System integration of a home network system with a narrowband power line communication method and a voice recognition command controller

Abstract

After a home network system, consisting of some electric devices, had been constructed by a Narrowband power line communication method, the system was integrated with an external voice recognizing control board. Experimental data was measured for the communication characteristics between a central PC and a central-side PLC modem in Local loopback test, and then between the PC and a receive-side modem in Remote loopback test. The voice control board was connected to the PC via Bluetooth communication, and used to manipulate the home electric devices’ setup statuses. A communication protocol was designed for the system, and by changing its length, the system’s response time was measured in the local loopback test and the remote test. The response time of the system in the remote loopback test was about 345 ms for the protocol of the length of 13 Bytes. So, the proper protocol length for this system was decided to be 13 Bytes long. The command-recognizing time of the controller, measured by the Polling Process Technique, showed that it depended on the number of commands. For eight commands, the recognizing time of the voice board was about 100 ms. The Bluetooth and the power line communication data rates were 9,600 and 2,400 bps. Home electric devices’ statuses were shown graphically on the computer screen according to the device’s setup conditions, which were controlled by some voice commands.