High-Speed Optical Home Network Using Graded Index Plastic Optical Fibers for a Smart House

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a home monitoring, management, and communication system (HMMCS) with high-seed optical home network for a smart house in a smart city to optimize the energy usage and to create a comfortable environment. The HMMCS monitors the interior environment and the electricity consumption of all electric appliances. It also records log data, shares information and movies/images, and cross-connects with web services. We assembled small-scale prototype HMMCS and developed application software with an original user interface. The results of a test run reveal that the HMMCS can monitor electricity consumption and interior environments in real time and can control different types of electric appliances including servers that play movies. The maximum data traffic load in a smart house has been calculated using the measured traffic data. Moreover, we found that a smart house with HMMCS inevitably requires a high-speed optical network for real-time, high-quality responses.