ZigBee and Power Line Communications interconnectivity applied to fuzzy logic controlled automated lighting system

The ongoing trend in technology made home appliances and electronic devices connect to the Internet. However, an issue on energy efficiency is still a big problem to different countries although these technologies were used. Recently, the European Commission introduced the use of Power Line Communications (PLC) in which data is being transmitted through power lines as a preparation for transition from the Electric Grid to a new concept Smart Grid. PLC being a new wired protocol is still under development to communicate with other protocols including wireless protocol for seamless connection. The study focuses on interconnecting ZigBee wireless protocol to the said wired protocol by developing a gateway to convert their protocols into one common protocol. A method used in converting protocols includes varying the PLC's Programmable System on Chip (PSoC) into a computer architecture which enables Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitted (UART) communication to successfully interconnect with ZigBee. The said interconnection is applied on a fuzzy logic controlled light system in which transmission test and power consumption was evaluated. The results of the analysis were presented to which they can be used as a guide for interconnecting other protocols with PLC.