Steven Totolo and Franca Piccin

Total Voice Control

"Saddle up, partner! There’s a stampede heading our way!" These words, likened to a rodeo round up, best describe the current state of protocol standards in home electronics, where a flurry of new developments is taking technology in all directions, at a fast and furious pace. To help put these developments into perspective, this article provides a brief past, present, and future overview of the ‘bucks ‘n broncos’ that make up the home electronics industry’s arena of protocol standards. So read on, partner, and don’t get left in the dust--there’s a lot going on!

There’s been no shortage of home electronics industry protocols and standards over the years. While many experienced great runs, others—such as ‘vaporware’ that promised continental, point-to-point, high-speed Internet over high-tension power lines—were less successful. There were also three competing wireless Internet protocols—namely, Bluetooth, 802.11b, and Home RF—that tried to share the same frequency band. Unfortunately, HomeRF failed to stay in the saddle for the full ride, but it did sire a colt. We’ll return to this item in a few moments.

In 1984, CEBus started as an industry solution for control and multimedia distribution on power line carrier, fiber-optic, twisted pair, and coax cables. However, come December 2004, the only source manufacturer for CEBus integrated circuits will cease production, effectively putting this workhorse to pasture.

Elsewhere, creation of the HomeAPI Working Group aimed to establish an open specification to define standard middleware and application program interfaces (API) that control home automation devices. Currently, it’s now integrated with MS Universal Plug and Play (UPnP).

Currently, there are many home and building electronics technology options from which to choose. Let’s look at each in turn.

The wireless sector has the widest selection of protocols. Table 1 provides a short comparison of wireless technologies available for network and data applications.

Z-Wave™—the newest buck in the herd—is a wireless RF-based communications technology designed for residential and light- commercial control as well as status-reading applications such as meter reading, lighting and appliance control, HVAC, access control, and intruder and fire detection, to name a few.

This protocol is considered an old-timer, developed in 1978. Today, there are still over ten companies that manufacture over 200 different products using the protocol’s X-10 technology. This workhorse of the do-it-yourself installation market is still going strong.

Alongside X-10, there’s Universal Powerline Bus™ (UPB) which is a 2-way communications protocol developed by Powerline Control Systems (PCS). Presently, there are five manufacturers selling over 30 different products. UPB can support 250 units on 255 network segments.

Not to be outdone, Domosys Inc. created the PowerBus technology for command and control on the power line and twisted pair wire. It supports up to 254 devices, located on up to 62 subnets and up to 1022 logical networks.

Still elsewhere, the Lonworks PLC protocol supports 32,385 devices per domain and 281 trillion domains. Lon modules are often used in building-control systems and propriety lighting-control systems in residential applications.

Finally, the HomePlug Alliance utilizes PowerPacket technology from Intellon for communications on the power line. Supporting speeds up to 14Mps, PowerPacket serves as a replacement for traditional Ethernet CAT5 wiring.

Table 2 below summarizes the main features of each of these protocols.

Still within the twisted pair market, HomePNA 3.0 reaches an unprecedented data rate of 128 Mbps with optional extensions reaching up to 240 Mbps. Products with HomePNA concentrate on home networking with devices such as network interface cards, routers, and broadband modems.

There’s also the FireWire /1394 / i.Link protocol—a melding of initiatives developed by Apple, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Sony—for the multimedia market. It serves as the connection of choice for users of high-definition video and audio products.

Table 3 provides a quick reference guide to the main features of each of these twisted-pair protocols.

Let’s now gallop ahead to look at future perspectives in the industry, where wireless technologies appear to be clear favorites.

In this category, Ultra Wideband (UWB) Radio is winning over an increasing number of fans. It’s a wireless technology for transmitting digital data over a wide spectrum of frequency bands using very low power. It can transmit data at speeds of 480 / 200 / 100 Mbps over a distance of 2 / 4 / 10 meters respectively, important for wireless local area network applications. Instead of using traditional sine waves, UWB Radio broadcasts digital pulses that are timed precisely on a signal crossing a very wide spectrum simultaneously. Transmitters and receivers must be coordinated to send and receive pulses with an accuracy of one-trillionth of a second!

A look into the future wouldn’t be complete without considering WiMAX—the ‘Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access Forum—a standards group for the IEEE’s microwave frequency communications, 802.16. The group functions much like the Wi-Fi Alliance, promoting the testing and interoperability of WiMAX products. Readers should also note that IEEE’s 802.16 is itself a standard, developed in April 2002, to provide up to 50 kilometers of wireless range outdoors. Since that time, the IEEE, in January 2004, ratified 802.16a as an extension to the initial standard, permitting the use of the lower frequency range of 2 to 11GHz without the need for line-of-sight coverage.

Furthermore, one can’t forget Zigbee—recently renamed from HomeRFLite—a spin-off of the now defunct HomeRF. In simple terms, Zigbee complements Bluetooth in the short-range market. While Bluetooth network connections are ad-hoc, Zigbee’s are static in nature. The market for Zigbee is aimed at long-term use of low-power consumption devices such as security products, user interfaces, and sensors. Zigbee operates in the 2.4GHz, 915 MHz, and 868 MHz frequency bands with data speeds of 250, 40, and 20 kps respectfully. The range indoors is limited to 10 meters, with a maximum of 255 devices per network.

Additionally, there’s the Wireless USB (WUSB) Promoter Group, recently announced at the Spring 2004 Intel Developer Forum. Impressive about WUSB is its hosting capacity, which can connect to a maximum of 127 WUSB devices while maintaining a current USB 2.0 speed of 480 Mbps for up to 10 meters from device to device. This specification allows the speed to increase to 1 Gbps using UWB technology.

Rounding off the herd is the work of Entropic, the developer of a high-speed network known as c.LINK-270, which operates over existing coax cable. The 270 Mbps network aims to provide a home backbone to computers, set-top boxes, and other media devices using the familiar coax "F" connector as the interface. The Multimedia Over Coax Alliance (MoCA)—founded by Entropic—will oversee further development of this technology.

In the realm of protocols, Open Building Information Exchange (oBIX) sets out a web-services standard that enables communications between building, mechanical, and electrical systems, as well as enterprise applications. This standard facilitates data collection and exchange of systems information for building managers interested in centralizing the control of their operations.

Finally, Home Electronic Systems, also known as ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC25/WG1 HES, is currently working to develop a standard for the communication and control of electronics systems within the home as well as for communication from within the home to the outside world. This remains a work in progress, with representatives from 23-participating and 13-observer countries collaborating to complete the standard. Recently, HES completed Residential Gateway, Part 1 of the standard, which links home control networks with those of external service providers.

So the gates are open, and dibs on what will happen next is anybody’s guess. However, you can keep a reign on the action by looking to organizations like CABA—the Continental Automated Building Association—and CEDIA—the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association. Both are rich sources of protocols and standards expertise and information. Consider also joining a standards working group to keep abreast of industry developments. Without doubt, the time invested will be worthwhile, giving your business not only a competitive advantage, but also valuable knowledge and insights into technological trends and innovations. Come on, partner! Giddy-up!

Steven Totolo is President of tvcAutomation. tvcAutomation provides retail sales, training, and consulting services to the Home Automation industry. Steven is a member of the CABA Standards Committee and Vice-Chair of the i Homes & Building Editorial Advisory Board. He can be reached at stotolo@tvcAutomation.com