In control in Europe’s first intelligent home
Bill Gates (left), chairman of Microsoft Corporation, gets an explanation of the technology at the core of Microsoft’s ‘home of today’ in Munich from Hans Beckhoff, managing director of Beckhoff, which supplied the home-automation components.
The heart of the intelligent building-control system for Microsoft’s first fully networked home in Europe is based on Beckhoff’s home-automation components. Bill Gates wanted the intelligent ‘home of today’, based in Munich, to encourage the developments of designs for modern living that integrate IT, media and control functions. Beckhoff’s control system is based on automation components that cost-effectively integrate IT standards such as Microsoft operating systems and Ethernet connectivity — the ideal platform for building automation. Bus terminals, equipped with Ethernet bus couplers or embedded PCs form the interface to the domestic electrical system. Local input/output stations are distributed throughout the building and networked with the central PC via Ethernet. Control tasks are dealt with by an embedded PC CX1000 from Beckhoff running Windows CE. The standard Ethernet network is used for the home’s PCs, telephones, and home entertainment, whilst also forming a bus system for building control tasks — eliminating the need for a secondary bus network. The control system allows the heating and lighting systems to be automatically adjusted according to external factors, minimising energy consumption. For example, heating can be set back at night or turned off when windows are open during the day. All building control functions can be displayed and activated via four Beckhoff control panels distributed throughout the house. Messages can be retrieved via SMS, video, voice mail or e-mail via a touch-screen interface. Mike Bates of Hayes Control Systems, which distributes Beckhoff products in the UK, explains, ‘The networked home is really state of the art. Building companies and consumers across Europe will be able to see the added value technology can bring to their houses and apartments. What had previously been regarded as an interesting vision for the future has become reality at the home of today.’
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