Lighting control over X10 protocol. Protocol X10: advantages and disadvantages. "Smart House"

IT experts argue that the market of "smart" homes in Russia will never become massive and in the next decade is unlikely to go beyond the elite housing in the Moscow region. In the long term, a possible consumer of the market will be a meager part of the population with high incomes in the regions, but for the broad masses the "smart house" will remain a colorful picture on the pages of tabloids and Internet resources. Is it so? Already, the infrastructure of the ordinary dweller's dwelling is a rather complex combination of various engineering systems. To combine them into one network without global costs will help the standard X10.

Possibilities of "smart house"

The most common and simple function is lighting control. The intelligent system allows you to remotely monitor each lighting device. Without getting up from the place you can turn on or off the lighting in any room or in the whole house at once, adjust the brightness of the night illumination of the corridor, landscape lights. "Smart home", including light in different places by a certain algorithm, will frighten off intruders, imitating the presence of the owners in case of their departure.

Automated control will maintain the specified temperature parameters in the room, controlling the radiators or air conditioning and ventilation systems. The intellectual house can control security and fire equipment and, in case of emergency situations, send a notification to the phone of the owner or corresponding structures by voice or SMS message.

How it all began

X10 - one of the first open industry standards, developed for home automation systems by Pico Electronics (Scotland, Glenrothes) in 1975. Initially, the company was engaged in the design and manufacture of microcircuits and microcalculators. The first experience of expanding the sphere of production has become very successful commercially. Platform X10 quickly gained popularity among developers of the concept of a smart home and gave a tangible boost to the development of this industry. Attempts to create such an interface were made by other firms, but they were not particularly successful.

For its time X10 is a protocol with good noise immunity. Popularity was promoted by comparative cheapness of the equipment, orientation of developers on household automation, support and technical support. On the North American continent, the standard is still in demand and widespread. Following the company-developer, a wide range of X10-compatible devices began to produce giant corporations IBM and Philips.

Nowadays, Pico Electronics has been transformed into X10 INC (USA) with the trademark PowerHouse.

Classification of equipment

The hardware of the X10 network is a set of devices interconnected by a standard electrical network or radio channel. The basic system must include:

• Transmitters - controllers, forming and sending commands, control modules (with computer interface or standalone ones), programmable timers with different time range, remote controls (infrared or radio channel).
• Receivers - executive devices that perform the received commands: lamp modules and cartridge dimmers, dimmer and outlet blocks, all kinds of drives.

In the case of constructing a larger network or extending an existing one, auxiliary equipment is often used:

• Transceivers that receive command signals from remote controllers with further conversion to the communication protocol X10 before being sent to the power grid.
• Repeaters and signal amplifiers.
• Filters that reduce the effect of electromagnetic interference.
• Interphase bridges, for 380 V electrical networks (passive or active, for buildings with an area of more than 300 m ²⁾ .
• Measuring devices that simplify installation and commissioning, sensors (motion, illumination, etc.).

Equipment produced by different firms often have a similar appearance, functionality and even labeling. The devices have different designs depending on the requirements for placement; For installation in a line, on a DIN-rail in standard electrical cabinets, micromodules for hidden-distribution boxes of concealed wiring.
Automation of life can begin with several basic modules, and then gradually increase the scale and expand the functionality by adding new hardware units.

Examples of element base

The basis for a typical X10 module is a programmable microcontroller. According to a certain algorithm, it controls the operation of the electronic circuit of the device, which feeds the generated signals received from the external power network and converts the output pulses for return transmission to the network. As microcomputers, serial production controllers (for example, PIC or AVR of Microchip and Atmel, respectively) can be used.

To control lighting in the concept of an "intelligent" house, lamp relay modules X10 are widely used. There are two modifications: they are inserted into a standard outlet for connection of floor lamps, table lamps (LM12) or made in the form of an adapter between the illumination chuck and a standard bulb with E27 socket, power up to 100 W (LM15S).

Control of household electrical engineering is carried out with the help of instrument socket modules. For example, the module AM12 looks like a tube lamp, but does not support commands specific for lighting (see below).

Software

Implement the X10 protocol on the computer will help software products of the top level.

ActiveHome Software - free software for personal computers based on operating systems WINDOWS from the developer of the platform X10. The package includes a huge number of utilities and device drivers, as well as a mobile version of the program.

ActiveHomePro - software for computer interface CM-15 (radio transceiver, 433 MHz) with connection via USB port. Allows you to control lighting and home appliances with the necessary algorithms, graphs and timers from a personal computer or off-line from a wireless console.

X10 Commander (Melloware Inc) - freely distributed software for any OS, allowing PC-based to create a multifunctional management service and integrate X10 protocol on the phone and any mobile devices (iOS / Android).

Russian LLC "Laboratory of Home Technologies" offers consumers a convenient device on the X10 platform - a full-color touchscreen VGA-panel XTS-36. The stand-alone device has a convenient graphical interface. The management of the X10 protocol and monitoring of the intelligent lighting system remains comfortable, with excellent visualization, but eliminates the need for a computer to run continuously in the background. The kit includes drivers and software for prescribing the addressing of X10 devices and the basic parameters of the initial configuration, for the compilation of various scenarios.

X10. Protocol in detail

The physical medium for information exchange in power lines is the transmission / reception of fragments of high-frequency (120 kHz) sinusoidal oscillations with an amplitude of 5 V and a duration of 1 ms / 630 μs in each half-cycle of the mains voltage, in windows formed immediately after crossing the zero mark. In three-phase circuits, similar windows are formed in each phase, i.e. with a shift of 60 degrees with further use of interphase bridges. If the device in the receiving window receives a parcel in which there are at least 48 oscillations, then it considers it as a logical "unit", in the reverse case - as a logical "zero". Transmission of the information bit takes two half-periods of the mains voltage. And in the second the inverse value is translated, which not only improves the noise immunity, but also serves to identify the synchronization code during packet transmission.

X10 is a protocol in which a standard single packet (frame, frame) is transmitted over 11 periods. He contains:

• The synchronization code is 2 bits,
• The module code is 4 bits,
• The building code is 5 bits.

Each packet, without any interval, is transmitted twice in a row. Before the next packet double is broadcast, a pause in 3 periods of mains voltage is maintained (exception - brightness dimming commands transmitted by a continuous stream).

IR control panels in X10 networks operate over the X10-IR protocol at a carrier frequency of 40 kHz. The radio channel (X10-RF protocol), depending on the region, has a range from 310 to 434 MHz.

Addressing and command system

The maximum number of modules in the network X10 is 256. On each module there are two selector switches with 16 fixed positions. The first switch - the code of the house (Home code) is used to select a category or group of devices. Has a letter designation of positions from A to P. In the second, fixed positions are designated by numbers from 1 to 16 and indicate a specific module in the network (Unit code). Thus, each device is assigned a unique number consisting of a letter and numbers. For example; A5, M14, etc. System controllers, in contrast to the executive modules, usually do not require addressing settings.

The idea of existing platform commands and the corresponding actions can be obtained from the table.

Main advantages...

X10 is a protocol of a low-budget household automation class that uses existing power networks to transmit information and command messages. There is no need to lay new communications, which is especially important in homes with finishing or finished repair work. You can either use the network wiring or use the radio channel - the range of equipment offered by the manufacturers makes it possible to implement both variants or a combination thereof. The cost of devices, in comparison with more modern platforms, is also pleasantly pleasing.

The next advantage is flexibility of application and ease of installation, which does not require special skills and abilities. The system is characterized by excellent scalability and scalability. Modules are connected in accordance with the Plug & Power principles (enabled and controlled). The whole setup is to set the new component a unique address. Further automation will do everything itself.

The separation of lighting infrastructure into zones is greatly simplified. It is enough to assign the same letter to the devices of the same group (building code), and when the appropriate broadcast command is given, the light in this zone will be turned on or off.

The open protocol is another plus of the platform, which implies easy integration with any control system, the possibility of using third-party electrical products for the design of a network of wiring accessories.

... and disadvantages

The main advantage of the X10 interface is the transmission of the information signal on the power wiring - it is also the main source of its problems.

Low speed. The transmission of the command takes about a second, i.e., the delay in executing the command is really tangible even when controlling one device. And in the process of working out the embedded scenario, the delay can become annoyingly unacceptable. Since the transmission speed of information is tied to the frequency of the supply voltage, it is not possible to increase it.

Low noise immunity. The abundance of household appliances in a modern home dramatically increases the level of interference in the power network, negatively affects the signal-to-noise ratio, which in turn affects the quality of information exchange between the X10 modules. Hence the consequences - failure to execute commands or false switching. When building large networks, the problem may be the limitation of the address field, since only 256 devices can connect to the X10 protocol.

Rassinchronization of the transmitting equipment can lead to the imposition of packets and collisions, as a result, none of the commands will be executed. It is impossible to fundamentally correct the situation.

There are no procedures for differentiating access, there is no protection against unauthorized actions by third parties. Finally, it is impossible to create complex control schemes for household appliances and lighting, with the realization of the self-diagnostic function of the system and the devices included in it.

Modifications X10

The listed shortcomings are mostly corrected in the following generations of the systems of household automation of the so-called bus architecture (signal transmission occurs on a dedicated / paved bus with low voltage supply voltage).

In turn, developers and manufacturers of X10 equipment have taken steps to improve and modify the existing platform. The result was the X10Extended format with an extended command system. Undoubted advantage of the modified platform was the regulation of the procedure for accessing transmitters to the trunk, eliminating collisions and extending the functions of the Exteded Code 1 command with changing the format of the package.

Further modification of X10Extended led to the creation of the A10 format, in which the address field was significantly expanded (up to 4096 modules) and added several service functions (available only on devices manufactured by the developer). Protocols A10 and X10 are absolutely compatible, which makes it possible to operate both modules in the same system.

Brief summaries, it's hard not to agree that the first interface of home automation for the past, almost fifty years, is morally obsolete. Attempts to modernize, reminiscent of patching the roof during the rainy season, cardinally correct the situation is not in a position. But the budget characteristics of the platform still keep it on the market of intelligent systems, and X10 equipment is actively produced and sold.

Domestic firms predict the interface a new wave of popularity. Consumers are offered a wide range of both individual devices and ready-made solutions for an "intelligent" home on the X10 platform.