Rafe Needleman has a breakdown on ‘ZigBee’, the newest iteration of home automation protocols. Unlike the X10 standard, made infamous by the troubled X10 Wireless Technology corporation, this new system uses a wireless mesh network to allow two-way communication between control units (like remote controls and computers) and devices (like lamps, electronics, and home heating-and-cooling systems). This is better for a couple of reasons: X10 transmits over your home’s power lines, which can lead to a wonky signal over long distances; plus, since ZigBee is two way, not only would your remote control be able to tell your lamp to change its brightness, but your lamp would be able to respond with its current level of brightness, that it has received your command, or could coordinate with other light sources in the room to match a desired overall ambiance (to embrace and extend Rafe’s example.)
ZigBee is an IEEE standard (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; the go-to standards body for most wired and wireless communications in the U.S.), but not one that has been fully approved. Despite that, some manufacturers have already begun to ship products using the tentative specifications, with the intention of upgrading the devices should the standard change during the approval process (sort of like Apple did with the 802.11g WiFi standard and the slightly premature Airport Extreme.)
Home automation has the potential to be a very positive accent to our lives, but until now has remained a luxury for either the wealthy or the geeky. If ZigBee pans out, in the next few years more of us will be living in homes that respond to our interactions in much the same way a good computer application responds and adapts to its users’ needs.
