Smart Home

A Survey on Smart Home Networking

Jin Cheng and Thomas Kunz Department of Systems and Computer Engineering Carleton University Ottawa, Ont., Canada

Carleton University, Systems and Computer Engineering, Technical Report SCE-09-10, September 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 4 II. Home appliances control in smart homes ...................................................................... 6 2.1 Generation and storage of renewable energy sources............................................. 6 2.2 Categories of energy usage in residences ............................................................... 9 2.3 Redefinition of the operation mode in a smart home............................................ 10 2.4 Basic configuration and context control of a home control system...................... 13 2.5 Technology independent requirements of utilities in a smart home ..................... 15 2.5.1 The framework of Home Area Network.............................................................. 15 2.5.2 The guiding principles targeted for Home Area Network ................................... 16 2.5.3 Functional requirements in Home Area Network................................................ 17 III. Networking patterns and technology for home energy control .................................. 20 3.1 Subdivision of network functionality...................................................................... 20 3.2 Considerations of networking technologies.......................................................... 22 IV. PLC technologies........................................................................................................ 24 4.1 X-10 ..................................................................................................................... 25 4.1.1 Technical features...