Next generation smart home systems using hardware acceleration techniques

Abstract

This paper presents a proof-of-concept for home automation allowing capture, process and transmission of voice commands over Ethernet. The described approach relies on reconfigurable hardware and a software application for controlling distributed devices via vocal commands. An initial overall system evaluation was carried out to assess the system's performance. The solution has been deployed in a noisy environment simulating a typical scenario for the support of people with moving difficulties (e.g. Hospital room, retirement home living room). The attained results validate the worthiness of the concept. It is expected that this concept will evolve to a SoC (System-on-a-Chip) solution that could be easily deployed in real scenarios. © 2011 IEEE.