Creation of AI-driven Smart Spaces for Enhanced Indoor Environments -- A Survey

TL;DR

This survey reviews the integration of AI technologies into smart spaces, highlighting components, challenges, and future directions for enhancing indoor environments through AI-driven solutions.

Contribution

It systematically analyzes existing research on AI components in smart spaces and discusses emerging AI methodologies like LLMs for future development.

Findings

AI enhances smart space functionalities and user comfort.

Emerging AI methods like LLMs offer new opportunities and challenges.

Key insights and future research directions are proposed.

Abstract

Smart spaces are ubiquitous computing environments that integrate diverse sensing and communication technologies to enhance space functionality, optimize energy utilization, and improve user comfort and well-being. The integration of emerging AI methodologies into these environments facilitates the formation of AI-driven smart spaces, which further enhance functionalities of the spaces by enabling advanced applications such as personalized comfort settings, interactive living spaces, and automatization of the space systems, all resulting in enhanced indoor experiences of the users. In this paper, we present a systematic survey of existing research on the foundational components of AI-driven smart spaces, including sensor technologies, data communication protocols, sensor network management and maintenance strategies, as well as the data collection, processing and analytics. Given the pivotal role of AI in establishing AI-powered smart spaces, we explore the opportunities and challenges associated with traditional machine learning (ML) approaches, such as deep learning (DL), and emerging methodologies including large language models (LLMs). Finally, we provide key insights necessary for the development of AI-driven smart spaces, propose future research directions, and sheds light on the path forward.