In the circle of smart home business, many small- and medium-sized companies try to create their own smart home ecosystems while also making products that are compatible with more famous platforms like Amazon Alexa or Google Home.
In the circle of smart home business, many small- and medium-sized companies try to create their own smart home ecosystems while also making products that are compatible with more famous platforms like Amazon Alexa or Google Home.
One of them is Taiwan-based Good Way Technology. The company’s IoT department, which is a spin-off from the main docking station business unit, makes all major smart home components: IoT gateway, sensor and controller, said CD Liu, Director of SIoT R&D Division of Good Way Technology. The company has a close partnership with Intel Corp., which bought US$1.8 million worth of Good Way’s corporate bonds in November 2016, according to Liu.
The company’s Wi-Fi product line is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. The smart plug can be connected to various home appliances, and users may control them via Echo Dot with voice, or control them via mobile app.
The Z-Wave product line include gateway, sensors, in-wall switch, among others, which together can form a local voice control environment. The gateway is written with algorithms that dictate sequence of actions, such as when a sensor detects door opening, the alarm will sound and a push notification will be sent to homeowners’ smartphones.
Good Way works with a Chinese company to make a panel with voice control capability. The panel can store some commonly used voice commands and link to the gateway that control devices actions. The challenge is software integration between the panel and the gateway, Liu explained.
The panel is embedded with an IC for voice-to-text translation. Because the panel is not connected to the Internet for cloud processing, there will be less latency in data transmission, and security can be better ensured as hackers won’t be able to break in from the Internet or from the cloud. “It would be very scary if hackers can break in to take control of home devices,” Liu said.
In the local network, devices can operate using the Z-Wave standard, and Internet connection is not required. The local network is therefore immune from any Internet connectivity issues, Liu pointed out.
The drawback of a local voice system is that the voice IC has weaker processing power compared with the cloud, which can store infinite number of commands and can recognize far greater range of voices, Liu noted.