A Low Cost and Flexible Power Line Communication Sensory System for Home Automation

This work focuses on the definition of a home automation system based on power line communication. A low cost and non invasive system has been developed and tested with successful results. It is based on the Cypress CY8CPLC10, an integrated power line communication chip which embeds both a PHY modem and a network protocol stack. The information management and data generation processes are demanded to a microcontroller, in this first prototype, being implemented with a standard commercial board. Combining the use of a microcontroller with a power line modem and a dedicated software application it is possible to manage sensors and actuators in the neighbors through the power grid and without modifying the existing electrical and network systems.