Intel Wants to Automate Your Home

Intel is teaming up with a wireless control network vendor so consumers can control lights, thermostats, and other devices through the same interface they use for wireless entertainment gear, the companies will announce Monday.

Intel has signed a business agreement with the vendor, Zensys A/S, to make that company's Z-Wave low-speed, low-power network gear work with the Universal Plug-n-Play specification. UPnP is designed to make it easy for devices to find each other and start communicating without user intervention. Intel has been a major backer of the specification.

The two companies will develop software that serves as a bridge between Zensys and UPnP. Their vision is that from one user interface on a multimedia PC, a PDA, or a handheld remote-control device, consumers will be able to control entertainment gear as well as many other devices and settings throughout the house. Zensys hopes this capability will be commercially available by the end of next year, said Mike Dodge, vice president of marketing at Zensys.

High-Tech Home

Intel sees networks of digital home entertainment devices, communicating without wires, as a major technology trend. It joined with Zensys in order to integrate more things in the home into that system, said Jon Gelsey, senior manager of strategic investments at Intel.

With UPnP capability throughout entertainment devices and home appliances, a consumer could set up a DVD to play on a digital projector, and turn out the lights and lower electric window blinds using a PDA, according to Dodge. The same PDA--or other types of controllers--might control the temperature, the garage door opener, security cameras and sensors, and an alarm system.

Although the home entertainment devices would be connected by other, higher-bandwidth wireless networks, UPnP could unite the various networks behind a single interface, Dodge said. The bridge software will be the key to integrating the Z-Wave network with UPnP, he said. To begin with, the software probably will run on a PC, which will interact with the Z-Wave network through an adapter device connected via USB, Gelsey said. A Z-Wave chip also could be integrated into the PC or a residential gateway box, Dodge said.

The technology can link as many as 264 Z-Wave-enabled devices and adapters in a mesh network along with a controller, such as a handheld remote, that sends out commands. In addition to receiving commands, the chip in each adapter can act as a relay to extend the range of the network. This mesh technology makes it easy to set up and allows for lower power consumption and a low-cost chip, Dodge said. The chips cost about $5 each in quantities of 100,000, he said.

Already Available

Zensys is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Z-Wave products were introduced in that country in 2000, and the first such products hit the market in the United States last year. Home automation vendors such as Intermatic, in Spring Grove, Illinois, use Zensys chips in products that are sold through home improvement retailers. Z-Wave starter kits with a controller and two dimming lamp adapters that plug into conventional wall sockets are priced starting at $79, Dodge said. By the end of next year a new version of Zensys's chip should be on the market, driving prices lower, he said.

The networks communicate via radio at 908.4 MHz in the United States and 868 MHz in Europe, both unlicensed bands. Maximum bandwidth is just 9.6 kilobits per second but is adequate for the commands sent over the network, Dodge said.

Two other relatively low-power wireless networks, Bluetooth and Zigbee, have more capacity but also higher costs and greater power consumption, and the user can't extend their range using mesh technology, Dodge said. Bluetooth and Zigbee both are overpowered for what Z-Wave does, according to Intel's Gelsey.