Wireless Home Networking - Index of

Chapter 19: More Than Ten Devices to Connect to Your Wireless Network
Everything in Your Home
Did we leave anything out? Well, yes, in fact we have. That’s because everything
in your home that uses electricity can potentially be wirelessly enabled
to a home control and automation network. In Chapter 3 we talked a little
bit about ZigBee and Z-Wave, two wireless technologies that are hitting the
market today and are designed around very low-cost and low-power chips
that can be embedded in any electrically powered device in the home. Other
low-price and low-power wireless technologies, such as Wibree, are also in
the works and can expand your home’s wireless control network.
Where you’ll use ZigBee and Z-Wave
Low power means short distance. It also means small. You’ll be using technologies
such as ZigBee and Z-Wave to do things such as allow lamps to be
controlled by your PC and to tell you whether or not your doors are locked.
Energy management is a huge potential application for these technologies.
Consider the following implementations of lower power chips:
� Allowing electric and gas meters to talk to your household energy hogs
and tell them when it’s less expensive to do their chores (such as run
the laundry). Your meter can also talk to the home’s wireless network to
communicate usage back to the central station (so no one has to come
by your house to check the meter).
� Installing programmable controllable thermostats (PCT) designed
to improve energy efficiency and electric service consumption. Using
their wireless connections, they can reach out to sensors in the house
to drive more efficient use of energy zones and time-of-day setbacks.
� Using sensor-outfitted outlets for each appliance to monitor them for
energy usage and to report back to central in-home energy control
programs — programs you can monitor on your television or PC.
Z-Wave, and to a lesser extent ZigBee, are also focused on home automation.
Because they are wireless, these technologies allow you to install, upgrade,
and network your home control system without wires. You can configure
and run multiple systems from a single remote control. You can also receive
automatic notification if there’s something unusual happening in the house
(like your oven is on at 2:00 A.M.).
As your wireless backbone becomes pervasive in the home, expect lots of
ZigBee and Z-Wave products to form the last few feet of these connections
because their lower cost pushes them into smaller places around the house.
This is truly the next wave of wireless expansion in your house.
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