Today - smart technology - is poised to make an indelible impact on how we live our day to day lives at home. Energy efficiency and other measures driven by government policy, as well as advances in technology, have contributed to both a need and a means to create user friendly smart home devices. (Smart metering, 2015)
Wireless sensor technology and handheld smart devices such as phones and tablets have become the platform on which this new wave of technology has been based. In combination …show more content…
Integration is made possible via the application of sensor technology and wireless networks (WSN). Wide area networks (WAN) linked to Local area networks (LAN) and now increasingly Body area networks (BAN), provide the framework on which data can flow and enable the IOT. (Van Kraenenburg, 2015).
According to the electrical trade association BEAMA, the modern smart home would operate primarily on a wireless local area network (WLAN). Nonetheless, there could be a mix of different networks consisting of various wireless and hardwired protocols. Therefore, a network operating within the home has been coined by some in the industry a Home area network (HAN). …show more content…
Wireless radio protocols have now become the main focus for smart home device developers; with a move away from hardwire dependant protocols such as KNX and X10. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, ZigBee, Z-Wave and Thread are all examples of wireless radio protocols. (Liew, 2015) The move away from hardwired solutions has enabled home automation and smart technology to be more easily integrated into a home. For instance, the intensive wiring work required of a hardwired system; made it suitable only for new build or extensive renovations.
A problem which arises with being a number of different radio protocols is that there is then a need to use devices which utilise the same protocol (talk the same language). This ability for devices to understand each other is known as interoperability. Chun Liew in his article for IOT Now thus frames this predicament as a war between the big radio protocol players (2015).
The desired characteristics required of a radio protocol include good interoperability, security, good area coverage, low power consumption and low cost (refer to annex for comparison of the main