System Design Steps

There are many steps, meetings, documents, and drawings required for a proper unified control system design. This document is designed to take you through the process of a basic system design and to describe the deliverables for each step.

It is extremely important to understand that the control system design takes into account all the sub-systems installed in your home.

These systems include and are not in any way limited to: Security, Lighting, Climate control, Distributed and standalone audio/video, radio frequency (radio and cable television) distribution systems, satellite systems (both entertainment and data), cellular systems, video on demand systems, microwave, ultrasonic, seismic, stress, and infrared sensors, local area networks, computers, plumbing fixtures (yes there are automated toilets!), tub, pool, and spa controls, weather stations, CCTV, access control systems, standby power systems, and motorized systems such as gate controls, window treatments, skylights and awnings, doors, furniture or equipment lifts.

When we speak of unifying the sub-systems, it means we have designed a system that can speak to, request information from, and control all the systems in your home.

Once we know how to communicate with and control these systems we will choose the user interfaces that you will interact with to control these systems. Our systems use most of and sometimes all of these interfaces: Touch-tone telephone, Handheld infrared and radio frequency remote controls, touch pads or extra buttons on an architectural lighting control system, full color and monochrome touch screens, and finally, voice recognition.

In short, we have to know everything about everybody to properly design our control system.

In the beginning we will talk with you or your agents and discuss the basic requirements for your Unified control system. Once they have been discussed and a need has been proven for our services a contract is tendered. Upon receipt of the signed contract and deposit the real work begins!

We will need a full set of blueprints for your house (preferably electronic, in AutoCAD format). This is so that we can be sure that we don't place a piece of equipment where an air-conditioning duct will be placed in your home (or other such common glitch). Since we will be designing a control system that interfaces with every sub-system in your home we will need as much information as possible about everything that you are planning to put in your home.

If your home is currently under construction or is being built outside the US a site visit will be made to assess the speed and type of construction as well as any local variations on equipment that might be required.

We will contact each of the sub-system vendors working on your home to get information about the equipment that they plan to install. This information includes make, model, year of manufacture (if known), serial numbers (if known), control equipment type, voltage and current requirements, and any interfacing information (again if known). The reason for this is to be able to get the technical schematics for the sub-system from the manufacturer to confirm the control interfaces needed and the features available from the equipment.

Once we have this information, we can begin to put together an accurate picture of what will be available in the way of features and control options in your unified control system.

We will then schedule a face to face interview with the actual client. This is essential! Too many times in the past we have seen many designers led down the wrong path by good intentioned agents, personal assistants, site managers, and so on. It has been our experience that by interfacing with the interface to the client something gets lost in the translation. Several celebrity clients have told us that if their assistant had explained the system the way we did they would have made their third change order choices the first time and saved all of us time and money from the beginning. Therefore, during this interview we will assess the clients needs and wishes and possibly offer more, less, or different choices based on their lifestyle and level of comfort with technology. Another agenda item during this meeting is to determine a preliminary working budget for the unified control system.

Once we have considered all the information, we will begin work on a preliminary design document. This document will take into account the wishes of our client, the proposed working budget and the features available on the selected systems. During this design phase, we will contact the client several times to confirm selection and placement of control equipment. The preliminary design will provide a written description of the system features, a room by room description of the system functions, and floorplans marked to show equipment locations.

Once we have met again with the client and approved or made changes to the preliminary design we will begin work on the final system design.

If we are not installing the system (as is the case in many international projects). At this point the client (with our assistance if necessary) should have selected a control system contractor to install the system we are designing. We will be in contact with the selected installer to confirm familiarity with the type of equipment being selected, to provide technical assistance, or arrange for factory training if required.

The System Design Document will be the final version of the system design. The entire time that the design work is going on we will be in contact with the sub-system and control system equipment manufacturers to ensure that any model or equipment changes are incorporated into the system design in a timely fashion. We will also be in contact with the sub-system installers to confirm their understanding of how they fit into the overall picture and to assist them in the proper selection of sub-system equipment. The final system design will consist of a final written description of the selected features functionality, a final room by room description of the features and control, a final set of 24" by 36" floor plans showing equipment locations, a final listing of any special equipment and quantities required, a set of standard size floor plans showing control equipment placement for each subsystem, a set of single line diagrams showing control system to subsystem connections, a list of wire types required for each piece of control equipment, detail diagrams for unusual equipment placement or installations, a checklist of wires to be pulled into each room or area for an installer to check off as the system is installed.

Often we will use additional lighting control system buttons for control stations, when this is required we will supply drawings of the changed or additional control stations to the lighting designer for inclusion in his lighting design.

When touch screens are used for control, we will provide suggested touch screen menu designs, and flowcharts of system conditional and sequential programming to follow in the system programming.

These are the basic steps required to design and supervise the installation of a unified control system. Some changes may be needed because of complexity, unusual construction or conditions, or variations in the services you desire.

Should you have any questions, requests, or special challenges please feel free to contact us.

"Once we have considered all the information, we will begin work on a preliminary design document. This document will take into account the wishes of our client, the proposed working budget and the features available on the selected systems. These are the basic steps required to design and supervise the installation of a unified control system."