Interface Usability

Assessment Item 1

Project Brief SMART Home Heating Control Panel

Table of Contents
Overview...................................................................................................................................3
Vision.........................................................................................................................................3
Scope..........................................................................................................................................4
Outcomes...................................................................................................................................5
Assumptions..............................................................................................................................6

Overview
A wall-mounted smart thermostat with an intuitive touch-screen and stainless
steel dial capable of reducing energy consumption and utility bill is proposed.
The thermostat features wi-fi connectivity and can be controlled via a mobile
application and a web browser. It is also characterised by an artificial
intelligence unit to learn about the usage pattern and adapt the temperature
settings accordingly.
2

This project brief begins with the highlights of the vision of the features of the
product, followed by specification of the scope of the product. It then outlines
the outcomes against which the success of the product can be measured. A
brief description of the assumptions made when designing the product ends
the report.

Vision
A smart thermostat that is affordable, energy efficient, cost effective, userfriendly, well designed, mobile and web-application based and with artificial
intelligence is to be engineered. The product should be affordable in the
sense that the initial purchase cost should be competitive. Heating costs
significantly increase the power consumption in homes, and hence, the
product should provide energy saving features to reduce utility bills of the
consumers. It should be easy to use and elegant in design so that it looks
like a piece of art, and not an ugly machine on the walls of the living rooms,
bedrooms and kitchens of the consumers. The product should also have
connectivity and data transmission features so that it can be controlled via a
mobile application and/or a web browser. Finally, it should have artificial
intelligence (AI) to learn about the home heating habits of the consumer so
that it can automatically set temperatures and the user does not have to
think much about energy consumption. The AI unit should also be able to
analyse data and suggest techniques for environmental and financial
efficiency.

Scope
The product scope is to design and deliver a smart thermostat. Since the
product will be marketed in cold climate areas, only heating functions need

to be addressed. Air-conditioning need not taken into account in the design.

The product will be able to work with most types of heating systems such as
hot air, hot water, steam, electric etc. The product will work in houses with
both central heating, spatial heating and zonal heating. In houses with zonal
heating, the product should be able to support at least three zones to save
heat consumption.
The product should have the following features:

Ability to pre-set temperature while at home

Ability to pre-set temperature when out of home (using mobile

app/web)
Ability to pre-set temperature for different times and different days
Ability to pre-set temperature for different zones
Ability to recognise and warn sources of excessive energy usage
Ability to learn the heating preferences of the consumer at different

times, days and zones

Ability to override any pre-set or learnt heating settings
Ability to approximate time needed to reach a certain temperature

(learnt)
An infrared sensor to turn screen on when a human being approaches
it

The product design should make it look elegant when mounted on the wall. It
should be intuitive to use. It will be featured with a touch screen that can be
interacted with, surrounded by a stainless steel dial that can moved manually
to increase or decrease the temperature (which can also be changed using
the touch screen). The touch screen will display several features such as
product details, settings, connectivity details, usage details, setting
temperatures, suggestions for energy consumption reduction, etc.

Outcomes
The thermostat should have the following outcomes:

Affordable - The thermostat should have a similar cost to that of existing

thermostats in the market.
Energy and cost efficient - The thermostat should be able to reduce energy
consumption and thus the utility bill of the consumer by displaying current
usage and tips for saving, and learning usage pattern and usage
minimization strategies via smart intelligence.
Temperature setting and overriding - The new smart system should be able
to set different temperatures at different times in houses with zoning
systems. Such houses have zone relay panels which will be controlled by
the thermostat. These and learnt features can be overridden when desired.
Mobile and web-friendly - The user should be able to access energy usage
data and control settings of the thermostat using mobile application as well
as via the web.
Easy user interface and good design - A touch screen mounted onto a wall
with stainless steel edges will serve as the user interface. Beneath the touch
screen interface, will be another interface [usually not seen] that will connect
the wires coming out of the heating system. This device will also hold the
computing and electronic circuitry that controls the functioning of the touch
screen.
Data monitoring and intelligence - The smart system should be able to
gather data on power consumption, temperature and other relevant items,
and use that data to automatically set temperatures for special days and
time periods according to the users habits. The user should be able to
override any learnt behaviour. The data should be accessible for personal
analysis on the consumers unique web/mobile page as well.

Assumptions
5

The following assumptions have been made:

The budget for the design and development of the product can be extended
if required. The company is able to absorb initial losses, if necessary, to
capture market share by appealing to the better user interface and
associated cost-savings of the product.
A microprocessor with processing ability comparable to a Macintosh, ROM
for program code and non-volatile RAM for storage settings is available.
A micro-computer can connect to the internet via the home network, and
thus be accessed via both the web and a mobile application.
A state-of-the-art touch screen with infrared sensor is available at a
competitive price.
The user interface for mobile platform and web browser will be top-notch as
well, though not part of this design.