For internet access, sensors and controls have to either be directly connected to an internet node (e.g. by Wifi) or a gateway gathers local data and makes them available for the internet. The gateway is inside a local network and cannot easily be reached from outside. As long as IPv4 addresses dominate the market, households have no static IP address but are serviced through by system of changing IP addresses. With that it is difficult to address hardware inside the network from outside. There are DDNS servers available which offer a dynamic name association with servers inside the local network. The set-up of such services will typically not be executed by consumers.

With IPv6 addresses this will change, since every device in internet can get its individual address and with that can be reached from everywhere. Although it is technically feasible today it will still take 5 to 10 years, before IPv6 becomes the standard addressing scheme.

Before that is solved, connections to devices inside a local network have to be made by cloud server, where both, the device and the human or other machine interfaces have to register first, before they are connected by the server.

In order to let the users do the installation of home automation and security devices themselves it is important that these devices are wireless. At the same time sensors and controls should be accessible through internet, so that smartphones and PC are able to connect with independent where they are.

The current technologies for wireless communication include

-       Infrared (as for remote controls)

-       Radio frequency communication in the free ISM bands (in Europe 433MHz, 868MHz, 2,4GHz) with standard (such as Z-Wave, Enocean or Zigbee) or vendor proprietary protocols

-       Bluetooth (especially version 4.0 low energy, BLE)

-       Wifi according IEC 802.11bgn… (as we use it for our numerous IT applications)

-       Radio frequency communication in TV white space (“Weightless”, 400 to 800 MHz)

-       Cell phone communication according to GSM or CDMA standard

To connect to internet each of these technologies need to use a gateway to the cable bound copper or fiber optic internet grid. Some of these gateways are in the same house where the sensors and controls are (ISM, Wifi), some are part of the network infrastructure outside of the house (Cell phone, Weightless).

The current markets for remote sensors and controls concentrate on a local (10m to 300m range) connection. An alarm system can connect a number of devices to a base station. The base station has the user interface for arming/disarming, status display and alarm functions. A remote controlled power plug can be reached by a handheld battery operated hand set. That means that there exists already a mature supplier market for most of the remote controlled functions. That is good news, since the time to market is extremely shortened if you can already access a whole portfolio of products that can connect to the real world.

Another important aspect is the cost per intelligent device. Intelligence is typically defined by a micro controller unit (MCU), a micro computer with peripheral functions such as analog or digital input or output signals, and a wireless communication interface. The cost of this functionality heavily depends on the technology. The table below gives an indication of today’s and next year’s cost of each node:

Comparison of node cost of different technogies