There’s an iPhone or Android control app for that

People lucky enough to hitch a ride on a Gulfstream G550 private jet outfitted by industrial designer Stefan Radev find the plane is equipped with iPads. But the iPads aren’t for reading ebooks or playing games. They actually control the passenger-compartment climate and entertainment systems.

Radev’s luxury jet exemplifies a trend in mobile platforms: smartphones and tablets increasingly are taking on roles as data displays and even operator terminals. And they aren’t just managing consumer goods. Several controls makers let mobile platforms work with the controls running industrial processes.

There are two different ways of letting smartphones or tablets communicate with controls: by devising a downloadable app that communicates with the control network, or by creating a mobile-enabled Web site that provides information about the control system. When the scheme involves a mobile-enabled Web site, the smartphone or tablet functions as a thin client, mainly serving as a display device and relying on the Web site for most number crunching of data. But in some cases, a mobile-enabled Web site won’t provide the kind of performance an application demands.

That was the case for iRule LLC, Farmington Hills, Mich., makers of an iPhone app that lets the phone function as a universal remote control for home theaters and audio/visual equipment. “We did tests and found that the Web added at least 250 msec of delay when you punched a button,” explains Itai Ben-Gal, iRule CEO and cofounder. “It was noticeable among people who have picked up a remote to change a volume for 30 years.”

iRule’s universal remote app communicates with AV equipment through a gateway device which typically learns the control protocols of individual remotes by sensing the data on their IR beams. The gateway, in turn, hooks up to a Wi-Fi connection to communicate with the iPhone. But iRule’s app can also work with home-automation systems, even when out of range of the home Wi-Fi. In this case, the phone uses a 3G data network from a cellular carrier to make a mobile virtual private-network (VPN) connection to the gateway. The VPN provides a level of security and lets the phone user roam across networks without losing a connection to the home-automation system.