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2002-Issue 3 |
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Metering International features cStar's wireless management solutions for AMR, HVAC, Lighting..., SMART Home...
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Metering International, Metering Industries' leading publication - Issue 3, 2002 |
SMART HOMES GET OFF TO A RENEWED GOOD START
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Srdjan Milutinovic, Vice President of Systems
Development and founding member of cStar Technologies
Inc., has 18 years of experience in both software and
hardware system design in the areas of data
communication, automotive and measurement. He is widely
known for his expertise in wireless data communication,
encryption and data compression.
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The speed of technology and the
resultant rate of business change have impacted all
aspects of our lives. What started as a murmur is now a
buzz surrounding different concepts and ideas relating
to the magical words ' smart home'. These concepts have
ranged from full blown science fiction like homes with
voice/sound/motion activated, artificially intelligent
and fully integrated systems controlling just about
everything, to the more down-to-earth systems focusing
on a particular area like HVAC, lighting and so on.
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Most of these technologies are either at an advanced stage of
development or are actually available - even some of those based on
artificial intelligence - but certainly not at a level and/or price tag
that is commercially viable, even for enterprise/industrial
applications, let alone consumer markets. Furthermore, technologies that
are commercially available, regardless of the price tag, differ greatly
in basic concepts and most of all implementation, making them completely
incompatible.
THE NEED FOR STANDARDS
The lack of common standards has prompted most players in these or similar
fields, including cStar Technologies Inc., to start organizing and
creating basic guidelines and even set standards to meet the need. This
process is still a long way away from being recognized as a set of
globally accepted home automation standards, but is definitely a step in
the right direction, providing at least basic solutions to
interoperability issues.
From the technical point of view the difference in scope of systems that
have to be integrated and interconnected, as well as the differences in
the components and devices themselves and their technological and
deployment limitations, dictate the use of a wide spectrum of
technologies within each and every implementation layer. All of these
factors made cStar Technologies, with its innovative technology, ideally
positioned to become the leader in this market segment.
cStar's core competence lies in the integration of non-IT devices and
systems into an IT world. This involves providing intelligence and
connectivity, local and/or remote, to devices and equipment otherwise
incapable of being a part of the information technology infrastructure.
In today's world more than 98% of CPUs belong to a non-IT category and
about 2% form part of what we call the information technology era. This
just shows the sheer potential of the M2M (machine-to-machine -
machine-to-men) market and underlines the limitless applications these
technologies have on our daily lives, with home automation being just a
tiny part.
Expertise in communication techniques as a whole, as well as internally
developed innovative technology - especially in the non-conventional
networking segment - have enabled cStar to become a major force in the
rapidly growing M2M market. The variety of connectivity methods ranges
from standard wire-line solutions over non-conventional wire-line
solutions like PLC (power line communications) to wireless LAN or WAN
solutions, creating a seamless dynamic multi-protocol network adaptable
to the peculiarities of the transport medium, node characteristics and
application requirements.
Patented Virtual Gateway™ technology, a set of specific traffic handling
protocols and non-embedding protocol conversion techniques implemented
in the SkyGate® and DirectGate™ product lines, make the complex task of
M2M communication much easier and, most of all, economically viable.
Successful implementation in a variety of applications (vending,
industrial/SCADA, HVAC, AMR, lightning and so on) proved that the
technology is robust, efficient and flexible.
APPROACH TO HOME AUTOMATION
Our approach to home automation comes as a logical extension of this
technology and has been taken in two phases. The first phase
concentrates on energy management as an extension to an AMR solution,
while the second concentrates on in-house systems communication and
control.
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cStar's automated home
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In phase one, cStar's AMR solution includes
online, real-time, remote meter reading,
drive-by meter reading and store and forward
meter reading using public or private wireless
WAN, MAN or LAN networks with local WLAN or PLC
clusterisation. Wireless LAN and PLC clusters or
stand-alone meters can be a part of a real-time
acquisition and control network, or be
independently controlled by drive-by truck or
handheld computer. Available technologies
include GSM/SMS/GPRS, CDMA/1X, DataTAC, Mobitex,
CDPD, ReFlex, Celemetry, Bluetooth, 802.11,
proprietary 900MHz/2.4GHz ISM Band wireless
MAN/LAN, CEBus, Home Plug-'n-Play, Ethernet,
Cable, xDSL and others, all interoperable and
providing a choice for a tailor-made solution
that fits each customer's needs and budget.
Internal system clusters incorporate SkyGate®
energy management nodes attached primarily to
major energy consumption appliances (furnace,
heaters, AC, etc.) mutually communicating
individual energy use and status. Internal
control logic status and remote control
capabilities provide more efficient energy use,
minimizing peak consumption. The information
gathered from the appliances can be presented
either locally on a PC, a handheld or the
appliance itself, or supplied remotely through
the AMR backbone to the utility company.
Utilities can use this more detailed information
to understand the needs of their customers
beyond the point of an AMR-only solution. The
information can be supplied back to customers
through a Web-based service in situations where
they cannot or do not want to gather it locally.
Phase two incorporates cStar's
HomeGate™/OfficeGate™ line of products, a local
PLC/WLAN cluster controller Internet gateway
that provides independent local control and
direct Internet access to in-house (in-office)
PLC/WLAN control nodes.
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
cStar Technologies Inc. specializes in two-way
wireless data communication solutions for M2M
(machine-to-machine - machine-to-men) and
mobile-commerce applications. cStar's products
(hardware, firmware and application software)
connect companies' non-IT assests to their IT
system, helping customers and users remotely
monitor and control machines, automate processes
and create value-added services. The mixture of
wireless LAN&WAN and power line communication
solutions support applications for telemetry,
telematics and wireless cashless payment.
www.cstartech.com
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