Do you need a home network? Many consumers seem to be wondering just that, with the prospect of a total home-networking solution hovering for more than a decade now. Many homes, in fact, already have some form of networking in place today. And there have been lots of advances in data speeds as well as new methods, products, and standards. So what’s the holdup?
Right now, there are three basic networking functions: computer connections to the Internet, home entertainment, and home control. Separate networks with multiple alternatives are used for each function. Is convergence possible? Yes, but it doesn’t appear to be in sight yet. While the rich variety of choices seems great, multiple standards and methods only create confusion, conflict, and complexity.
Current networks primarily use Wi-Fi to share high-speed Internet connections among several PCs and laptops. Homeentertainment networks aren’t common yet, as most of these devices are standalone units with cable defining their connections. Nonetheless, as more homes adopt two or more HDTVs, DVRs, and multiple set-top boxes (STBs), the trend toward networked home entertainment will seemingly intensify despite the expense and complexity.
Networking home lighting, air conditioning and heating controls, appliances, security systems, and other home electrical devices is slowly catching on. Remote monitoring and control is attractive, especially in large luxury homes, as it can provide convenience and manageability of many functions at a central point. Future energy-management methods will need a network, too.
Identifying all of the possibilities is an overwhelming task, not to mention deciding which technology best suits each application. Many consumers would say that they only want to watch TV, access their e-mail, and adjust their thermostat, so make it easy.
As the networking effort moves forward, experts hope the number of standards will whittle down to a few robust, simple, and affordable specifications. Right now, the whole home-networking effort continues to trudge along as a multifaceted work in progress (Fig. 1).
WIRED TECHNOLOGIES
Wired networking approaches are the oldest and best known. For example, some newer and more upscale homes are wired for Ethernet with CAT5/6 going to RJ-45 jacks in most rooms. The approach in new homes is structured wiring, where all of the cabling is bundled together and terminated at a central cable box.
The bundles always contain twisted pair for telephone and Ethernet, coax for cable TV or satellite, fiber, and power line. Such setups are nice if you’re able to afford them or can rewire an older home. Most rooms will have connectors for each, which really simplifies making any kind of connection.
JDSU offers the TestifierPRO Cable Tester to test and troubleshoot structured wiring (Fig. 2). Also, JSDU’s NetComplete Home Performance Management software ensures quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for video, voice, and data over xDSL and FFTx networks. That’s because it will continuously monitor the performance of home-networking equipment and services.
A key factor in home wiring is the limited bandwidth. Coax is less of a problem, but twisted pair is particularly troublesome in transporting video. Gennum’s Active- Connect ICs can transmit full-rate uncompressed HDMI over CAT5e or CAT6 twisted pair. The GV8500 and GV8501 transmit and receive chip sets support 1080p and 1080p 12-bit Deep Color formats. They’re ideal for use in professional AV or custom home-theater installations.
Valens Semiconductor offers a similar solution. With its HDBaseT VS100SK and VS100SR receiver and transmitter chips, you can transmit full-rate HDMI over 100 m of CAT5e/6 twisted-pair cable. Monster Cable also has several products that can support these technologies (Fig. 3). Other wired systems use the home coax cable, phone lines, or ac power lines for connections.
The International Telecommunications Union – Telecom (ITU-T) G.hn standard is an effort to create a common protocol for wired home technologies. Also known by its ITU designation G.9960, it defines methods and protocols that can take advantage of coax, phone lines, or the ac power-line physical-layer (PHY) connections. Developed under the working group that created ADSL and VDSL, it uses orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) as its modulation/access method.
The standard will certainly give Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) providers a costeffective and usable medium over a wide geographical area. Available for home entertainment, it also can be applied to home automation and security. It has passed its consent phase and will move on to final ratification later this year.
The maximum data rate defined for the standard is 1 Gbit/s. However, estimates reveal that maximum throughput will be 400 Mbits/s for coax and phone line and 250 Mbits/s for power lines in real-world situations.
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