Electro/Telecom Industry Trends

Building Next-Generation Home Automation...Today

Issue Table of Contents

CEMA Name Changes to CEA to Reflect the Current Consumer Electronics Industry The Networked Home Building Next-Generation Home Automation...Today

The next generation will live in an automated world that will simplify and enrich their lives. Soon, it will be common to control almost anything from lights to appliances by telephone, voice, infrared or remotely. Homes will be wired to perform tasks like controlling the thermostat on the heating/air system, or give it that "lived in" look while everyone is away. By just picking up any phone, motorized blinds can be operated, interior and exterior lights turned on or off, and visual monitors will be able to alert homeowners of any in-house activity. In fact, through the implementation of open standards, future generations will be able to control any electrical device in the home or the office affordably.

Meet William (Bill) Rose, an electrical engineer with a diverse background in embedded microprocessor controls and applications - ranging from developing video game systems, electronic toys and personal computers to fly-by-wire aerospace applications - who now finds himself caught up in the world of integrated home systems and home automation products and standards. "Home automation is among the most exciting new technologies in the consumer electronics industry and yet, much of the technology is already available today," states Rose.

What's more, Rose is chairman of and was instrumental in the establishment of the new CEA Home Networks Committee (R7), a committee designed to oversee and coordinate the work of the existing integrated home systems and home automation standards. "It is our goal at R7 to help the products and services for this industry to become more affordable and open to a larger market," Rose explains. "Right now, customized products and systems, based on proprietary standards, are just not practical for the average consumer," he continues. "Through creating new and embracing existing open standards for protocols, networks and products the home-of-the-future can exist for everyone."

Home automation has been slow in development. "My first exposure to the home of the future was in 1964 at the World's Fair," Rose recalls. "Unfortunately, we're still waiting for that home to be built." Some of the stumbling blocks the industry has had to overcome include:

• Market acceptance. The technology just wasn't available in a form that people could accept or they just weren't ready for the kinds of technology that were being developed.
• Crossing Industry Lines. Several industries were involved and needed to come together to make the technology possible. Past efforts included each sector setting their own standards that were not compatible with each other.
• Cost Prohibitive. Only high-end homes could afford to pay for custom solutions.

Until now, much of the standards activities for home automation have been carried out in consortia and not within a specific standards body. One of the main reasons for this is the fast speed at which consortias move, as opposed to a standards body that has an open environment and more people and opinions involved. "R7 is making strides to open lines of communication in an attempt to embrace and consolidate the efforts going into this technology," commented Rose. Some of the R7's current activities which came out of the first of several CEA sponsored Discovery Groups, a series of industry-unifying discussion forums designed to explore the regulatory challenges, technological issues and identification of standards needs in product areas, include:

• Establishing Joint Ventures. Recently, R7 and the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) Home Network Committee (VHN) have agreed to collaborate on a backbone standard that will standardize the communication between device clusters (e.g. voice, data, security).
• Market Education. The CEA division of EIA is working to educate the market on the value of home automation. One way they are doing this is by establishing a simple rating system to be used by realtors and perspective buyers. This system would actually be included as part of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), so the homeowner would know up-front the technology rating of the home. For example, it is a 4-bedroom, 2-bath home with a technology rating of 4. Translated, a rating of 4 might mean the house has telephony lines for both voice and computer, lighting control, audio, cable lines in every room and more. "The object is to assist the buyer, builder and realtor in evaluating the residence and make them realize that these features add value to the home," states Rose.
• Opening Lines of Communication. R7 is conducting Discovery Groups and getting involved with the various forums to determine what standards and technology exists and what is needed. "Rather than rewrite the standards, we want to outreach to these groups," explains Rose. "If a problem has already been solved, why duplicate their efforts? We'd rather embrace what exists, than recreate it."
• Plug-and-Play Solutions. R7 intends to standardize the boundaries to the various types of networks (e.g. audio/visual, control, data networks). "If we can standardize the boundaries to each type of network, then a device running on one network does not need to understand the protocols running on the other networks in the home. This would dramatically simplify the task of tying them together," Rose explains. "The approach is to create a single, open standard protocol, the boundary, that all network protocols can use to communicate with each other. This would remove the burden from the homeowner having to know that there are protocols," he continues. "Therefore, all the homeowner would have to know was who makes the switch or their television and the wiring professional or even a retail salesman would know what protocol that manufacturer uses and therefore what is needed to connect it to other networks in the home."