Tag: Z-Wave

Article

Emergency-alert buttons like this Ekahau Wi-Fi name-tag panic-button setup will be influencing network architecture for the Internet Of Things

The Hotel Panic Button Could Redefine Hospitality Networking | IoT World Today

My Comments

In some workplaces where staff work alone at night or other times where they are in danger, portable emergency-call buttons are often used. Initially they were the same size as an older garage-door opener but they are becoming the size of a pendant, badge or fob. As well, rather than these devices lighting up a separate alert panel, they light up a message or “throw up” a map with an indicator on a regular computer running building-security software to show where the danger is.

Initially, they were being positioned for very-high-risk workplaces like psychiatric care or the justice and allied settings. But other workplaces where staff work alone are seeing these devices as an important safety measure, usually due to various occupational health-and-safety requirements.

For example, hotels in the USA are moving towards having Housekeeping staff use these devices in response to workplace agreements, industry safe-work safe-premises initiatives or city-based legal requirements. But these systems are being required to work in conjunction with the Wi-Fi networks used by staff and guests for business and personal data transfer.

A device of the kind that I had covered previously on HomeNetworking01.info was the Ekahau Real Time Location System. This was a pendant-style “panic-button” device, known as the T301BD Pager Tag which had an integrated display and call button. It also had a setup that if the tag was pulled at the nexkstrap, it would initiate an emergency response.  I also wrote an article about these Ekahau devices being deployed in a psychiatric hospital as a staff emergency-alert setup in order to describe Wi-Fi serving a security/safety use case with the home network.

This application is being seen as a driver for other “Internet-of-Things” and smart-building technologies in this usage case, such as online access-control systems, energy management or custom experiences for guests. As I have said before when talking about what the smart lock will offer, the hotel may be seen as a place where most of us may deal with or experience one or more of the smart-building technologies. Also I see these places existing as a proving ground for these technologies in front of many householders or small-business owners who will be managing their own IT setups.

One of the issues being drummed up in this article is quality-of-service for the Internet Of Things whereupon the device must be able to send a signal from anywhere on the premises with receiving endpoints receiving this signal with no delay. It will become an issue as the packet-driven technologies like the Internet replace traditional circuit-based technologies like telephone or 2-way radio for signalling or machine-to-machine communication.

The hotel application is based around the use of multiple access points, typically to provide consistent Wi-Fi service for staff and guests. Such a setup is about making sure that staff and guests aren’t out of range of the property’s Wi-Fi network and the same quality of service for all network and Internet use cases is consistent throughout the building. Here, concepts like mesh-driven Wi-Fi, adaptive-antenna approaches, load-balancing and smart smooth roaming are effectively rolled in to the design of these networks.

Wi-Fi access points in the smart-building network will also be expected to serve as bridges between IP-based networks and non-IP “Internet-of-Things” networks like Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth Smart), Zigbee, Z-Wave or DECT-ULE. These latter networks are pushed towards this application class due to the fact that they are designed to support very long battery runtimes on commodity batteries like AA Duracells or coin-style watch batteries. There will be an emphasis on localised bridging and the IP-network-as-backbone to provide better localisation and efficient operation.

These systems are being driven towards single-screen property-specific dashboards where you can see the information regarding the premises “at a glance”. I would reckon that operating-system-native applications and, perhaps, Progressive Web App versions will also be required to use operating-system-specific features like notification-panels to improve their utility factor in this context.

As far as the home network is concerned, I do see most of these technological concepts being rolled out to the smart home with an expectation to provide a similar service for householders and small businesses. This is more important as ISPs in competitive markets see the “Internet of Things” and improved Wi-Fi as a product differentiator.

The use of multiple Wi-Fi access points to cover an average home being made real for a home network thanks to HomePlug wireless access points, Wi-Fi range extenders and distributed-Wi-Fi systems that will bring this kind of localised Wi-Fi to the smart home. Typically this is to rectify Wi-Fi coverage shortcomings that crop up in particular architecture scenarios like multi-storey / split-level premises and use of building materials and furniture that limit RF throughput. It is also brought about thanks to the use of higher-frequency wavebands like 5GHz as Wi-Fi network wavebands.

There will be an industry expectation to require access points and similar devices to provide this kind of “open-bridging” for Internet-of-Things networks. This is more so where battery-operated sensor or controller devices like thermostatic radiator valves and smart locks will rely on “low-power” approaches including the use of Zigbee, Z-Wave or similar network technology.

It will also be driven typically by carrier-supplied routers that have home-automation controller functionality which would work with the carrier’s or ISP’s home-automation and security services.

To the same extent, it may require “smart-home / building-automation” networks to support the use of IP-based transports like Wi-Fi, HomePlug and Ethernet as an alternative backhaul in addition to their meshing or similar approaches these technologies offer to extend their coverage.

In some cases, it may be about Zigbee / Z-Wave setups with very few devices located at each end of the house or with devices that can’t always be “in the mesh” for these systems due to them entering a “sleep mode” due to inactivity, or there could be the usual RF difficulties that can plague Wi-Fi networks affecting these technologies.

DECT-ULE, based on the DECT cordless-phone technology and is being championed by some European technology names, doesn’t support meshing at all and IP-based bridging and backhauls could work as a way to extend its coverage.

Such situation may be rectified by access points that use a wired backbone like Ethernet or HomePlug powerline.

In the context of the staff panic button use-case, it will roll out to the home network as part of a variety of applications. The common application that will come about will be to allow the elderly, disabled people, convalescents and the like who need continual medical care to live at home independently or with support from people assuming a carer role.

This will be driven by the “ageing at home” principle and similar agendas that are being driven by the fact that people born during the post-war baby boom are becoming older as well as the rise of increased personal lifespans.

Similarly, this application may also be underscored as a security measure for those of us who are concerned about our loved ones being home alone in a high-risk environment. This is more so in neighbourhoods where the risk of a violent crime being committed is very strong.

But I would see this concept work beyond these use cases. For example, a UK / European central-heating system that is set up with each radiator equipped with a “smart” thermostatic radiator valve that is tied in with the smart-home system. Or the use of many different control surfaces to manage lighting, comfort and home-entertainment through the connected home. This is something that will rise up as most of us take on the concept of the smart home as the technology standardises and becomes more affordable.

What is being highlighted is the requirement for high quality-of-service when it comes to sending “Internet-of-Things” signalling or control data as our networks become more congested with more gadgets. Similarly, it is about being able to use IP-based network technology as a backhaul for non-IP network data that is part of the Internet-of-Things but providing the right kind of routing to assure proper coverage and quality-of-service.

Previously, in my series about the Internationaler Funkaustellung 2015 fair in Berlin, I had covered computing and home network trends like Intel Skylake chips leading to improved performance for desktop and portable computers and the steady rise of 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi wireless and HomePlug AV2 powerline networks. This was followed up with home entertainment technology which was centered around 4K UHDTV becoming more mainstream, the arrival of 4K UHD Blu-Ray Discs and HDR TV technology.

Home Automation

There has been a rise in the number of home-automation systems appearing on the European market with companies offering a new home-automation platform or building out their existing platform with new sensor and control devices. Most of these systems implement Zigbee or Z-Wave and use a hub or central unit that links to your home network to allow monitoring and management of these systems from your smartphone or Web-connected computer.  Some of these systems may have some sensor or output devices work with your home network’s Wi-Fi segment rather than Zigbee or Z-Wave.

Devolo Home Control Central unit connected to router

Devolo have built out the Devolo Home Control platform with more devices. This Z-Wave system started off with a central unit, a wall-mount room thermostat, a thermostatic radiator valve, a smoke alarm and a plug-in appliance module which turns appliances on and off and reports their power consumption. The central unit can link with your home network via an Ethernet or, thankfully, a HomePlug AV 500 connection both of which are more realistic in this application than Wi-Fi wireless. Now they have built it out with a motion detector, a reed-switch-based door/window contact sensor, a water sensor to detect leaky washing machines or flooded basements, and a humidity sensor. They also added an indoor siren to provide an audible alert to user-defined events; along with a wall-mount switch, light dimmer and blind/shutter controller that have to be installed by an electrician and connected to AC wiring. This system is managed by a mobile-platform app and can signal events by email or SMS text messaging.

D-Link have also built out their myDLink home-automation platform which uses Wi-Fi for some applications and Z-Wave for others. This system is based around a Connected Home Hub which connects to your home network via Wi-FI or Ethernet and connects to the Z-Wave-based devices. Here, they have an appliance module and motion sensor that connects directly via Wi-Fi along with a smoke alarm, siren, water sensor, 3-in-1 magnet/reed door sensor which also senses room temperature and light level, 3-in-1 motion sensor which also senses room temperature and light level, and smoke alarm.

Samsung just lately took over the SmartThings home automation initiative and brought it under their banner. This system again is based around a home-automation hub which works with Z-Wave or Zigbee along with your home network but can work with devices from other vendors like the Yale Real Living deadbolts or the Honeywell Lyric thermostats. They have also shown the SleepSense bed sensor which slips under your mattress and registers how much sleep you are getting.

Philips are building out the Hue LED-based lighting range with the Hue+ lighting strip which is effectively a string of lights. Here, you can adjust colour and control the light from your smartphone like you can with other Philips Hue devices and this can be built out to 10 metres by adding a 1-metre extension strip.

Appliances

Increasing more of the appliance manufacturers are working towards an increasingly-sophisticated “app-cessory” approach to online enablement where your smartphone or tablet becomes an extra control surface that exposes increased functionality like notifying you on your smartphone when the laundry is done so you can start the next load as quickly as possible. But it is also driven by the manufacturers implementing an interlink with their resources to facilitate assisted cooking and similar functionality.

Miele CM7 countertop bean-to-cup coffee machine

Miele has brought in the Edition Con@ct washing machine and dryer which implements an automatic detergent dispensing system and lets users know using their smartphone and the Internet if they need more of the detergent cartridges. As well, they are extending this concept to dishwashers so the app reminds you when to get dishwasher powder or tablets. They also are releasing the US-sized ovens and range-style cookers in to Europe because of the fact these bring out the “gourmet” in some European cultures. Their new CM7 touch-operated bean-to-cup superautomatic espresso coffee machine has been released as their foray in to the countertop coffee machine space and implements a “jug” function for making large quantities of coffee or milk as well as a cartridge-based automatic descaler. Miele’s newer electric induction cooktops are implementing the TempControl function for frying so you can get those eggs, sausages or “best of the kitchen” fry-up just right.

AEG Pro Combi Plus smart oven – you can see how it’s cooking from your iPad

Electrolux have been showing their vision for the Internet Of Everything at this year’s IFA as far as their appliance brands are concerned. One application that they want to underscore with AllJoyn and the AllSeen Alliance is assisted cooking. One of their brands, AEG, has come forward with some connected cooking ideas including the ProCombi Plus Smart Oven. This takes the “app-cessory” concept further by using an integrated camera so you can peek at what is cooking in that oven using your smartphone or tablet which is connected via Wi-Fi.  The mobile device app will have access to their recipe catalogue which is searchable and sortable by diet, cost, occasion, ingredients and technique along with access to AEG’s social-Web channels. The ProCombi Plus Smart Oven is one of those ovens that implements wet and dry cooking in the same space so you can steam-cook the fish and roast some potatoes in the same space. The Hob2Hood rangehood is one of the first rangehoods that uses the hob or cooker as a control surface and will work with AEG’s cooktops.

You can see in your Bosch fridge using your smartphone courtesy of Home Connect

Bosch Home Appliances has also headed down the connected appliance path with a fridge that has an integrated camera so you can see what is in there on your smartphone or tablet. As well, they also have other “app-cessory” functionality including system diagnostics across all of the appliance classes including their built-in bean-to-cup coffee machine. Let’s not forget that Bosch are releasing cooktops that are equipped with sensors for optmum cooking.

KitchenAid used the IFA 2015 to capitalise on the fad for sous-vide cooking by launching the Chef Touch Sous-Vide collection. This consists of a vacuum sealer, steam oven and freezer pitched for this technique with an ask of approximately EUR€10000. It isn’t just about that famous electric mixer anymore., W

Whirlpool are launching their Bauknecht sub-brand which is pitched at a “life-balanced” lifestyle for the millenial generation. This courts households with a family and career focused lifestyle and encompasses washing machines, dryers and fridges controlled by the BLive mobile app. For example, you can tell your Bauknecht washing machine what material your clothes in your washload are and the machine determines the best cycle for that job.

Samsung AddWash washing machine – you can add that sock mid-cycle

Samsung had fielded a front-load washing machine that has a door which you can open during its cycle so you can add laundry that had missed the start of the cycle like a sock’s mate. Here, you can pause the cycle and this small door unlocks while the water stays in the machine when you add that item. It also is a connected appliance which supports smartphone notification.

Philips has introduced a range of devices that work with your smartphone and tablet for “cradle to grave” personal wellbeing. For example, they have an ultrasound scanner so you can scan yourself during pregnancy and see how the new baby comes up on your mobile device. They also have the uGrow in-ear thermometer to measure baby’s temperature and show it on your smartphone as well as a baby monitor. The SoniCare electric toothbrush uses your mobile device to show you how to best clean your teeth wile the Smart Shaver 7000 system becomes an electric shaver, skin buffer or beard trimmer. They even provide a location tracking device for seniors who have the wanders.

Other brands have come to the fore like Haier with a fridge that has a door that becomes a window to what’s in there and the Neato Botvac which is a robot vacuum cleaner that connects to your home Wi-Fi network and uses your smartphone or tablet as its control surface.

What is showing up here is that the Internet Of Things is being seen as an essential product differentiator for large and small appliances while some manufacturers are building out home-automation platforms to get us going in this field. These goals will be centered around smartphones and tablets being control surfaces. Who knows what next year will bring.

Part 1 – Personal Computing Trends

Part 2 – Wearables and the Home Network

Part 3 – Home Entertainment

Part 4 – Home Automation and the Internet Of Things

Article

Don’t get sidetracked: Connecting the residential IoE | The Beacon (Wi-Fi.org)

My Comments

Appliances like this coffee machine are now working with dedicated mobile platform apps.

As the “Internet Of Things” or “Internet Of Everything” becomes ubiquitous in one’s lifestyle, there will always be some key issues with implementing this concept. It doesn’t matter whether it is for our health, wellbeing, convenient living or security that these issues will come in to play.

The core issue around the initial complexities will be due to use of network transports that don’t work on Internet-Protocol methodologies that have been established well before the Internet came to fruition in the mid-1990s. Rather, some of these implement an industry-specific data transport that requires the use of a so-called “bridge” between the non-IP transport and the IP transport.

Current implementation issues

Filling your computing devices with apps for each device and cloud service

The Internet Of Things should be about allowing these smart locks to work with other home-automation devices

At the moment, a lot of devices that offer control by smartphone require the use of vendor-developed apps and as you add more devices with this capability to your network, you end up filling your mobile device with many different apps. This leads to user confusion because you end up with having to work out which app you use to work with which device.

The same issue also affects cloud-based services where each vendor impresses on users to use the vendor’s supplied apps to benefit from these services. Again this leads to operator confusion which typically we would have noticed when we use social-media, over-the-top messaging or cloud-storage front-ends on our computing devices for each social-media, messaging or cloud-storage service.

This kind of situation makes it harder for one to develop software that makes best use of a device’s functions because they have to engineer a device to work specifically with a particular vendor’s devices. It brings us back to the days of DOS-based software where games vendors had to write the driver software to allow their software to interface with the computer system’s peripherals. This made it harder for customers to determine if that program they are after was to be compatible with their computer hardware.

Home-control systems and the home network

One issue that was highlighted was linking devices that use non-IP networks like Zigbee, Z-Wave or Bluetooth to the IP-based home network which works on Cat5 Ethernet, Wi-Fi and/or HomePlug. Typically this requires the use of a network-bridge device or module that connects to one of the Ethernet ports on the home-network router to link these devices to your home network, the Internet and your mobile devices.

Multiple bridge devices being needed

… such as this room thermostat

The main question that was raised was whether we would end up with multiple bridge devices because each non-IP sensor or controller system was working in a proprietary manner, typically bound to a particular vendor’s devices or, in some cases, a subset of the devices offered by that vendor.

The worst-case scenario is a vendor who implements a Zigbee-based distributed heating control system for a UK-style hydronic central heating system that has thermostatic radiator valves for each radiator. In this scenario this system’s components will only link to the Internet and home network using the network bridge supplied by that vendor even though it works on the Zigbee network. But if you introduce a lighting system provided by another vendor that uses Zigbee technology, this system may require the use of another bridge that is supplied by that vendor for network-based lighting control.

Support for gradual system evolution

Also there is the issue of installation woes creeping up when you install or evolve your home-automation system. Some of us like the idea of “starting small” with local control of a few devices, then as funds and needs change, will change towards a larger more-capable system with Internet and mobile-device connectivity. The issue that is raised here is that a vendor could impress upon us to buy and install the network bridge before we start out installing the home-automation devices rather than enrolling the network bridge in to an established control system at a later date. In some cases, you may have to perform a reset operation upon all of the existing components and re-configure you system when you install that network bridge.

This also underscores the situation where a vendor may allow in-place upgrading and integration of a device known to have a long service life like most major appliances, HVAC or building-security devices. This is typically achieved through the use of an expansion module that the user or a technician installs in the device and this device gains the extra functionality. Here, it should be required for the device to be integrated in to the “Internet Of Things” network without you having to reset your network or do other difficult tasks.

To the same extent, one could easily start a system around one or more older devices, yet install newer devices in to the system. For example, you have a UK-style central heating system that is based around an existing boiler that has support for an advanced heating-control system if you choose to have a control module retrofitted to that unit and this module has an LCD touchscreen as its user interface.

You purchase this module and ask the central-heating technician to install it in your boiler so you can save money on your fuel bills. Here, this system uses a room thermostat which you start out with but also can work with thermostatic radiator valves and you buy and attach these valves to the radiators around the house to improve the heating efficiency and these devices work together properly, showing the results on the module’s LCD touchscreen.

Subsequently the boiler reaches the end of its useful life and you replace it with a newer more efficient model that has integrated support for the heating-control system that you implemented but in a newer form. Here, you don’t want to lose the functionality that the room thermostat or the thermostatic radiator valves offered, but want to fully benefit from what the new unit offers such as its inherent support for modulated output.

Needs

Task-focused application-level standards

The needs highlighted here are to implement task-focused application-level standards that work for the purpose of the device and support a simplified installation routine. As well, the role of any bridge device implemented in an “Internet Of Things” setup is to provide a proper application-level bridge between different medium types independent of device vendor.

But what are these task-focused application-level standards? These are IT standards that are focused on what the device does for that class of device rather than the device as being a particular model from a particular vendor. An “Internet Of Things” example would be a smart thermostat that is known to the other devices as a “HVAC thermostat” with attributes like current temperature, setpoint (desired-comfort-level) temperature, setpoint schedules and other comfort-control factors. This makes it easier for other devices to interact with these devices to, for example set up a situation-specific “preferred” room temperature for your heating when you use a particular user-code with your building alarm system or have a weather-forecast service cause the temperature to be adjusted in a manner to suit an upcoming situation.

Some good examples of the application-level standards are the UPnP Device Control Protocols for IP networks, or the Bluetooth application profiles. In one case, the Bluetooth Human Interface Device profile used for the Bluetooth keyboards, mice and remote controls was based on the USB Human Interface Device standards used for these similar devices. This simplified the design of host operating systems to design interoperability with Bluetooth and USB input devices using code that shared the same function.

Ability for a fail-safe network

An issue that is starting to crop up regarding the Internet Of Everything is being sure of a fail-safe network. This is in the form of each device in the network always discovering each other, control devices controlling their targets every time and sensor devices consistently providing up-to-date accurate data to their target devices.As well, a device that has a “standalone” function must be able to perform that function without being dependent on other devices.

Some devices such as smart locks have to he able to perform their essential functionality in a standalone manner if they lose connectivity with the rest of the network. This can easily happen due to a power cut or a network bridge or the Internet router breaking down.

Network bridges that work with multiple non-IP standards

As well, manufacturers could be challenged to design network bridges that work with more than two connection types such as a bridge that links Zigbee and Z-Wave home-automation devices to the one IP network using the one Ethernet connection.

This would include the ability to translate between the different non-IP standards on a task-based level so that each network isn’t its own silo. Rather, each device could expose what it can do to or the data it provides to other devices in the same logical network.

This may come to the fore with the concept of “meshing” which some standards like Zigbee and Z-Wave support. Here, a network can be created with each node being part of a logical mesh so that the nodes carry the signals further or provide a fail-safe transmission path for the signals. The “bridges” could work in a way to create a logical mesh with IP networks and networks that work on other media to use these other paths to create a totally fail-safe path.

Conclusion

It will take a long time for the “Internet Of Everything” to mature to a level playing field as it has taken for desktop and mobile computing to evolve towards to that goal. This will involve a lot of steps and place pressure on device manufacturers to implement these upgrades through the long working life of these devices.