Richard Zarr, Worldwide Program Manager, National Semiconductor

In this paper, we will review the challenges of tying together the various systems required to unify the residential systems environment. The benefits of unification are improvements in energy management, security, and convenience for the homeowner. There are many existing homes that could benefit from system unification, but there is a cost tradeoff associated with creating the required infrastructure. We will examine the issues associated with wireless technologies such as Zigbee, Bluetooth, and 802.11. Also, we will review technologies that use existing wires such as power line systems (i.e., universal power bus). These technologies will be compared to dedicated wired infrastructures (i.e., cable and optical) for cost, bandwidth utilization, security, and flexibility.