The digital home will use various technologies, software to connect: Wi-Fi, 60 GB, Zigbee and more will make way into homes

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in RCR Wireless News’ January Special Edition: “Unwrapping the Opportunities, the next generation of smart devices. To see all of the articles from that issue, click here.
The digitally connected home will use a variety of technologies to connect, including cellular, traditional and advanced Wi-Fi technologies, as well as ZigBee, Zwave and Bluetooth technologies. All of these different technologies and their wired counterparts will work in tandem to better manage power consumption, as well as make our lives at home a little better.
You know how you have to aim the remote at the TV to get it to function using IR (infrared) technology? You won’t have to soon. Or how it seems the batteries for the remote always need to be replaced? That too will go away. Someday, a runner could come back from training, hop on the scale, and have his performance data from the run, and his weight, automatically be uploaded in a secure manner so he can track his progress. “We’re not talking flying cars. It’s here today,” said Kelly Davis-Felner, director of marketing at the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi technology is advancing with three different versions of the technology coming to the fore, said Davis-Felner. Wi-Fi Direct is a new technology that enables Wi-Fi devices to connect directly without the need for an access point or Internet connection. Mobile phones, printers, cameras, laptops and gaming dev ices can connect directly to share content and applications. “It takes the network piece out of the equation,” Davis-Felner noted. The Wi-Fi Alliance in October announced a certification mark that tells people whether these devices will connect directly. Plus, Wi-Fi Direct certified products have WPA2 security automatically turned on, she said.
60 GHz frequency band
A lot of excitement in the consumer electronics space is taking place at the 60 GHz frequency band. Wi-Fi technology today uses the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. At 2.4 GHz, Wi-Fi shares the channels with low-power devices, like cordless phones and baby monitors, which can lead to a less-than-stellar experience if the channel is too crowded. The Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance are cooperating on a multi-gigabit wireless networking standard to support Wi-Fi networks at 60 GHz. These new 60 GHz products will be for applications that require gigabyte speeds, like video downloads, and likely will be for in-room applications, like transferring content between a set-top box to a media server, Davis-Fernel said. “This is a fire hose of performance.” Applications could include gaming or streaming high-definition TV without cables. Most products probably will incorporate the lower Wi-Fi spectrum channels. Work is underway today and products could be on the market in early to mid 2012.
VHT Technology
Very High Throughput or VHT technology offers 1 Gigabyte per second speeds at 5 GHz. In general, in the future VHT technology will blanket the house with coverage so the whole home runs faster. Then throughout the house, like in media rooms, for example, there will be islands of coverage at 60 GHz. Some devices will house three chips so they can operate at all frequencies. Others may just have one chip. Regardless, “there is a shared vision of ubiquitous high-performance technologies,” Felner-Davis said.
ZigBee
Wireless sensor networks are being used to deliver low-cost, lower power services to a number of different markets, including the digital home, said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance.
The Aria Resort and Casino at City Center in Las Vegas is home to the world’s largest ZigBee network, with 85,000 radios connected to enable every aspect of the guest experience, including keyless entry to a room, lights, drapes and access to entertainment, Heile said.
That same technology will be used to control the home, with washers, dryers, dishwashers, hot water heaters and other appliances expected to incorporate ZigBee technology to help make the house run smarter. One year ago at the Consumer Electronics Show, the first smart-meter dryer was displayed.
ZigBee also will replace infrared technology in remote control systems for entertainment systems. Because ZigBee doesn’t require line-of-site to work, it will be easier to use, especially on big-screen TVs, Heile noted. ZigBee technology also means remote controls will have longer battery life. “Look for there to be a steady migration to ZigBee in 2011.”
Technology endorsements
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers recently released a report assessing communications protocols for smart grid-enabled appliances. “Across the physical, media and network layers evaluated, Wi‐Fi, ZigBee, and HomePlug Green PHY scored the highest,” the association said. “Further, in addition to the evaluation of the existing technologies, the assessment presents a clear position by the home appliance industry that the preferable communications architecture at this time features a hub that can communicate using common protocols and serve as the bridge to other devices on the Home Area Network.”
Separately, General Electronics said Wi-Fi and ZigBee technologies are the two wireless communications technologies to best meet overall performance and cost requirements for mass production and widespread implementation.
A vendor’s perspective
For its part, Motorola Mobility is not counting on technology protocols, but on software, to drive the consumer experience in the connected home. John Burke, senior VP and General Manager of, Converged Experiences, at the company, said the way Motorola Inc. chose to split the company – with one company focusing on the enterprise and public-safety space and one that houses mobile devices and the connected home – demonstrates how Motorola believes in converged experiences, thus the new Converged Experiences division in Motorola Mobility.
“It’s really all about the notion of consumers having converged experiences so they can consume content, whether it’s video or other media-rich content, on whatever device they happen to have in front of them, attached to whatever network they happen to be attached to.”
Motorola Mobility bought 4Home, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company that has developed patented software and services in the field, including ControlPoint, which can control energy management, home security and monitoring, media management and home health. “No one wants to be tied to a specific piece of hardware,” Burke said.
Motorola Mobility is helping service providers bring content into their systems and process and store that content so it can be distributed though TV, tablets, laptops and smart phones. “They use very differentvery different technologies but we have unified software-oriented solutions we provide so content can be presented to different devices seamlessly to the end user.”
Going forward, Burke said service providers, whether cable, telco orf wireless, will use multi-screen video and home monitoring solutions to leverage their networks and their relationships to roll out new offerings to consumers.