The internet of things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, objects and digital machines, that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and have the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer to interact between them.
Thanks to the LED and new technologies advances in the recent years with the Color Change Temperature options, now it is possible integrations with Smart Lighting appliances in order to achieve physical objects capable of gathering and sharing electronic information.
This conjunction of these two technologies has allowed for a new way of operating the lighting products permitting programmable configurations without human interaction and allowing for intercatucation with any other device connected to the network. Also, thanks for the IFTTT, this connection allow to further programmable settings that before was not possible.
Within the general public, there is certain degree of confusion with the Smart lighting as there are several main configurations available depending on the needs of each user or project. In our case, we embed different modules from Tuya together with our LED controllers to have full integration of the smart functions of the lamps.
In the case of Tuya, there are three different module configurations suitable for our smart lighting.:
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Wi-Fi module: This module allows the smart lighting to connect to a Wi-Fi network and make a permanent connection into the local LAN. This means the lighting product is not linked to any other device than the router and it is always accessible by Internet Protocol (IP), allowing users to configure the product in any location even being outside of the home network. In this system, operations are done through a smartphone App available for IOS and Android devices and it is able to handle multiple lights in the house under the same App.
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Bluetooth module: This module communication protocol is based on Bluetooth and operations and function are similar than Wi-fi except that they require near distance connectivity. On the other side, it is possible to use custom made remote and others dedicated controllers to activate them under a quicker pairing and faster reaction than the IP system.
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Zigbee module: Zigbee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios, such as for home automation. This protocol is used on more professional areas and usually, accompanied with other smart appliances, working together and managed under centralized remote panels or customized Smart phones App.
It is important to remark, that we usually recommend only one protocol by lighting product although it is possible to add multiple configurations in more complex developments.
Also, further connectivity protocols can be added to work with voice control devices like Amazon Alexa and Google assistant, although in these cases it is important to keep in mind the third party license costs.