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Do It Yourself?

Of course, you can create a smart home system yourself. For this, there are many microcontrollers, modules, and ready-made devices that can be combined in any work logic. One of the first questions when building an IoT system is choosing a method of network communication.

Popular communication modules

  • Modules at 433 MHz and 868 MHz frequencies — low-power radio modules with stable coverage and good signal penetration through obstacles.

    • Advantages: the lower the carrier frequency, the more confident the reception even through concrete floors; low power consumption.
    • Disadvantages: when transmitting simultaneously by multiple devices, it is necessary to programmatically solve the collision problem; low data transfer speed.
    • Examples: NRF series modules (Nordic Semiconductor), SX127x.

  • LoRa (Long Range) — specialized modules for communication over significant distances (up to several kilometers in line of sight).

    • Advantages: long range, low power consumption, noise immunity.
    • Disadvantages: very low data exchange speed, not suitable for transmitting large amounts of data or video.

  • Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040) — microcontroller with high clock frequency, support for programming in MicroPython and C++.

    • Advantages: development flexibility, low cost, built-in USB interface.
    • Disadvantages: no built-in Wi-Fi/Bluetooth in the base version (requires an external module), fewer ready-made solutions for smart home compared to ESP.

  • ESP (Espressif Systems) — family of modules originally developed for IoT applications.

    • Support: Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth / BLE (in ESP32 models), in new versions — Wi-Fi 5 GHz.
    • Advantages: rich ecosystem, low cost, active community, support for popular frameworks (ESPHome, Tasmota, Arduino, ESP-IDF).
    • Disadvantages: relatively high power consumption in active mode.

From scratch or based on an existing project?

When developing independently, it's important to decide: start from scratch or join an existing project.

  • Your own project from scratch:

    • Pros: complete freedom in choosing architecture, technology stack, and functionality.
    • Cons: need to think through all nuances independently, including security, scalability, and fault tolerance; desirable to form a community of like-minded people for exchanging ideas and testing.

  • Using a ready-made solution:

    • Pros: access to debugged components, documentation, and community support; accelerated development.
    • Cons: possible customization limitations, dependence on project roadmap.

Comparison of ecosystems of popular platforms

  • Nordic Semiconductor (nRF): there are separate solutions and libraries, especially for BLE devices; the community is active but smaller than ESP's.
  • Raspberry Pi Pico: good community and documentation, but fewer ready-made solutions specifically for smart home yet; no widely distributed debugged frameworks at the ESPHome level.
  • ESP (Espressif): absolute leader in the number of adapted sensors, frameworks, compilers, and community size. The ESPHome and Tasmota projects deserve special attention, as they significantly simplify the development and deployment of IoT devices.

A similar situation is observed with control software: ESP has the largest number of integrations with home automation systems (Home Assistant, OpenHAB, Node-RED, etc.).

What can you bought

Typically, a smart device purchased from any vendor is configured to work with the manufacturer’s cloud service.

This leads to a situation where some devices require one app, others a completely different one, forcing you to switch between them. Additionally, each cloud service holds the user’s personal data, security lacks reliable guarantees, and in the event of a mass service breach, device control could fall into the hands of third parties.

Very often, such “all-in-one” solutions come at a high cost. It may also turn out that a previously purchased air conditioner from another manufacturer is completely incompatible with new devices, while a new air conditioner may lack features that the old one had.

Devices that support an open service or are adapted to work with one are usually connected locally. They use a message broker (e.g., MQTT) to communicate with each other. A unified application also uses this message broker, works perfectly on the local network, and may optionally connect to some cloud service, provide remote access from the internet, or have the broker itself linked to a cloud service. Even then, multiple control apps may still exist.

When using ZigBee devices, a MESH network is established between them, where devices connect not directly but through an intermediary—another device. A ZigBee Bridge is used to connect these devices to the main network. When MQTT is used, such devices are no different from any others and can be transparently controlled by any configured software.

SmartHome
ESPhome