home area network (HAN)
Home area networks (HANs) are networks that link computers and their peripherals in smart homes and home offices. In addition, home networks also control consumer electronics devices such as televisions, set-top boxes, audio systems, and video recorders, as well as household appliances and security devices such as blinds, surveillance cameras, door openers, heating systems, heating thermostats, and so on. Such home networks form the basis for Connected Living, the centralized control of consumer functions.
Originally, the National Institute of Standards and Technology( NIST) defined home area networks as a pure energy control network within the context of smart grids and smart metering. It was not until IEEE 802 objected that consumer electronics and building control were included in the HAN concept.
Wired home networks
The design of home networks is application-oriented; like other local area networks, they can be wired and wireless. For wired networks, the alternatives are Powerline Communication( PLC) and Broadband Powerline( BPL) over the power grid, Universal Powerline Bus( UPB), Fiber in the Home( FITH) as a local network with polymer fibers, communication over the existing telephone cable infrastructure according to the HomePNA specifications, wired Ethernet or Residential Ethernet( RE), and Multimedia over Coax Alliance ( MoCA), a concept for broadband cabling over coaxial cable. Another technology that includes all the aforementioned infrastructures and supports data rates of 1 Gbit/s is Gigabit Home Networking( G.hn), standardized by the International Telecommunication Union( ITU-T). For these high data rates, which can also be used to transmit high-definition television( HDTV), there are other gigabit home networks. Home networks have been standardized by Cenelec and ISO/ IEC
Wireless home networks
There are also several alternatives of wireless radio LANs: HomeRF, Bluetooth, ZigBee, WiFi and RFID. In addition, there are concepts for wireless high-speed transmissions with WirelessHD and Wireless- HDMI. Compatibility plays a decisive role in all the concepts mentioned, since some concepts are proprietary and thus incompatible with each other. The Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGI) is responsible for this compatibility. There is also Ensation, a concept for wireless in-house audio transmission, and Z-Wave, a wireless network that meets the requirements of home and building automation.
In addition to the wide range of networking options available via local area networks, fieldbuses designed for building automation, such as the European Installation Bus( EIB), the Local Operating Network( LON) and other service-oriented approaches, can also support the automation of control functions in smart homes. Other computer and consumer device-oriented approaches, such as the USB interface or FireWire, are also being incorporated into home networks.