ENGINEERING TASK

Engineering Task

Engineering Task

Smart Home: A Wire Embedded System

Introduction

There has been a great deal of research investigating the digitally augmented ''home-of-the-future''. This research has included the construction of many demonstration facilities show casing X10 technology and appliances, generous funding from manufacturers, and a few experimental observations of short-term residents as they learn to control much advanced domestic technologies (Alan, 324). This has been complemented by important social and economic research understanding the context and consequences of technology deployment in the home. The engagement to traditional computer science with this market opportunity has typically involved the transfer and adaptation of office technologies (such as networking and GUIs) to the slightly different application domains of home media consumption and social communication (Alan, 325). A more recent trend has been the application of machine intelligence techniques to monitor and predict the behaviour of residents, thereby offering either predictive behaviour (for example smart-alarm clocks and light switches, or remote monitoring and surveillance (for example the remote monitoring of thee elderly and disabled by family members and healthcare professionals (Chan, 55).

Smart homes are residences that use networking technology to integrate various home automation systems. This integration allows systems (e.g., house appliances) to communicate with each other, either directly or through a master control, thus building a comprehensive environment that the user can control. In order for different devices to correctly communicate and understand commands, a communication protocol is needed as a common language for all these different devices. Various communication protocols are available in the market, such as LonWorks, Konnex, X10 (Alan, 326).

Discussion

Smart home technology was developed in 1975, when a company in Scotland developed X10. X10 allows compatible products to talk to each other over the already existing electrical wires of a home. All the appliances and devices are receivers, and the means of controlling the system, such as remote controls or keypads, are transmitters. If you want to turn off a lamp in another room, the transmitter will issue a message in numerical code that includes the following:

An alert to the system that it's issuing a command,

An identifying unit number for the device that should receive the command and

A code that contains the actual command, such as "turn off."

All of this is designed to happen in less than a second, but X10 does have some limitations. Communicating over electrical lines is not always reliable because the lines get "noisy" from powering other devices. An X10 device could interpret electronic interference as a command and react, or it might not receive the command at all (Chan, 56). While X10 devices are still around, other technologies have emerged to compete for your home networking dollar.

What is X10 Controller Mechanism

X10 is a system for controlling mains appliances and lighting using signals carried over mains power cables. X10 modules are available that replace ordinary light switches, mains outlets, and pendant lamp holders. As well as being controlled locally as normal, appliances can also be controlled remotely using keypads, radio and infra-red remote controls, timers, and computer ...