Wireless Technologies in Home and Building Automation

TLDR

Wireless technologies in automation systems offer benefits but also pose new technological challenges. The paper discusses these challenges for home and building automation and presents a wireless extension to KNX/EIB using IEEE 802.15.4 tunnelling. The mechanism surveys relevant standards and introduces a zero‑configuration IEEE 802.15.4 tunnelling extension to KNX/EIB that emulates wired properties and supports protocol security.

Abstract

The use of wireless technologies in automation systems offers attractive benefits, but introduces a number of new technological challenges. The paper discusses these aspects for home and building automation applications. Relevant standards are surveyed. A wireless extension to KNX/EIB based on tunnelling over IEEE 802.15.4 is presented. The design emulates the properties of the KNX/EIB wired medium via wireless communication, allowing a seamless extension. Furthermore, it is geared towards zero-configuration and supports the easy integration of protocol security.