homes. The chapter also describes smart home from both the hardware and software sides, by presenting a LIARA smart home case study. Finally, it discusses the importance of promoting international exchange and collaboration between researchers and describes open tools project, which serves that goal.
