HOME AUTOMATION

What is HOME AUTOMATION?

As implied, HOME AUTOMATION is the technological field which deals with automatization within the home.

The home elements eligible for automatization are numerous and their numbers increase every day. Today, the main areas of automatization are:

• Lighting (outdoor as well as indoor),
• Controling household appliances (coffee-pot, refrigerator, TV set, A/V equipment, etc.),
• Heating, Ventilation and Air conditioning,
• Energy consumption (water heaters, drapes and blinds, etc.),
• Lawn watering,
• Personal and Home Security (fire, burglary, intrusion, aggression, etc.),
• Audio and Video equipments,
• etc...

HOME AUTOMATION is not a recent phenomenon. It has existed for many years (more than 25). But, it has increased in popularity only within the last 2 to 3 years. Its popularity explosion is not foreign to the proliferation of electronics in the homes, particularly the introduction of the computer into the home, which allows home automation a greater growth potential.

Operating principles

Generally, the automation of various appliances and equipment are realized by the installation of modules or electronic devices that control their operation. These electronic devices receive their commands from one or more controllers which store the various programs entered by the user (directly or via a computer (software)).

Today, the majority of home automation devices communicate with each other by means of a standardized protocol (X-10) which is largely supported by the majority of home automation products manufacturers. Roughly speaking, this protocol governs the addressing of each device forming a domestic network, as well as the commands which must be carried out by each one of these devices.

Basically today, 2 principal modes prevail in the area of communication between the controller(s) (emitters) and the various acting modules (receivers). On the one hand, there is the communication mode using the basic electrical wiring of the house, and on the other hand, the communication mode using infrared rays (IR) and/or radio frequency waves (RF).

The communication mode utilizing the existing electrical wiring of the house is widespread. It uses this wiring as the infrastructure forming to some extent the physical link of a local area network of X-10 devices. It communicates with the various X-10 devices attached to this link by means of an electrical signal of a specific frequency unperceivable by the various conventional electrical appliances present on the same network. Only the X-10 devices are able to intercept and decode the X-10 signals which relate to them.

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