TY - GEN
T1 - On the emergence of pervasive home automation
AU - Torbensen, Rune Sonnich
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Home automation could be useful in a number of use cases: Comfort, energy savings, security, and elder care. However, it has not become mainstream yet due to issues in the following areas: cooperation, communication, development tools, platforms, usability, price, and security. This work presents a comprehensive analysis of market actors and home automation technologies in order to determine customer requirements, industrial challenges, and incitement structures. A vision called Pervasive Home Automation is defined as the scenario where all electronic devices in the residence are able to communicate and cooperate as services on a common home network. The strategy to foster a Pervasive Home Automation market is based on the hypothesis that if the necessary means, i.e. tools, protocols etc., are publicly available then vendors would enter a common, open cooperation framework as long as they remain independent actors. The following contributions are proposed as the necessary means: The Interoperable Home Automation Platform (IHAP) outlines a way to connect different wireless sub networks into one heterogeneous network based on the Internet Protocol. The infrastructure is distributed via generic IP room bridges and expandable via USB modules so that new data-communication technologies can be connected to cover the whole residence. An ’IHAP ready’ flexible communication software framework that supports wireless end-device development is proposed. The idea is to bootstrap this new market with opensource drivers for legacy technologies as a way for the cooperation framework to be immediately useful and reach enough momentum in the market. To allow automatic default system configuration, devices entering the platform must provide a device descriptor. There is full support for legacy and future innovative end-devices via the Open Device Service Description Language, which employs abstract service types to describe transformations to the simple end-device application protocols used in home automation. A security system called Trusted Domain grants access for remote control of home automation devices by smartphones, M2M applications, and service providers. These Internet nodes and home gateways become the trusted members of a home network capable of spanning several network segments. To include new members, both locally and remotely, a new user-friendly method for establishing trust between remote devices is presented. Member changes are distributed in a resource-efficient way via a formally verified update protocol. A new secure end-to-end communication protocol called Secure Embedded Exchange Protocol (SEEP) is also presented. It has been designed for flexible trust establishment in resource-constrained, embedded systems as a simple and formally verified alternative to protocols currently used. Our thesis that Pervasive Home Automation is technically feasible for heterogeneous residential networks has been shown through the proposed solutions, which are consistent with the described actor requirements.
AB - Home automation could be useful in a number of use cases: Comfort, energy savings, security, and elder care. However, it has not become mainstream yet due to issues in the following areas: cooperation, communication, development tools, platforms, usability, price, and security. This work presents a comprehensive analysis of market actors and home automation technologies in order to determine customer requirements, industrial challenges, and incitement structures. A vision called Pervasive Home Automation is defined as the scenario where all electronic devices in the residence are able to communicate and cooperate as services on a common home network. The strategy to foster a Pervasive Home Automation market is based on the hypothesis that if the necessary means, i.e. tools, protocols etc., are publicly available then vendors would enter a common, open cooperation framework as long as they remain independent actors. The following contributions are proposed as the necessary means: The Interoperable Home Automation Platform (IHAP) outlines a way to connect different wireless sub networks into one heterogeneous network based on the Internet Protocol. The infrastructure is distributed via generic IP room bridges and expandable via USB modules so that new data-communication technologies can be connected to cover the whole residence. An ’IHAP ready’ flexible communication software framework that supports wireless end-device development is proposed. The idea is to bootstrap this new market with opensource drivers for legacy technologies as a way for the cooperation framework to be immediately useful and reach enough momentum in the market. To allow automatic default system configuration, devices entering the platform must provide a device descriptor. There is full support for legacy and future innovative end-devices via the Open Device Service Description Language, which employs abstract service types to describe transformations to the simple end-device application protocols used in home automation. A security system called Trusted Domain grants access for remote control of home automation devices by smartphones, M2M applications, and service providers. These Internet nodes and home gateways become the trusted members of a home network capable of spanning several network segments. To include new members, both locally and remotely, a new user-friendly method for establishing trust between remote devices is presented. Member changes are distributed in a resource-efficient way via a formally verified update protocol. A new secure end-to-end communication protocol called Secure Embedded Exchange Protocol (SEEP) is also presented. It has been designed for flexible trust establishment in resource-constrained, embedded systems as a simple and formally verified alternative to protocols currently used. Our thesis that Pervasive Home Automation is technically feasible for heterogeneous residential networks has been shown through the proposed solutions, which are consistent with the described actor requirements.
M3 - PhD thesis
ER -