The prediction that 20% of all European households will have a home network by 2005 was made in a survey published earlier this year by research consultancy Datamonitor. The continued launch of technologies and adoption of new services by consumers will further the move towards the networked digital home, with 76% having two or more digital devices by 2004.
Datamonitor director Doug Wilson states: "An online and digital Europe is here to stay. As the number of devices for accessing the Internet and interactive services grows, there will be opportunities for ubiquitous networks, with less than a quarter of Europe isolated from such services."
According to Datamonitor, as well as catering for households with multiple pcs, the home network will encompass video and audio distribution plus other digital devices such as security systems, central heating control and, one day soon, digital fridges. New interfaces will emerge from the growth of the pc and digital tv as access devices.
Housebuilders confirm this trend. Last year Laing Homes hit the headlines as the first European housebuilder to construct an 'Internet home', setting new standards in the use of artificial intelligence in homes. Cat 5 cabling concealed in the walls provided the necessary connectivity with network equipment. The house later won the Gold award in the 2000 What House? Best Future Home category.
Many Laing homes in south-east England and selected developments in the Midlands are now built with integral Cat 5 cabling. These homes have sockets in every room, enabling the occupants to plug in devices such as telephones, up-to-the-minute entertainment systems, computers and fax machines. All these electrical appliances can be operated via a bespoke web site.
Hot on Laing's trail are several other housebuilders, while similar systems are increasingly in demand for upgrading existing properties as well. According to the Housebuilders' Federation, this kind of connectivity will be as indispensable to modern day living as central heating, and predicts that such innovations will take place within the next few years.
Such future-proofing of homes is true added-value that developers can offer the homeowner through innovative use of new technology. Initially the thrust of network installations will go into the upper-end of the housing market, where discerning buyers are in no doubt of the value of these systems. Designers and builders should from now on be considering the inclusion of home networking, especially as it cascades down progressively to lower levels of the housing market.
Increasingly this will prove to be a lucrative business for electrical contractors and installers, who will find the cabling and hubs are straightforward to fit, with no special training or qualification required. A powerful case can be made for using only the best quality products and materials.
Why network at home?
The goal of the home network is to provide a wide range of electrical services in a flexible and configurable way so that it is simple to deliver the service wherever it is needed. A home networking infrastructure can be used to carry many types of signals for distribution to any outlet in the network, including:
- telephones – both analogue (pstn) and digital (isdn) can be supported;
- data – with a home network, sharing information between two or more computers becomes easy. Access to the Internet is also sharable, making it easy for several people in a home to have simultaneous access. Dial-up access via pstn (standard phone lines) or isdn (digital phone lines) on demand is easy to implement. Already, digital broadband services such as adsl can enable home computer networks to have a permanent 24/7 Internet connection;
- security – cctv cameras or webcams to a pc or television let occupants see who's at the door, check on young children, or monitor a particular area. You can access them within the home or via the Internet.
The only evidence of cabling in networked homes is the wall sockets, which are similar to phone outlets. All cabling is concealed. Home networking installations normally use a Cat 5 structured cabling technology.
Cables, not unlike telephone wiring, radiate in a star arrangement to each outlet from the distribution point. The key to the system's flexibility is the patch panel in the distribution unit, which allows users to connect any available service to any available wall outlet via short patch leads similar in concept to the cords of a manual telephone switchboard.
Central distribution
The Home Distribution Unit (hdu) is similar in concept to an electrical consumer unit as it is the distribution point from which wiring leads to outlets in each room. Telephone lines, either ordinary analogue or isdn, enter the compact hdu, which can be sited unobtrusively throughout the home. Cables from sockets throughout the house run back to the hdu, where a simple connector is terminated to the end of the cable. These connectors complete the link to the incoming service via a module housed within the hdu. When homeowners need to move a computer or fax machine to a different location they simply open the hdu and move the internal connecting links. From a technical viewpoint, the hdu can be configured using the simple screw-in modules for analogue pstn with up to four active phone outlets per incoming line, and for isdn basic rate lines such as Home Highway, with up to four active digital outlets per incoming line. On the internal wiring side, the hdu supports standard telephone cables as well as Cat 5e cabling for networks running at 10Base-T, 100Base-TX and 1000Base-T Gigabit data rates. Applications, which can be mixed in the same hdu, include voice telephony, local area network, closed circuit tv, video-conferencing, Internet access, alarm systems, virtual private networks and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The hdu is also completely compatible with new adsl broadband Internet connections. Broadway is a distribution system for coaxial cables as well as twisted pair, using a more comprehensive patch array. Incoming services and signals are connected to the appropriate services port in the lower part of the panel. The outgoing services ports on the upper part of the panel carry the signals to the equipment. A patch lead is inserted at one of the incoming ports and connected to the corresponding outgoing port. This then connects the equipment and allows operation. Moving the patch lead to a different port changes either the service to the equipment or the location at which the equipment can be installed.Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor