We are heading towards a world where a typical home will contain hundreds of smart objects or nodes which can communicate among themselves, enabling more comfort and efficiency. Devices such as home energy monitors, infotainment gadgets, medical appliances and gaming consoles can act as smart nodes.
A must-have element in the connected home is the “Smart Home Gateway” that connects these nodes with each other and with the server. Some functions enabled by a home gateway include connected home, monitoring and feedback of power consumption per device, on/off control of appliances with special Graphical user interfaces, home surveillance, etc.
Some Reference designs on “Smart Home Gateways” are provided below. All of the reference designs’ information is freely available and can be used as the starting point for developing a smart home or energy management gateway solution:-
Smart Home Gateway Design:
This smart home reference design supports energy monitoring and management, home automation control, home security and surveillance, as well as VoIP and HD video streaming. Its easy-to-use graphical user interface allows access and control via an M2M link from any smart handheld device. The design is based on the highly versatile, low-cost MPC8308 PowerQUICC II Pro processor from Freescale. Connectivity features include integrated Wi-Fi module that delivers over 300 Mbps of WLAN performance, as well as broadband WAN via either Cable, DSL or 3G/4G. More on this Reference Design
Smart Home & Energy Gateway:
The reference Design for smart homes and buildings links home energy systems that use ZigBee to any Wi-Fi router, allowing consumers to monitor or control their smart energy devices or home automation systems in the palm of a hand via smartphones or tablets. This example design is a bridge between different communication interfaces, such as WiFi, Ethernet, ZigBee or Bluetooth, that are commonly found in residential and commercial buildings, allowing developers to create home gateways that can interface with multiple products or applications within a smart home. The reference design includes TI’s CC2530 ZigBee system-on-chip (SoC), WiLink 8.0 combo-connectivity solution, TPS650250 power management IC, and a Sitara ARM Cortex-A8 processor that runs applications. Example schematics, bill of materials, design files, and links to free software package downloads are provided for developers. More on this Reference Design
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