residential gateway (RGW)
A residential gateway (RGW) is a central switching component in home networks. Such a gateway, also known as a home gate way, supports the functionalities and services specified by the Open Services Gateway Initiative( OSGi) and forms the central routing component between the access network or the Internet and the home network.
Residential gateways are platform-independent and support the various wired and wireless technologies and a wide range of services. On the access network side, they are connected to the DSL lines; on the home network side, wireless LANs in accordance with 802.11, Infrared Data Association( IrDA), Ethernet, USB interface and IEEE 1394 for consumer electronics can be connected to them. In addition to the familiar data and streaming services, such a RGW gateway must also handle remote services such as monitoring energy-intensive home appliances, remote monitoring for home care services, triggering alarms when certain events no longer occur, such as opening the refrigerator, and so on.
The concept of the residential gateway extends beyond the connection ofpersonalcomputers and consumer devices to include household appliances and building automation devices. Therefore, these gateways shall act as central home servers and provide programming interfaces( API) for the different protocols.