Technology

Technology overview

A modern home/building/industrial automation system will need several individual technologies to work correctly and coherently. Every part of the system has complex embedded technologies that may not be very evident to a user of the system. These technologies can be loosely classified as a) Endpoint technology b) Connectivity, c) Controller and d) Data Management technologies.

Controller Technology

Controller is the heart of the automation system. This is the master of the network all the other devices obey the commands given by the controller. They also ensure that the final report and data are periodically stored in the designated storage space. If the storage is over the cloud, the controller needs to have the capability to access the storage thru the WAN gateway and the internet.

The controllers come in different configurations, cost and capabilities. Depending on the size of the building network, controllers can control 10’s or 100’s of endpoint devices. They need to have sufficient processing power and memory. Since they need to be powered on most of the time, the controllers must have good power management schemes.

Alertcom Labs works with major controller developers in the world to bring state-of-the art building/home automation controllers to its customers.

Data Management

Data management is another key aspect in a building/home automation. The different sensor nodes generate quite a lot of data in the course of a day though at a time the data packet sizes are small. All this data must be analyzed and summary reports must be generated. These reports themselves could be quite big and they need to be stored for human viewing on demand.

Depending on the actual requirements of the customer, the user data could either be stored in a local storage or on the cloud. The advantage of using cloud is that the data could be viewed by the user from anywhere. There are several cloud subscription options available. Alertcom Labs will work with a partner for offering cloud services. The local storage does not need any annual subscriptions; but the HW and network needs to be maintained by the user.

Endpoint Technology

Endpoints are points where data is collected and/or a specific action is performed. The examples for these are Sensors, Motion Detectors, Surveillance Camera, Lighting Controllers etc. There are multiple types of sensors available in the market today - Movement sensors, Brightness sensors, Temperature sensor, Door/Window sensors, gas and smoke sensors. Similarly there are different brands and types of electronic switches and equipment controllers that could be integrated to make an efficient automation system. The technologies involved in all these are of an inter-disciplinary nature potentially involving Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Alertcom Labs is involved in developing sensor modules, detectors and other endpoint devices with several chosen partners.

Connectivity

Connectivity refers to the class of protocols and technologies enabling the creation of a network. All the different types of sensors will talk to a central controller periodically updating vital information. The controller makes decisions based on these data and uploads a summary report to the designated storage on a local storage equipment or on the cloud thru a WAN link.

The connectivity within the building could be wired or wireless. The links need to support the required data thruput. Unfortunately there is no single protocol that could be considered as the leading standard for connectivity. Hence, at least for the next several years users and system providers have to reconcile with multiple standards. The key wireless standards that are available today are Z-Wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth, WiFi, 6LoWPAN etc. One of the major wired standards is KNX. In addition to these, there are several proprietary standards that different vendors use for their own products. If compatibility with the different devices is not factored in, the user would soon find that he/she cannot use certain devices though they are the best for a particular application.

Alertcom Labs works with vendors on all the above standards and ensure adequate interoperability. Additionally, Alertcom Labs is involved in developing devices that would work on multiple industry standards thereby ensuring future upgradeability and interoperability.