Wireless Home Networking - Index of

WPA2. While we prefer WPA2, WPA is more than adequate as far as network
security goes — we strongly recommend you skip over systems that only
support WEP.
Wondering about 802.11n? As we write, most of the IP cameras are still 802.11g
or b, but some n-based devices are coming on the market. SmartVue’s S4
product line (www.smartvue.com) sports an 802.11n chipset, but is pricey —
each professional grade camera retails at around $1,300. Over time, everyone
will move to 802.11n — it just makes sense.
The wireless communication doesn’t have to be all 802.11 based, although we
would argue that it makes sense to use standards-based gear whenever you
can. Danny likes his X10 FloodCam (www.x10.com, $99), which videotapes
all activity around the house, night and day, and sends the color images
to a VCR or PC. That system uses 2.4 GHz to send the signals, but it’s not
standardized wireless LAN traffic. We believe that over time, many of these
systems will move to 802.11 or Bluetooth as chip and licensing costs
continue to come down.
Controlling Your Home over
Your Wireless LAN
Chapter 14: Other Cool Things You Can Network
Another area of wireless activity is home control. If you got excited about
going from the six remote controls on your TV set to one universal remote
control, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. (And if you still have those six remote
controls, we have some options for you, too.)
The problem with controlling anything remotely is having an agreed-on
protocol between the transmitter and receiver. In the infrared (IR) space,
strong agreement and standardization exist among all the different manufacturers
of remote controls, so the concept of universal remote control is
possible for IR. (IR remotes are the standard for the majority of home audio
and video equipment.) But there has not been the same rallying around a
particular format in the radio frequency (RF) space, thus making it difficult
to consolidate control devices except within the same manufacturer’s line.
And then you have issues of controlling nonentertainment devices, such as
heating and air-conditioning and security systems. Those have different
requirements just from a user interface perspective.
The advent of 802.11 technologies, ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth — as
well as touchscreen LCDs and programmable handheld devices — offers the
opportunity to change this situation because, at the least, manufacturers can
agree on the physical transport layer of the signal and a common operating
system and platform. We’re now starting to see the first moves toward
collapsing control of various home functions to a few form factors and
standards. We talk about these topics throughout this section.
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