Specifications

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OperationalConcept
Ourfullyfunctionalautomationsystemwillconsistoffourmajorsubsystemsthatplayakeypartin
homeenergysavings.Refertothefigure,below,foravisualrepresentationofthissystem.
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Figure1:SystemOverview
Attheheartofthesystemisthecontrolserver,whichwillcontainallofthesoftwareforcontrollingthe
system’sfunctionality.Thelightingcontrolsubsystemwillcommunicatetothecontrolserverviathe
PowerLincV2module.Lightsandhouseholdapplia ncescanberemotelyturnedonandoffthrough
communicationwiththePowerLincV2.TheHVACcontrolsubsystemwillbemonitoredwithnetwork‐
managedthermostatsinthehouse.Thethermostatwillcom municatewirelessly,usingIEEE802.11b
protocol,tothecontrolserver.Thecommercialthermostatmayuseawiredsystemtocommunicate
withthecontrolserver.Thewaterheatermonitoringsubsystemwillservetoobserve,adjust,and
schedulewaterheateroperationbasedonuserinputthroughthecontrolserver.Thesefour
componentswillformthesystemcontrolforourhomeautomationproject.
ControlServerSubsystem
TheHomeControlServerinFigure1isthecommunicationcoreoftheproject.ItusesaLinuxplatform
tocontrolalloftheothersystemcomponents.Forprototypinginthelab,wewillbeusingalaptopdual‐
bootedwiththeLinuxUbuntuoperationsystem.However,whenimplementingthefinalformofthe
systeminahome,wewilldedicateaLinuxmachineasthecontrolserver.Thesoftwarefortheserver
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