The Dit Hus/Home Port project was about establishing possibilities for intelligent control of the energy consumption in private homes through the development of a prototype for a so called 'home port'.

This port establishes access to coordinated control of the different subsystems in a private home for control and surveillance of energy consumption etc.

Coexistence of different wireless technologies

Key concepts in the project is a coexistence of different technologies controlled through a common service layer in a private house.

The purpose of this coexistence is to create interoperability between the different technologies in a way that energy consumption can be lowered and consequently lowering the pollution of the environment.

Vision towards simplicity of home automation

The ideal situation is that consumers can get applications from the internet and install them on available control computers, for instance on smartphones, smart TVs or on dedicated home control systems. The applications will then through the local net find out exactly what relevant end-devices are installed, connect to them and start operating.

Also, installing new end-devices should not involve complicated software reconfiguration. The electrician or even the consumer, when permitted by safety regulations, should be able to mount the device, and with simple means make it available as a service on the local net.

Benefits for manufacturers and developers

For end-device manufacturers, the advantage of using a Home Port solution is that their devices can fit existing applications. They can focus on designing and producing improved devices.

For home automation application developers, the dual benefit is that they can work with many different end-devices and that they can distribute their products either as software or as control boxes with many opportunities for upgrading.

Thus Home Port enables a win-win situation for smaller and middle sized developers for the emerging home automation market.