Smart door locks become the standard for future homes and need to cross these three hurdles

In recent years, smart door locks have gradually entered more and more families. With it, the user can open and close the gate without a key. In addition, smart door locks can also provide people with a high level of security that traditional door locks or alarms cannot provide.

However, CCTV Finance found in a market survey in 2019 that 15% of 40 smart door locks can be easily opened, which is a scary figure.

Fundamentally, a Smart Door Lock is an electromechanical system that performs locking and unlocking functions after receiving commands from an authorized source, typically transmitted via a smartphone, wearable device or tablet using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. In addition, homeowners can monitor the room from any location with smart door locks and customize it to determine access. If smart door locks really want to sell well in the market and become the entrance to smart homes, they still need to cross the following three hurdles.

1. Establishing low-power, high-reliability connections

The commonly used communication protocols for smart door locks are Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi and NFC. Due to the low energy consumption of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Bluetooth smart door locks are common in the market. This kind of door lock, a set of batteries can be used for a year or more. However, the working range of Bluetooth door locks is much smaller than other types of products. In addition, Bluetooth door locks need to be connected to a smartphone rather than a hub when working, which somewhat limits the ability to control the door lock remotely, especially when away from home.

Smart door locks that use Z-Wave or Zigbee are also popular choices in the smart home. These two wireless protocols do not communicate directly with smartphones, but with a central hub connected to a home Wi-Fi network. Since the central hub is connected to the home Wi-Fi network, homeowners can control their home's smart door locks from anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection. Since Z-Wave can only transmit a small amount of signals, its disadvantage is that it needs to use gateways or hubs when connecting, and there are many nodes.

The biggest difference between ZigBee and Z-Wave is that although ZigBee chips from different manufacturers are made according to specific standards, there are still some problems in interoperability. Similarly, ZigBee also needs a bridge to convert the WiFi network signal and connect to the ZigBee mesh network when connecting.

Products using WiFi transmission are easy to set up, just connect the product to the WiFi at home and you can control it with your mobile phone. Wi-Fi smart door locks also need to be connected to a home network when in use, however, due to the high energy requirements of Wi-Fi, battery life can become a big issue.

Using NFC for smart door locks has great advantages in power saving and efficient unlocking. The most commonly used smart phone has become the unlock card, which is very convenient. However, the disadvantage of this solution is also obvious. Compared with Bluetooth, which can be used at a longer distance, NFC must be close to unlock, and remote control cannot be achieved. Coupled with the high cost of early promotion, the application of NFC in smart door locks is still limited to a relatively small range.

The smart door locks with the above-mentioned connection methods are all sold in the market, but it seems to be difficult to meet the three conditions of low power consumption, easy configuration, and remote control at the same time.

2. Safety issues

In terms of the opening method of smart door locks, passwords and biometrics are currently the most widely used in my country's smart door lock industry. The use of plain text passwords is obviously the most exposed to the security loopholes of smart door locks, which does not need to be repeated. Biometric identification using fingerprint and face recognition technology is currently the two most widely used unlocking methods.

Fingerprint recognition is the most commonly used technology in smart door locks. Currently, there are mainly two types of fingerprint recognition modules on the market: optical fingerprint recognition and capacitive fingerprint recognition module (semiconductor fingerprint recognition module). In general, the recognition speed and recognition rate of capacitive fingerprint recognition modules are better than optical fingerprint recognition modules, especially for children, the elderly, users with shallow fingerprint lines and dry fingers, the advantages of capacitive fingerprint recognition modules are more obvious. .

At the same time, the capacitive fingerprint recognition module has a certain anti-counterfeiting fingerprint capability, but its surface scratch resistance is poor, and it is sensitive to water on the finger, which will directly affect the recognition success rate. The optical fingerprint recognition module has strong environmental adaptability, and has a certain ability to withstand pressure, wear, acid and alkali, stains and corrosion, but in the case of shallow fingerprint lines, dry or peeling fingers, the recognition rate will be reduced. The speed is noticeably slowed down.

The biggest challenge of face recognition is that the state is unstable, the face is dynamic, and the eyes, mouth and nose, and expressions will affect the characteristics of the face. In addition, makeup, wearing a mask, changing hairstyles, and changing lighting can all be factors that affect facial features. Another important factor is that the power consumption of the Face Recognition Door Lock is much greater than that of the fingerprint lock, and the fill light and image acquisition are very power-consuming.

The security of smart door locks is also reflected in the network connection. We know that all networked devices have such concerns. Fortunately, the network security mechanism is becoming more and more perfect, and the network security problem is gradually improving.

3. Integration of smart door locks and other smart home devices

Now, every smart door lock has its own unique list of compatible protocols and devices, and integrating it with the smart home devices in your home requires asking your smart home installer for advice, maybe only they know which locks are suitable its program.