Building Automation over Power Lines

Abstract

Building automation is now very widespread in all the developed countries to ease the management of buildings like schools, hospitals, public edifices, private houses and so on. In this project, a feasible Building Automation System based on very cheap distributed microcontroller architecture is designed. A power line communication network is established to link those microcontrollers; so there is no need to install proprietary cables or a wireless network. The Power Line Communication (PLC) technology utilizes the power cables as a communication channel. A radio frequency signal of a few hundreds of Hz up to a few tens of MHz is transmitted through the power lines. The power line communication has distance and frequency limitations which depend on the type of power line used. The device performs the operation of data transfer through the power line and connects controllers to the power lines; is called the Power Line Modem (PLM). This report presents the design and implementation of Building Automation over Power Line, this model contains a user interface, irrigation system and lighting system; those systems are connected through the power line network.