How I chose the controller for the system "Smart Home"

The question of choice arises not only among beginners in the field of building automation, but also among integrators who have a lot of experience. The problem of choice is connected with the insufficiency of the project budget, the lack of a protocol for the controller to integrate with the equipment already on the site with the customer's “wishes”.

When I started searching for a controller, I first encountered the problem of choosing technical characteristics - I could not find a comparative table of controllers for automation. Therefore, I decided to compile it myself.

For comparison, I chose manufacturers of controllers that have:

1) Good experience in developing solutions for automation and control of equipment;
2) Integration protocols with Audio / Video equipment, Ventilation / Air-conditioning / Heating equipment
3) Ability to connect "Internet things".

I chose the following companies from the Internet sources on the Russian market, namely:

Logic Machine 4:



EVE Server:



Iridium Server:



Table 1 presents the main characteristics of the controllers of three manufacturers and their cost, the green color highlighted the cost of controllers with equalized characteristics, red color value added to equalize the characteristics.



From the table, I made the following conclusions:

  • LM4 and EVE Server have a designated starting price - more options than Iridium Server
  • LM4 and EVE Server support unlimited connection of control panels and number of datapoints.
  • If you buy a hardware server to install Iridium Server, you need to purchase an Iridium license by selecting at least one automation control protocol (KNX, Crestron, HDL, AMX ...) in LM4 and EVE Server, where the basic protocols are included in the initial cost (this will be seen in the following table).
  • Iridium Server and EVE Server have the ability to develop scripts for managing media, however, in EVE Server this feature is included in the initial cost, and in Iridium you will need to purchase a license (+375 €) for this. In LM4 it is possible to control multimedia equipment with the installation of a license from Iridium for Logic Machine, this increases the cost of management by almost 2 times.

Table 2 presents the integration capabilities of the controllers and the cost of their implementation. RED color highlights the items that affect the final cost of your chosen set of supported protocols and interfaces.

* terms used in the table:

future - there is a possibility of implementation in the future
no relase - not
partially implemented - functions are implemented partially



From the table I draw conclusions:

The ability to install the server software on other platforms allows a flexible approach to solving the issue in low-budget projects. If this is not a large object, then running the server on Windows, Linux, Raspberry PI would be a great solution. EVE Server and Iridium Server can be deployed on Raspberry, Windows, Linux, VirtualBox (EVE Server only), MAC OSX (EVE Server only), OneBox (Iridium only); Logic Machine does not have this feature.

At sites of scale of a large enterprise, the number of requests to the server increases many times, therefore the server requires a more powerful hardware solution. For these purposes, it is possible to use the EVE RACK Server running on the DELL Power Edge platform. For integrators, reliable Server hardware is important. At the moment, such platforms are Logic Machine and EVE Server, which have a long operating period not only in home but also in industrial automation. Iridium Server is still new to the controller market, so it makes sense to wait for the experience of working with this server at the sites.

In conclusion, I want to add that in the ever-changing world of automation, owning one technology always leads to the same type of solutions in the future ...

PS: I have not yet chosen the controller myself.

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