Effects of Power Lines on Performance of Home Control System

Abstract

Home control system (HCS) helps to monitor and control the home appliances as well as security aspects of the digital home that is expected to be the standard for the future home. Chiefly, HCS is an integration of home appliance control systems (HACS) and home security systems (HSS). HACS enables the home-owner to control appliances such as stove, refrigerator, air-conditioner, and the like, remotely, while the HSS helps to monitor the status of various networked security devices in the home and control certain aspects of the devices. Monitoring and control may be done by a personal digital device such as a laptop, PDA, telephone, or even a cell phone. One of the technologies widely used by HCS to connect the home controller with the appliances, equipments, and devices, is the X10 protocol that uses power lines for data transmission. In this paper we analyze the performance of power lines for HCS and suggest recommendations that will help increase the performance of HCS.