By Allyn Salomon

Home control and automation devices have been around for decades…adjusting thermostats, controlling lights, starting up coffee makers, operating blinds and more… from anywhere in the home.  Unfortunately, many of those solutions, even when reliable, have been piecemeal, proprietary and incompatible, or cost prohibitive for the average homeowner and light commercial user. But now a new RF-based technology called Z-Wave® from Zensys, is rewriting the rules by delivering an affordable, reliable, interoperable and easy-to-install wireless home control technology to the average consumer. The new technology was recently honored by The Wall Street Journal as a winner of its 2006 Technology Innovation Awards.

What is Z-Wave?
Z-Wave is a wireless mesh networking technology that enables devices in which it is integrated to act as sender/receiver radios in a network, providing two-way communication that allows one device to receive a command and acknowledge to another device that it has been received. A low-frequency, radio-signal command generated by a controller is routed through the nodes in a network (with a maximum range of 30 meters) one node at a time until it reaches the node it controls. If blocked by interference of any form, the signal simply reroutes automatically through nearby nodes until the controlled node acknowledges successful reception. This mesh network topology virtually eliminates the single-point-of-failure issue common in many competing technologies.

In a mesh network, commands can be stacked together into “scenes” so that one remote control signal can initiate a series of actions within one subsystem, such as power outlets and light switches, or across various subsystems that might include energy management, alarm/sensors, door locks, home appliances, home entertainment and more.  Pressing a “Welcome Home” scene button on a remote controller, for example, can activate Z-Wave enabled light switches in and around the home to provide added safety when a homeowner returns home at night. It can also turn off the intruder alarm system, activate the thermostat and turn on the stereo - all before the homeowner opens the front door. With Z-Wave’s capacity of controlling up to 232 devices, an endless number of configurations can be set up on the network, providing increased comfort, convenience, safety, security and energy savings for even the largest home.
 
Z-Wave manufacturer Zensys offers a series of low-cost, low-power, integrated MCU/transceiver single chip solutions embedded with its technology, including RF, CPU, memory and API support for a broad range of peripherals, along with a suite of development tools and services that make it easy for companies to develop wireless products for residential and light commercial applications.

The Z-Wave Alliance
For the power of a home control system to be fully realized, multiple devices and systems need to work together or “interoperate.”  With this goal in mind, the Z-Wave Alliance was formed in 2005 to develop devices that can be controlled and monitored wirelessly and in unison using Z-Wave technology. The Alliance consists of more than 125 companies that are actively developing Z-Wave certified products and technologies. The principal members include established companies like Danfoss, Intel, Intermatic, Leviton, Monster, Wayne-Dalton, Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) and Zensys, as well as newer market entrants like Bulogics, which makes a set-top box that can control a Z-Wave installation via a clear TV-based user interface.

All products that bear the Z-Wave logo have been compliance tested to assure interoperability between products from multiple vendors, between multiple applications and even between Z-Wave multiple releases. A verification test conducted by an independent test lab has resulted in a consistent ecosystem with nearly 100 compatible products as of mid-2006.

In addition to assuring interoperability, the wide variety of Z-Wave compatible devices allows consumers to tailor systems to their individual needs, including scaling them up over time as new devices become available. Better yet, unlike hard-wired home controls, Z-Wave wireless products are as easy to install after a house is built as during new construction. And, last but not least, once the system has been set up, it can be easily and repeatedly reconfigured to better serve your consumer’s changing needs. So if you want to take advantage of lucrative home automation opportunities, catch the Z-Wave.

Allyn Salomon is marketing specialist for Leviton Manufacturing Company