SBIR Phase I: Automated Pairing and Provisioning

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be on the Real Estate Industry, specifically targeted at the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry, to help them increase revenue potential by digitizing their apartments through Smart Home Automation. It is estimated that the Smart Home Automation industry will reach $71B by 2018. The MFH industry will participate through additional charges to the residents for smart home automation support. However, the bigger increase in revenue will most likely come from better data and insights on their buildings which leads to opportunities to monetize that data and sell software targeted at MFH buildings. In addition to increased revenue, there is potential to save costs through more efficient use of labor and materials and through better management of energy. The MFH industry can also get insights on their entire building portfolio versus a single building and more efficiently manage their entire portfolio. The MFH industry implementing Smart Home Automation technology has huge societal benefits by integrating with smart grids and utility demand response programs. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to enable the deployment of a scalable and maintainable infrastructure through the use of mechanisms including automatic pairing, tiered authentication, and network isolation in low cost, resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The problem with existing IoT pairing methods is that they are targeted at Single-Family-Home deployments and the number of nodes that needs to be paired are relatively minimal. However, this is not a scalable model when trying to address the needs of the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry. In the multi-family dwelling, the sheer density of nodes creates new problems. The issue is that all the devices could easily be paired but to differentiate the nodes so that they authenticate and provision to the right apartment is the challenge. Developing a cost effective, scalable solution for this high-density scenario is a key component to fulfilling the value proposition of mass deployment in the Multi-Family-Home industry. The anticipated result of this project is that a proof of concept will be developed that gives directional guidance on the best way to solve the issue of pairing large quantities of end nodes and authenticating them appropriately to the correct apartment.