Application of decision trees to smart homes

This chapter aims to illustrate a possible way of using decision trees to make Smart Homes smarter. Decision trees are popular modelling technique, and the corresponding models are both predictive and descriptive. We formulate the modelling problem by defining the generic question "Is the undergoing activity or event in the Smart Home usual?" Then we explain how it is possible to gather appropriate data from the sensors and pre-process these data to form appropriate input for a decision tree algorithm. We further explain the mainstream approaches in decision trees algorithms rather then analysing them in detail, and we give short overview of available software. Finally, we explain some measures for quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the induced decision tree models (e.g. expert opinion, cross-validation, statistical tests etc.).