Development tools for home automation

A comprehensive CEBus development system intended to solve common problems associated with home automation is described. The system provides a complete development environment which allows an engineer to design, debug, and test devices communicating over a CEBus network. Fully configurable modules are definable to specific user needs in order to verify many new applications and scenarios. By using the system, the engineer can concentrate on the design of the overall product and system-end-user interface and not be concerned about the details of the communication protocol standard. Furthermore, the system will be able to provide a common communication interface, so the engineer will not need a different design for each medium (such as powerline, twisted pair, infrared, etc.)