So, what is a
control system anyway? Well, ask the
manufacturers of control systems themselves and you get varying degrees of the
same answer. However, Joe Hardt, President and CEO of
AMX Corporation defines a control system as
“simplicity”. That one word wraps the
control system into a neat, obvious package.
OK, maybe some of you reading this who are really familiar with the professional
audiovisual industry have some fancy, complicated description, but simplicity
is the key. How many times have you had
your wife or husband complain because you have three different remote controls
to make the TV, VCR and cable TV signals work together? That’s not
simplicity. Yes, having three remotes
eliminates the need to get up off the couch and have to make the VCR work by
hand, but having to remember which remote does what isn’t simplicity. You don’t believe me? Ask your spouse!
Keeping
simplicity in mind, the control system is the key element to make integration
of different AV (audiovisual) components easier and, to use a PC industry
buzz-term, much more, user-friendly.
Control systems have become the central component in virtually every
corporate boardroom and conference room.
So, why not a house? I’m sure you have read about the forthcoming
“smart-house” where a PC (personal computer) will allow you to have complete
control over everything in your living environment. Well, guess what? That day has arrived. You don’t need to wait for that impending,
“wonder-PC” that will make it all possible as companies like AMX and Crestron
can already do it – now! In fact, as
often as my PC crashes with weird messages (compliments of Microsoft), I’m not
sure I want a PC controlling my house. And,
apparently Bill Gates felt the same way as he even put a control system in his
new 50,000 square-foot house in
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
realizing it. When was the last time you
had to actually get up from the chair and change the channels. 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 theater and the fact
that it is becoming more affordable.
When you add that DVD player (and, yes, another remote control) to your
living room this year, 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 Coca-Cola, and walking into your 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 to have to remember which remote control does
what? Much less the
CEO. With a control system, the
seven remote controls become one. And
one that allows anyone who walked into that room could figure out how to use
all the gear 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:
1.
The CPU: Like a PC, the
control system, too, has a main controller.
The CPU (central processing unit) is the brains 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.
2.
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.
3.
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-color LCD touchpanel
(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 1000
little buttons on a controller. The
controller is the user interface to the system (much the same way your TVs
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 experts: Joe Hardt
of AMX and Randy Klein, VP Sales and Marketing at Crestron. AMX and Crestron have a 95% market share in
the control system market between them.
Here’s what they had to say:
Joe Hardt: “This is a
question that is often asked during the initial design stages of a
project. Although the answer is not
quite ‘cut and dried’, we typically find three levels of requirements for
control system implementation. The first
is when a system becomes truly integrated, having multiple pieces of equipment
that need to interact as a single system.
The second level is when the system is used for multiple applications or
different functions. The third is when
the system is going to be controlled by multiple users. Each
of these points to, not only a higher requirement for a control system but, a
greater level of sophistication of control system integration.”
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 like
Crestron offer 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 audiovisual 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
(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 touch panel or hand-held remote.
Now that the
control technology in the corporate world has been perfected, it will quickly
move into the home. In fact, both AMX
and Crestron have home theater divisions.
In fact, AMX’s sister company, Phast (pronounced
FAST), specializes in nothing but home automation. What’s home automation? Well, imagine being able to have your house
detect you 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, and dial onto the Internet to retrieve your
e-mail! Sound cool? Well, that can be done now for less than
$5,000 US 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, Joe Hardt explained,
“When we think about the capabilities of control systems in the future, we tend
to think less about controlling equipment and more about controlling
information. Control in the future will
consist of multiple types of user interfaces (PDAs,
telephones, keyboards, touch screens), communicating with multiple devices via
multiple networks. We will see seamless
integration of electronic systems in general - your home will be capable of
controlling your office, your office will be capable of controlling your home.
The fun is only beginning.”
So, I proposed
the same question to Randy Klein (Crestron), and got a similar answer, “I think the computer will play a far more
significant role in the presentation and training environment in the
future. This increase will only present
opportunity for companies like Crestron.
As long as presentation and communication technology is brought to our
market, there will always be a requirement for an integrated control system
like Crestron.
We will see technology like voice command and PDA's be a part of the
"interface" more and more in the future. Again, companies like Crestron will embrace
this type of technology and make it a part of our offering. In addition to that, the
Internet. Nearly 3 years ago, we
recognized the need to develop an open architecture system - both hardware and
software – and make it powerful enough to address the future. Our X Generation of 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.”
Note they both mentioned PDAs. What’s a PDA?
PDA is an acronym for a personal digital assistant. PDAs are those
little hand-held computers that everyone seems to be carrying around today that
contain an address book, calendar, to do list, etc. Some even have e-mail. But, the future of the PDA is pretty clear. PDAs already
contain a lot of our personal information so we take it almost every where we
go. So, it stands to reason that we use
that familiar user-interface to control our environment/home. Watch for these to quickly become simple
interface controllers to the home theater and even, in some cases, the
boardroom. Most PDAs
utilize operating system software from companies like Microsoft and Palm
Computing (a division of 3Com) and that familiarity makes them appealing to us
all.
If Microsoft makes the software on the PDA, can’t they also make the control interface too? Of course no one at Microsoft will comment on that, but it’s unlikely we 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, much easier to keep it running. However, the threat of a Microsoft is
certainly a possibility but Hardt is confident AMX
will prevail because, “As
good business people we are keenly aware of current and potentially future
competitors but, a successful control system becomes more than just hardware or
software. It provides the ability to
communicate with multiple devices across multiple networks using multiple
“standards”. The esthetics of the user
interface, the “logic” of the systems’ operation, the stability and reliability
of the complete system each play an important role in the success of the
control system. AMX has spent over sixteen years refining unified control for
integrated systems. This expertise
cannot be achieved overnight.”
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 a 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. A true example of this is our X Generation of
product. This product line makes the
computer part of our world rather than replacing it.”
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 ca 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.
Gary Kayye is
Principal of Kayye Consulting; a