CCTV at B&Q

["Campbell" <campbell@xxxxxxx>]

I noticed today B&Q has some cctv kits at £35 for Ring and £29 for
Kingston
(I think). Has anyone tried these kits. They are supplied with cabling,
scart, 12v dc supply and of course a wide angle B/W camera for external
use.
They may be useful for doors etc.

Campbell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Doxey" <keith.doxey@xxxxxxx>
To: "UKHA Discussion" <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2000 9:56 PM
Subject: [ukha_d] Millenium Homes [VERY LONG]


> Hi All,
>
> Today I attended an excellent lecture given by Professor Heinz Wolfe
of
> Brunel University (and Great Egg Race fame).
>
> The subject for the lecture was Millenium Homes and the kind of
technology
> that he believes will be in common use in the next few years. I was
> expecting to see all kinds of gizmo's and gadgets but the lecture
opened
up
> many new avenues of thought for me.
>
> Until now I have always looked upon Home Automation as a provider of
cool
> features for the gadget mad and as a means of providing assistance
with
> physical disabilities or impairments. He acknowledged the existance of
the
> "Smart Home" concept where the house could be controlled
from anywhere and
> performed a variety of self management tasks without user intervention
but
> pointed out that it was only part of the role an Intelligent Home
could
> perform.
>
> What he described was a "Caring Home" designed to assist the
elderly and
> semi-infirm to continue to live an independant and dignified existance
in
> their own home rather than to shove then into a home and wait for them
to
> die.
>
> The emphasis was on monitoring the wellbeing of the occupant rather
than
> controlling the home or taking control away from the owner, although
in
the
> case of obvious danger such as excess water flow or gas turned on but
not
> lit, then the service would be shut off and the alarm raised. that
isnt to
> say than the system cant be used for control if required to assist
someone
> has difficulties in one way or another.
>
> Monitoring takes place on things like - doors, beds, chairs, rooms,
toilet
> being occupied, toilet being flushed, fridge being opened and closed,
bath
> being ru/overflowing etc. The system had different levels of concern.
For
> instance, if the normal sleep pattern of the owner was 10pm - 7am the
system
> would not worry if they were still in bed at 0730 but would be getting
> concerned by 0830 and by 0900 giving voice announcements saying
"do you
> think you should be getting up now". Acting on the tone of the
reply is
> could then ask questions that required simple YES/NO answers to either
> reassure itself or raise the alarm. eg "Do you feel unwell",
"Do you need
> the doctor" etc. Obviously a total lack of reply would be taken
as an
> immeadiate emergency.
>
> The toilet being flushed 3 times in an hour during the early hours
might
> indicate a case of food poisoning. Likewise, the fridge not being
opened
for
> a period of 8 or more hours might indicate the occupant wasnt eating
> properly etc
>
> I feel that some of these features combined with the Smart Home
concept
> could make a really good system.
>
> After the lecture there were several questions from the audience and
one
> really interesting one was on the subject of the reliability (or lack
) of
> the software. Prof. Wolfe's reply was very interesting. He said that
the
> system was monitoring the house and a fast response was not essential,
by
> fast he meant milliseconds, and that a couple of minutes to respond to
a
> sensor was not overly critical, therefore the system could be made to
> periodically reboot itself to ensure that any bugs got cleared out.
>
> He did also say that....
>  "a popular and widely used operating system might not be the
best choice
> for such a system"
> ....which got a good response from the audience :-))
>
> He also mentioned Door Locks and showed prototype locks designed for
> allowing carers to enter the home to provide assistance. The one shown
was
> Chubb lock (Yale type key not 5 lever) with special notched cut into
the
> back of the key. There were only a small number of combinations, (my
guess
> is 32 or 64) which are read by photoelectric sensors in the barrel.
The
key
> doesnt operate the lock but merely indicated to the computer the
user/users
> of that particular key. If the computer has raise the alarm in will
> recognise that help has arrived and open the electrically operated
lock.
At
> any other time that key is useless but it could be used for several
houses
> in one area. One important thing mentioned about the design of the
locks
was
> that it HAD TO LOOK NORMAL to prevent indicating to undesireables that
a
> potentially vulnerable person lived there. that instantly made me
think
> about the recent discussion here about iButton/Fingerprint/Iris
recognition,
> those houses would look anything but normal. He also said they were
working
> on 5 lever mortice locks because of insurance companies etc.
>
> Looks like some of the hardware we desire could be available fairly
soon.
>
> On the question of cost he said the intended target price for a
typical
> sysem was < £3000 but that he expected the systems to be leased for
50-60
> pounds per week rather than bought outright. That charge would include
a
fee
> to cover the callcentres involved  in the monitoring process. He
expects
the
> takeup to be quite high with lots of interest from Health Insurers who
see
> paying £50 per week to enable people to live independantly as a much
nicer
> alternative to paying £500 per week to put them in care.
>
> Privicy was also meantioed a great deal, and it was pointed out that
NO
> cameras are used although they can be if desired and that no data
leaves
the
> house unless the computer or user wants it to.
>
> He talked at length about the difficulties of voice recognition at any
> distance above a few inches particularly in the presence of other
noises
and
> said that when the system needed to "interrogate" you, it
would mute all
> possible sources of noise eg TV, Hifi, Fans etc to improve
recognition. He
> also said that the best voice for the system to talk to you in
was....YOUR
> OWN. He said there is nothing wrong with talking to yourself :-))
>
> He also mentioned a program that can be found on the internet called
"Game
> Commander" or something like that for $49-99. It is primarily
intended for
> using voice control of computer games by simulating the required
keystrokes
> and can be customised to a large degree. He currently has it working
with
a
> vocabulary of around 200 words and has had good recognition over
several
> metres using a cheap PC microphone. There are a few small drawbacks
> though...as it is primarily intended for games, he cant get it to
respond
to
> the word "HELP" but if an emergency occurs he can shout
"GET OUT OF THE
> COCKPIT" and it works :-))
> The other thing he said about Game Commander was that it reponded well
even
> with quite high levels of ambient noise.
>
> He also said that a Millenium Homes website would be online in the
near
> future.
>
> Keith Doxey
> http://www.btinternet.com/~krazy.keith
> Krazy Keith's World of DIY HomeAutomation
>
>
>
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