Home Automation Primer via Wikipedia

Filed in archive Home Automation on January 11, 2006

New to Home Automation?

This assortment of Wikipedia entries will help clarify things for you.

Home Automation

"Home automation is a field within building automation, specializing in the specific automation requirements of private homes and in the application of automation techniques for the comfort and security of its residents. Although many techniques used in building automation (such as light and climate control, control of doors and window shutters, security and surveillance systems, etc.) are also used in home automation, additional functions might be the control of multi-media home entertainment systems, automatic plant watering and pet feeding, automatic scenes for dinners and parties, etc."

X-10

"X10 is an industry standard for communication among devices used for home automation. It primarily uses power line wiring for signalling and control, where the signals involve short radio frequency bursts representing digital information. A radio-based transport is also defined."

INSTEON

"INSTEON is a wireless home-control networking technology invented by SmartLabs Technology -- a sister company to Smarthome. The system comprises a development platform for home automation, incorporating dual band mesh networking --- radio frequency (RF) integrated with powerline communications."

Z-Wave

"Z-Wave is a wireless communications standard developed by Danish company Zensys and the Z-wave alliance. It is designed for low-power and low-bandwidth appliances, such as home automation and sensor networks."

ZigBee

"ZigBee is a published specification set of high level communication protocols designed to use small, low power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs)."

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