zigbee

Many of us who grew up watching cartoons such as the Jetsons or science fictions movies like Star Trek, would at some time or the other ask ourselves; what if all the appliances in our home could talk to each other? Some of us have investigated the idea but was deter by its complexity and some have achieved some success.  What we were asking is; can we automate our home? And, the answer to this is yes, if you can afford it. As things are today we have moved on from asking about home automation to asking: How can I get my home connected?

Kosciusko REMC, the Indiana based electric cooperative has selected Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream RF Smart Grid solution for its advanced metering  project. Starting early 2012, Kosciusko REMC will start rolling out Landis+Gyr’s E350 FOCUS AX-SD residential meters, E650 S4e commercial meters and Gridstream RF mesh network technology.  The programme is expected to run for 18 months and include all 18 thousand members.

After two years of development Embedded Automation has release a new version of its mControl application. The new mControl v3 is said to offer support for more devices, richer user interface, plus much more.  mControl v3 also supports other Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication standards that will allow solutions providers to develop solutions that interface with other systems in the home.

The Zigbee Alliance has extended its standards to allow Zigbee networks to be accessible from the internet.  The new standard is called Zigbee Gateway and it is to allow device manufacturers to focus more on application development for the home.  It removes the need for customers or proprietary platforms and allow for better M2M communication.

Digi Internationaltoday announced that Efficient Energy America, Inc. (E2America) is using its iDigi Device Cloud, ConnectPort X4 gateways and XBee ZB ZigBee modules to wirelessly enable the E2 intelligent commercial building control system. Installed in restaurant chains and other commercial buildings across the U.S. E2America's Smart Grid efficiency technology currently reduces energy consumption and demand by optimizing HVAC efficiency. On average, customers experience annual savings of $7,000-$8,000 per site.

The Zigbee Alliance community members and the public are being asked to submit their comments on the Zigbee Smart Energy v2.0 revised technical documents and Public Application Profile. The new standard offers a range of new features including IP-based control for advance metering infrastructure and home area networks (HAN).  Over the next few weeks the alliance is hoping received feedback to take the standard forward.

Ember the connected home solutions provider has declared 2010 has its best year yet. With over 10 million ZigBee chips shipped last year, they have become the first to have shipped that amount in one year. Ember attributes their growth to the strategic partnerships that they have formed and the increase in smart meter implementation worldwide. Their main areas of growth were in North America and Europe mainly the UK where the country’s main utility supplier British Gas is planning to provide a million customers with smart electricity and gas meters.

Palmchip has release a new AcurX51 SoC platform for the smart grid connectivity and home area network (HAN) solutions industry. The new AcurX51 is based on a customised version of the Intel 8051 processor core, which allows it to fit into environment that already has existing 8051 software tools.  It was designed with the green and smart grid community in mind; it is energy efficient, low cost and enables devices to be remotely managed.

At this year’s NCTA Cable Show in Los Angeles, uControl announced that they have collaborated with Ember, a developer of wireless mesh networking technology, to create a new line of wireless ZigBee security sensors.  The new systems enable Broadband Service Providers to deliver the next generation of services for the Connected Home.

SimpleHomeNet, a provider of home and building automation solutions and a division of Compacta International announced that its ZBLC30 and ZBCID products were awarded the ZigBee PRO HA certification. The ZBLC30 is a versatile Dual-relay Load Controller capable of making high current appliances smarter buy allowing you to control and monitor your ZigBee PRO network from network gateways and PCs.