Wireless Systems

   ZWave is Here

Home automation systems are expanding rapidly as electronic technologies converge. Easy access, simplicity and modest installation costs are the main forces driving the development of wireless applications to automate homes and buildings. Homes of the future will have 50 to 100 chips installed in light switches, fire and smoke detectors, wireless alarm and security systems, thermostats, heating-, ventilation- and air conditioning systems (HVAC), kitchen appliances, set-up boxes and video and remote controls. These same automation principles will apply to networks in the industrial and building automation markets.

Industry standards such as ZigBee (a global standard enabling reliable interoperability between various wireless applications in the home) will be catalysts in the home automation market. Analysts estimate that annual shipments of ZigBee chips in the home automation segment alone will exceed 46 million units by 2006, growing rapidly thereafter. This standardization will boost the demand for reliable RF links in this market

The main characteristics of Z-Wave are low cost per node, low sensitivity to interference and distortion, full home coverage (every device is a repeater that automatically relays the signal from one device to another) and security.

The Z-Wave chip, which is has already been embedded into dozens of next-generation home control products, is currently available for $5.00. This price will be cut in half by the first quarter of 2005, enabling mass-market adoption. This significant cost reduction is possible because Zensys has re-designed the chip to a smaller die size using a new lithography process. In addition to the smaller die size, a substantial number of external components were also integrated into the chip, reducing the total cost of the module even further. In fact, thanks to these changes, Zensys anticipates it will be able to offer a sub-dollar chip by 2006.

A smart home or building is a home or building, usually a new one, that is equipped with special structured wiring to enable occupants to remotely control or program an array of automated home electronic devices by entering a single command. For example, a homeowner on vacation can use a Touchtone phone to arm a home security system, control temperature gauges, switch appliances on or off, control lighting, program a home theater or entertainment system, and perform many other tasks.

The field of home automation is expanding rapidly as electronic technologies converge. The home network encompasses communications, entertainment, security, convenience, and information systems.

A technology known as Powerline Carrier Systems (PCS) is used to send coded signals along a home's existing electric wiring to programmable switches, or outlets. These signals convey commands that correspond to "addresses" or locations of specific devices, and that control how and when those devices operate. A PCS transmitter, for instance, can send a signal along a home's wiring, and a receiver plugged into any electric outlet in the home could receive that signal and operate the appliance to which it is attached.

One common protocol for PCS is known as X10, a signaling technique for remotely controlling any device plugged into an electrical power line. X10 signals, which involve short radio frequency (RF) bursts that represent digital information, enable communication between transmitters and receivers.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has adopted the protocol underlying LonWorks control networks as an industry standard. The LonMark Interoperability Association is made up of more than 200 controls companies mission working on standard to integrate multi-vendor systems based on LonWorks networks.