Connectivity options for Home Automation

SmartCity, SmartHome, Smart... has entered out vocabulary in increasing frequency. Recently Home Automation has picked up a lot of traction with multiple players.
It is important to know how these automation products get their connectivity for control.
Some of the main connectivity options are:

Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Insteon
UPB
Thread
Z-Wave
Zigbee

They all work with different protocols and platforms. One has to consider inter-operability while choosing one or the other. Cost, availability, ease of use and power consumption are also of concern.

Wi-Fi

It is widely used. Most homes have Wi-Fi routers and a wireless hub where they can connect to devices. Interference and bandwidth are the main issues as most people have already experienced. It is also high on power consumption. A real guzzler.

Read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11

Bluetooth

This has become very common as they are used in headphones, speakers and a number of other products.  Bandwidth-wise,

Wi-Fi>Bluetooth>Z-Wave/Zigbee

Consumption of power-wise it is better than Wi-Fi. The new Bluetooth low energy or BLE has greater range and capable of forming mesh network and not needing a hub. This clearly has winning points for home applications as it supports encryption as well.

More here:

https://www.bluetooth.com/

*Bluetooth Low Energy (LE)

*Bluetooth Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR)

Insteon

Devices using Insteon use both Power lines as well as wireless increasing pathways and introducing redundancy. Insteon is X10 compatible which makes it easy for those using X10. It does not have a high learning curve and non-technical folk can use it.

Read more here:

https://www.insteon.com/google-home

Here is a comparison sheet for some of the connectivity technologies:

Universal Powerline Bus(UPB)
Universal Powerline Bus(UPB) is a replacement for X10 with superior reliability and range (mile plus range). The signal rides piggy back over the powerline reducing cost for separate control lines. Although it replaces X10, it is not compatible with it. It is also incompatible with newer technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. Lacking encryption, it is not as secure as wireless.

Read here are for more:
http://www.homeautomationinfo.com/Drupal/technology_upb

Z-Wave
 Z-Wave runs on 908.42 MHz. It is one of the most popular home automation protocols and does not interfere with your 2.4GHz band devices.  It is widely compatible with all Z-wave family of products. Compatible backwards and forwards. Setting up and using the devices are a breeze.

Read more here:
http://www.z-wave.com/

Zigbee

Very similar to Z-Wave.  There appears to be interoperability problems between Zigbee devices from different manufacturers.(https://www.electronichouse.com/smart-home/home-automation-protocols-what-technology-is-right-for-you/).

It is low cost, low power and can run on batteries. It uses the 802.15.4 Wireless protocol and uses mesh network structure. Zigbee 3.0 appears to be better for compatibility with Zigbee from others.



Read more here:
http://www.zigbee.org/what-is-zigbee/




Thread:

Thread is an open, IPv6-based, low-power, secure and future-proof mesh networking technology (6LoWPAN) for IoT products. The Personal Area Network Thread protocol specification is publicly available.
Images from TomsHardware site

Read here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/thread-mesh-networking-protocol-homes,29556.html

Post inspired by the various technology sites in the post 

Cypress and the Internet of Things

 

Cypress's Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED) combines the following features:

Wireless
MCU
Memory
PMIC

This WICED platform can accelerate time-to-market for IOT products. Cypress's WICED and cloud services can easily be adopted for automotive, industrial and consumer products.

Time-to-market is facilitated by the WICED IoT platform consisting of (from Cypress' site):

• Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED)   

    Eliminate the complexity of adding wireless
    Simplifies adding cloud services
    Allows customers to focus on their IoT product development

• The WICED SDK is pre-integrated, pre-tested and courteously updated

    WICED APIs and drivers make wireless connectivity easy and flexible
    Proven production ready stacks (E.g. networking, security)
    Pre-integrated licensed ecosystem libraries (E.g. HomeKit, Weave)
    Pre-integrated world-leading IoT cloud Platforms (E.g. Amazon AWS, IBM BlueMix)

• The WICED Partner Ecosystem accelerates your time-to-market

    Partners who are experts in product development with the WICED SDK
    Partners who are experts in integrating embedded system with mobile and cloud applications
    Partners who deliver a broad portfolio of certified modules optimized for power, range and interoperability
    Professional highly engaged community

Read more about:

• Cypress Solar-powered Sensor Beacons

• IoT products that connect directly to cloud; that connect to Cloud via IoT Gateway and Connect to Cloud via a mobile device

• State-of-the-art wireless: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee connectivity 

Zigbee and IoT

Zigbee is an open global wireless protocol standard that addresses the needs of low-cost, low-power networks that connect IOT devices such as home automation; (automating functions like opening doors, garage openers, water sprinklers, etc.); environment control like temperature; controlling traffic; and other IOT devices and not just home automation. The range is around 10 to 100 meters and a Zigbee  network can support 1000's of end devices.

 

Technically speaking the Zigbee standard operates on IEEE 802.15.4 (physical and MAC layers)  physical radio specificaiton and operates in unlicensed bands 2.4GHZ, 900MHZ and 868 MHZ ().


zigbee_OSI.jpg
The Zigbee protocol was been created and ratified by member companies belonging to the Zigbee alliance consisting of more than 300 leading semicondutor manufacturers; technology companies; service providers; and OEMS. You can find the member list here: http://www.zigbee.org/zigbeealliance/our-members/

Zigbee components:

• Coordinator
• Router
• End device

The componets are connected in mesh or star. The coordinator which is installed first  as well as the routers which join the Zigbee network next are always up and the end  devices (bulbs, thermostats, etc.) that join later can stay up or down. The end devices are usually battery operated.

Zigbee_network.jpg

Here is an example of setting up a Zigbee network with a specific device. network.
http://www.solaredge.com/files/pdfs/se_application_zigbee_gateway.pdf

Zigbee being open stardard, the adoption will be slow and vendors add their own special tweaks. Xbee is a special kind of Zigbee manufatured by Digi International. Review this link for more info on Digi and IoT(www.digi.com).