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Coming Soon: ZigBee Control by PDA
palmtops writes "The new ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4) wireless protocol designed for home
automation is getting a lot of exposure lately and got some more exciting news
today. Wired
Home Weblog has a brief mention and press release about the first ZigBee
SDIO card that allows your home to be controlled by your PDA. The
card was introduced by C-Guys at Cebit today and will
definitely add a whole new dimension to home automation."
Plagiarism is bad mmmmkay.
It's a protocol for sensor networks. It's being used for some home automation products but it's a not a very good match since the ZigBee design point assumes a relatively static configuration
You are (understandably) confusing the company X10 with the X-10 protocol. Unfortunately, people only seem to remember those vastly annoying pop-ups. And the hot models, of course.
The similarity of their names is further compounded by the fact that the X10 cams are compatible with the X-10 protocol.
Zigbee are proprietary layers added to IEEE 802.15.4. They aren't the same thing. Zigbee is NOT an open protocol.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
ZigBee's main purpose is to create self-assembling, autonomous networks.
This means that well written firmware will enable a tech with no education to just replace nodes if something goes wrong, versus having to understand anything about networking.
My job is in the development of ZigBee networks and I have worked with these devices for about a year now.
The main purpose of the ZigBee standard is to develop low-cost deivces that operate, assemble, and route messages with no human intervention. The latest chips cost less than two dollars, meaning a whole node can be designed for much less than $10.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
One of its big advantages for home automation is two-way communication. If you press the button for "garage door close", it will transmit and wait for an ACK, so you will know the door is closing. I think bi-di will also allow for "self programming" of your smart remote control. Hit a "program my remote" button on your Zigbee equipped TV, and hit the "learn a device" button on your remote, and the marriage happens. No more pile of remotes -- one will do it. And no more code books for your All In One remote. Plus, I think the pairing can be secured (although not cryptographically secure, it'll still be good enough for your neighbors' remotes to be locked out.)
Because it was first designed for battery powered industrial sensor networks, Zigbee is designed for extremely low power for the longest possible battery life. The transmission starts instantly and is a short burst that is stopped as soon as it's acknowledged. The receiver will come active within 15ms. Zigbee remotes should last longer than IR remotes.
Zigbee allows for 65535 nodes in a network, which is a lot more than the 256 unique addresses in the X-10 namespace. Oh, and in America, Zigbee is 40kbps, which is much, much faster than X-10 over powerlines (which I believe I read is something incredibly slow, like 60 baud.) While still a low-bandwidth network, 40kbps is plenty fast enough for device control, which typically uses very tiny packets of data.
I was disappointed to find that Bluetooth could not become the home automation control protocol. One of the problems with using Bluetooth for remote control is that the discovery and connection process can take 3 or more seconds. While Bluetooth can transmit at a much higher data rate, it takes much longer to start up and more power to do so.
While Bluetooth will still exist for things like headphones, I've decided to get excited about Zigbee instead, and I plan to buy a Zigbee enabled Palm device when they hit the market.
Finally, I'm sure I got plenty of facts wrong above. I'll leave it to someone else to post corrections, I'm going to bed.
John
Is it really too hard to get up to turn off a light?
No, and if that was why people installed home automation systems, that would be a valid jab. Very few people will spend hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of dollars just to avoid getting up. My own needs were based on practicality. One, my home is set back far from the street, and stumbling around in the dark outside when I come home late is not my idea of fun. So, my system is set to turn on the outside lights a half hour after sundown (even though the sun has set, it's still pretty light out for half an hour or so). This way, they're on when I need them, and off when I don't. $5 Walmart-special timers can't predict sun rises and sets. They have to be reprogrammed ever season, at least if you're like me and hell-bent on giving over my hard earned cash to my utility company.
Two, I have an automated random routine for when I'm on vacation, to give the house a more lived-in look. $5 timers can't do that for you, either. In fact, they make it more obvious to criminals. If you have an expandable system like the one I use, HomeSeer, you can use it for more than just lights. For example, I have a humidity sensor in the basement that signals the system to turn on the dehumidifier down there when it reaches a certain level. Unless you get a VERY expensive model, most dehumidifiers aren't very accurate, and considering how much electricity they use, I only want it on when it's necessary.
Since I had a system in place to handle the practical needs, I started using it for the "impractical", too. I leave one of the X-10 wallwarts plugged into my vaccum, and if a call comes in while I'm vacuuming, it gets turned off so I can hear the the phone ring. When I had multiple computers in the house (since replaced with laptops), I had the system shut them all down at night, and sent a Wake-On-Lan around 5 PM so they'd be on when I got home. Or, how when I switch MythTV to DVD mode, the lights dim in the living room after a couple of minutes, and the front blinds close to block the glare on the TV.
I have my bedroom lamp set on to start dimming up in the morning gradually. I get up before the sun, but have a hard time climbing out of bed if it's still dark out. So, for about 15 minutes before my alarm goes off, the light starts dimming up (yes, it's bad grammar, but that's what it's called in "the community") starting at 1% and increasing 1% per 15 seconds. When the alarm goes off, it's at 60% intensity which isn't blinding first thing in the morning, but light enough to get up by. This may sound stupid, but since I'm not a morning person, getting up has never been easy for me. Since I've set this up, I've found I only hit the snooze button once or twice anymore, rather than 5 or 6 times. I also wake up in a better mood and more alert.
True, most of these are minor conveniences, but it's the 21st century and computing power is cheap. Why not take advantage of it? Just because YOU don't see a value you in them, doesn't mean others don't or are lazy because they do. I've saved approximately 45% on my electricity bills since automating my setup, and that's before switching to fluorescent where practical. I wake up more refreshed, and don't worry about my home when I'm out of town. There's plenty of value in it for me.
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