Articles and whitepapers

Retrofitting Home Automation (4/1/2005)

By Willi Neumeier, Gooroo

People are increasingly fascinated by home automation technology, be it for lifestyle, energy-saving, or other reasons. While new-build homes can have special control networks built-in from scratch, and newly-purchased buildings can be refurbished, for those already living in a non-networked property, retrofitting home automation may seem quite impractical.

If drilling holes, lifting floors and chasing channels in walls must be kept to a minimum or are no option at all, why not consider the installation of a network that requires no new wires? There are solutions on the market that are much faster and simpler to install than normal cabling. Whether controlling a light, a garage door or a security camera, a TCP/IP-based network using the existing cabling infrastructure is a low-cost, easy-to-install alternative.

The options

If you want to retrofit a house with home automation and do not want to start drilling, there are basically four media that can be used:

Power line - using the existing power sockets.
Coax cable - using the existing TV cabling.
Phone line - using the existing telephone cabling.
Wireless - using WiFi-enabled products.

The Power line method uses the existing power wiring in your home for networking. Its advantages are that no new cables required, every power socket can be a networking socket, and multiple sockets already exist in every room. It has a bandwidth up to 14Mb/s, and a range up to 200m.

Controlling security cameras using a PC and Kraftcom PowerNET network adapters via the mains

The Coax cable method uses the existing TV cabling in your building. Its advantages are that it requires no new wires, and every TV socket in the home can be used for networking. It has a bandwidth up to 14Mb/s, and a range up to 700m.

The phone line method uses the existing phone wiring in your building for networking. Its advantages are that it requires no new wires, and every phone socket in the home can be used for networking. It has a bandwidth up to 10Mb/s currently, and a range up to 1.7km.

Wireless LAN (WiFi) uses radio frequencies for networking. No new cables are required, but WiFi has a limited range, particularly through thick walls. Rather than using WiFi for the entire network, it is more suited to bridging the gap between a device and a network access point using one of the media above, such as a power line network. A WiFi-enabled device can therefore be wirelessly connected to the network via a receiver that simply plugs into the nearest mains socket.

WiFi conforms to the IEEE802.llb standard and uses frequencies in the 2.4GHz band. Normally WiFi signals not interfere with other devices, but there are issues concerning security. Since radio waves do not stop at the front door, it is important to use some form of security in the form of encryption - otherwise outsiders can access your network. Wireless technology can also be used for controlling the home automation system.

The Gooroo wireless mobile touchpad with display allows all functions to be controlled and operated without the need for a regular PC

The principles

Each individual home should be assessed to establish which type of networking technology is best suited to it. Networking using the above media is based on the principle of having a feeder and multiple clients. Data is modulated on the medium by the feeder, and demodulated at the client station.

Power line, TV coax cable and phone line networking products are available off-the-shelf and are easy to install and setup - a typical installation taking half a day at most. The costs are around 60% lower than using conventional network cabling, and thanks to such technologies working with TCP/IP, they are fully future-proofed and have room for further enhancements in the home automation area. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the standard protocol for networking, and it is what the Internet is based on. It is very reliable, whether being used for transmitting only a few bytes of information for home automation or a huge amount of data as with the Internet.

Conclusion

If you do not want to suffer the inconvenience and cost of retrofitting a wired system, then power line, TV coax cable and phone line networking allow you to take advantage of wiring that has already been installed years before you even thought about home control! Using one, or a combination of these technologies, the home automation network can be tailored to suit any home.

Willi Neumeier is the Product Marketing Manager for Kraftcom GmbH, specialist in networks 'without new wiring' and solutions for the home network and hospitality markets. He also works for Gooroo AG, a specialist in home automation, mobile visualisation and control panels.

www.kraftcom.net