So, what is a control system anyway?

So, what is a control system, technically? Well, believe it or not, they’re all around you and have been for years. How do you think an elevator knows what floor to pick you up on? What about traffic lights? Automatic doors? In fact, most people already have some level of a control system in their house without even realising it. When was the last time you had to actually get up from the chair and change the channels on your TV? I know, in my case, it was the last time when the TV’s remote control batteries died. Control systems are getting ready to become a lot more obvious in our daily lives. The hype has already begun. There are all sorts of articles running in publications and the mainstream press about the new home theatre and the fact that it is becoming more affordable. When you add that MP3 player (and, yes, another remote control) to your living room so that you can download all sorts of music for free, and pipe it into any room of the house, do you really think your wife or husband is going to let you get away with having four remote controls on the coffee table?

Imagine being the CEO of a large company, say Singapore Airlines, and walking into your $100,000 boardroom full of audio, video and computer gear and on the boardroom table sits seven remote controls — each with a purpose. Each providing control over one piece of gear. Well, do you think it’s realistic to expect every user of that boardroom be trained on how to use each and every remote control? And, if they did, do you really think the CEO is going to sit through that training session too? With a control system, the seven remote controls become one. And one that allows anyone whoever walks into the room to simply look at the control systems hand-held remote and see the logic of controlling everything in the room. Hard to believe? Well, if that’s not the case, then someone didn’t follow the rule of simplicity.

So, what’s in a control system? Let’s take a look at the parts:

The CPU: Like a PC, the control system, too, has a main controller. The CPU (central processing unit) is the brain of the system and ultimately where all the control commands are input, processed and routed back out to the gear meant to be controlled. The CPU is also the connection point for all the equipment in a system.

The Communication Boxes or Modules: Although the CPU is the central connection point, there are all sorts of options to actually have the CPU communicate with the devices in a system (i.e. TV, VCR, DVD player and lights). These Comm Boxes come in a range of options depending on the type of control required. For example, most VCRs have IR (infrared) control. Thus, the CPU must be capable of reading and re-executing IR codes appropriately to a piece of gear. A Comm Box, or cable in this case, is used to connect the IR device to the CPU. In the case of a video projector, IR control won’t work, as there is no feedback (to let you know the projector is on). So, connecting to projectors usually requires what is called RS 232 communications. RS 232 Comm box handles this communication. Finally, in some cases, you can get a CPU that includes all sorts of built-in communications (eliminating the separate Comm boxes). In that case, we can simply connect a cable from the CPU to each of the devices in the room.

The Controller (or User-Interface): Once all this is installed, there must be an easy-to-use and understand user-interface (controller). This can simply be a hand-held remote or, in a much more sophisticated system, could be a wireless-colour LCD touch panel (like a laptop screen has). The Controller is the key. The best control system in the world can’t make a system easier to control if there are 1,000 little buttons on a controller. The controller is the user-interface to the system (much the same way your TV’s remote control is the interface to the TV. Imagine losing your TV remote and having NO BUTTONS on the TV itself to be able to turn it on, off or switch channels. Not good, huh? Well, a bad user-interface (controller) might as well be a system without a power button.

So, when do you know you need a control system? Well, for that answer, I turned to the expert: Randy Klein, VP Sales and Marketing at Crestron. Between AMX and Crestron, the two companies control about 96% of the market with Crestron currently holding a market leadership position of about 57%.

Randy Klein: “Generally speaking, first the number and/or type of technologies, and second, the budget. Until recently, the budget and complexity (or fear of) use to be the #1 consideration. Now that companies are offering very capable and very affordable control systems fitting nearly any budget, the number of devices is now the general rule. And today, where more than one (1) is almost always the case, a control system is a necessity rather than a luxury — thus partly the reason for our market growth in the last few years.”

In the past few years, control systems have become a fixture in virtually every corporate boardroom and conference room that’s integrating professional audio-visual and presentation products.

Why?

Well, the control system provides a simple user-interface to all the equipment in the room through a single remote control point. In addition, because most boardrooms and conference rooms have multiple users, the control system eliminates the need for training every single person who needs to use the room. If a touch panel is used (like the one pictured), we can provide a graphical user-interface — like that of a PC with Windows — so that you can simply walk up to the controller and figure out how to use all the equipment in the room without formal training. Finally, the remote control system provides convenience. In the same way that we all dislike the idea of having to get up off the couch to change the channels and use a TV remote control to do it, a control system in a corporate environment provides that too. Everything in the room (i.e. lights, VCR, DVD player, PC, screen, projector, audio system, etc.) can be controlled from the central hub (CPU) of the control system and interfaced by the user through a wall mounted touch panel or even a hand-held remote.

With the control technology in the corporate world being perfected, it will quickly move into the home. In fact, both AMX and Crestron have home theatre divisions. Both AMX and Crestron have complete product line offerings aimed squarely at the home buyer, who wishes to achieve not only AV system control, as well as whole home automation.

What’s home automation? Well, imagine being able to have your house detecting your arrival from work (from seeing the garage door open or the car arrive in the driveway), and automatically turn on all the appropriate lights in the house, adjust the temperature of your house to what you like, turn on the news on the TV, start dinner, retrieve your e-mail and even set the Jacuzzi temperature for you — all before you even walk inside the front door! Sound cool? Well, that can be done now for less than US$5,000 dollars. However, as with all high-tech products, that price will continue to drop to a level we can all afford.

When asked the future of the control system, Klein had a great, simple answer: “I think the computer will play a far more significant role in the presentation and training environment of the future. As long as presentation and communication technology is brought to our market, there will always be a requirement for an integrated control system.

We will see technology like voice command and PDAs be a part of the ‘interface’ more and more in the future. [The industry] will embrace this type of technology and make it a part of its standard offering. In addition to that, the Internet. Nearly three years ago, we recognised the need to develop an open architecture system — both hardware and software — and make it powerful enough to address the future. Our eControl product line accomplishes that very well. Now our control systems, through their own IP addresses, can be incorporated in any LAN, WAN, etc, and speak the universal language of the future.” And, all this can be done wired or wirelessly.

If Microsoft makes the software on the PDA, can’t they also make the control interface too? Of course no one at Microsoft will openly comment on that, but they do have a new division called eHome that is working toward integrating a complete home automation system — not aimed at the corporate market, however. But it’s unlikely the average consumer will accept the same level of quality we do with a PC as we do with something that’s controlling our house. When a computer freezes up, we simply re-boot it. But if that computer controls our environment, it’s a bigger deal. The stability of the control system CPU and software is far more reliable than that of a PC. It’s a closed environment and serves only one purpose so; it’s much easier to keep it running.

Randy Klein agrees: “I think companies like Microsoft and other consortiums or companies will undoubtedly bring products to the market that you and I can use. However, in the higher-end residential and commercial markets, the need for an easy-to-obtain, easy-to-use, yet very powerful (some custom by the nature of design) will be there for some time to come. Again, as those companies bring their products to market, it only creates opportunities for companies like us, so long as we continue to view them as part of our world rather than replacements.”

So what’s the future of control? Well, as we integrate more and more incompatible software and hardware into our daily lives, the control system promises the potential to become the simple user-interface to it all. Because the control system inherently can communicate with them all, it is sure to become more prevalent in the corporate and home automation worlds as the philosophy of simplicity appeals to us all.