• 17 Dec 07
  

  Wisely

  home-automation mesh wireless zigbee

  • Tech Talk with Bob Dolph

      November, 2006       

    
     

    Say Goodbye to Dumb Buildings

      By Bob Dolph, Contributing Writer  Bob.Dolph@bobit.com
  • ‘Mesh’ Technologies Taking Off
      There are a few hot tech automation platforms to check out. They are Zigbee™, Z-Wave™ and Insteon™. These systems are referred to as “mesh” technologies, meaning the components of each system have the capability to act as short-range wireless repeaters.
  • Z-Wave systems protocol is designed for home automation and a company called Zensys owns the chip technology. It is supported by the Z-Wave Alliance http:www.z-wavealliance.org, a group of more than 100 independent manufacturers. The technology has an open-air range of 100 feet and should be designed to take advantage of a wireless mesh network.  Z-Wave technology was recently named the winner in the wireless category of the 2006 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards. You can have up to 232 nodes in the Z-Wave network. When applying this technology, remember that AC-powered units should be selected as repeaters since the battery-operated units will go into a power-saving sleep mode. Alarm controls, such as Elk’s M1, will work with Z-Wave modules.
  • Zigbee is another mesh network technology getting much attention. (The name Zigbee comes from the zigzag network communications pattern similar to the zigzagging of bees.) This is partially due to its use in small commercial applications, as well as residential. This technology is based on standards set by the Zigbee Alliance http:/(www.zigbee.org) and on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for “Wireless Personal Area Networks” (WPAN). You may be familiar with other WPAN technologies such as Bluetooth.
  • Zigbee devices can have an open-air range of up to 250 feet. They are designed for long-life battery operation. An example is a Zigbee thermostat that can run up to 15 years on a lithium battery. Another attractive commercial system feature is that Zigbee provides 128-bit AES encryption. Earlier this year, Siemens Building Technologies Inc. (SBT) unveiled the industry’s first wireless commercial building automation system, based on ZigBee wireless networking technology.

  • Insteon is another wireless home automation technology based on mesh network communications and existing electrical wiring. One of the advantages of Insteon is the simplicity of true peer-to-peer networking, which does not require the added complexity of a controller and routers.   

    Insteon devices are also designed to be backward compatible with popular X-10 PLC systems. As with the other technologies mentioned above, Insteon is supported by the Insteon Alliance http:/www.insteon.net. (Tech Tip: While this product offers a lot of versatility, installers should make sure to turn off repeater options in modules that are battery operated.)
  • An example is a device I recently ran across made by Auraone Systems called the AuraGrid. This allows for the distribution of 802.11 b/g wireless signals over cable-TV coax cables. Since many larger homes have existing coax cabling, incoming Internet signals would allow for connecting modems and routers to be easily distributed throughout the house via the coax and then transmitted out from an antenna at each module (see photo).

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