The advancement of home automation solutions, in particular when based on wireless networks and devices, allows new scenarios to be integrated into householders lifestyle. In particular, it is now both feasible and economically sustainable to collect, monitor, analyze and visualize data and information related to energy consumption (and production) inside redidential homes. The availability of such information enables house inhabitants to better understand, and therefore adapt, their energy-related behaviors, and ultimately to be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.
The Master Thesis of Davide Aimone, who recently graduated in Computer Engineering, proposes an easy to use energy profiler system, built upon off-the-shelf home automation components (based on the Z-Wave standard) integrated with low-cost processing hardware (Raspberry PI and RaZberry Daughter Card) and open source software (the Dog 2.6 OSGi gateway). The overall system may be used to monitor the global consumption of the house and of some specific plugs and appliances, and the collected data may be analyzed, both on-line and off-line.
For more information about the Z-Wave portable energy profiler in the context of smart homes, please see Davide Aimones's Master Thesis materials:
- Full text of the master thesis
- Presentation slides, including a video demonstration of the user interface