Introduction to Home Automation and Energy Management

Home Automation (HA) is an evolving field focused on enhancing home comfort, security, and energy efficiency. Smart homes utilize interconnected devices that can be monitored and controlled by homeowners, often via smartphones or computers. Energy Management (EM) is a crucial component of HA, aiming to optimize energy consumption and reduce costs by leveraging lower electricity tariffs and smart usage patterns.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for Smart Homes

Various wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and Z-Wave, can support home area networks. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is presented as a strong candidate for these systems due to its advantages: reduced power consumption, lower cost, and widespread availability on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. This makes BLE an accessible technology for controlling and monitoring home appliances.

Thesis Objectives and Scope

This thesis specifies a Home Area Network (HAN) system with Home Energy Management (HEM) capabilities, utilizing BLE technology. The core objectives include a comparative study of BLE against other wireless technologies for HAN, defining the HEM system architecture based on requirements, selecting appropriate hardware for a prototype, developing the necessary firmware and software, and conducting tests to validate the prototype's performance.

Document Structure

Following this introduction, the document delves into concepts of Home Automation, Energy Management, Smart Grid, and the Internet of Things. It then analyzes various short-range wireless technologies, with a detailed look at BLE. Subsequent chapters present the proposed HEM system architecture, the implemented prototype, experimental test results, and concluding remarks with suggestions for future work.