Smart Homes and Buildings

The design and implementation of Internet of Things (IoT)-based solutions in smart homes and buildings is emerging, given their applicability in various aspects, including, for instance, the energy efficiency, water management, security, and healthcare domains. Following this trend, the current chapter focuses on the presentation of a generic architectural approach that can lead to the design, development, and deployment of efficient and user-friendly IoT-based solutions in smart homes and buildings. Various aspects related to IoT nodes’ communication, data aggregation and management, homogeneous data representation, data analysis, and support of automated functionalities and personalized recommendations are considered. The proposed approach is open and modular in order to be applicable – partially or as a whole – to a wide set of application scenarios, depending on the exact end user needs, the technological challenges faced, and the constraints imposed from the smart home and building infrastructure.