Coexistence of IEEE802.15.4 in a practical implementation of a wireless smart home environment (WSHE) for appliances control

Electricity is a scarce resource and ought to be saved. Users are often reluctant to save electricity because of many reasons, one of which is the physical effort that it entails. We present a method of saving electricity through the use of wireless smart plugs communicating to a wireless smart controller which have been designed and constructed so as to provide refined energy consumption information to the user. Featured in this work is the use of the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol to provide reliable and low power wireless capability. The performance of the system developed has been tested in a real world environment and results obtained are presented. The system constructed is reliable and presents cost advantages. Future developments are possible through the implementation of different home energy management algorithms that can be built onto this platform.