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QNX Unveils Reference Design for Smart-Home Energy Management Systems (16/3/2010)

QNX Software Systems, a Harman International (NYSE:HAR) company, today unveiled its new smart energy reference, a pre-integrated software stack that makes it easier to design, deploy, and extend smart-home energy management systems.

The smart energy reference provides out-of-the-box support for Zigbee sensors, Insteon home area networks (HANs), streaming IP video cameras for security monitoring, an application for calculating costs of energy consumption, and Internet connectivity for retrieving weather information and performing remote control and diagnostics. Other features include zone temperature controls, individual and zone light controls, and appliance monitoring and control.

The smart energy reference is based on the QNX® Aviage® HMI Suite, which provides a framework for creating highly attractive home energy touchscreens in Adobe Flash, and on the QNX® Neutrino® RTOS, an operating system with 30 years of field-proven reliability in industrial applications.

The reference also leverages persistent publish/subscribe technology from QNX Software Systems, which has been shortlisted for a 2010 embedded AWARD. This technology provides a highly efficient abstraction layer between the HMI (user interface) and the system's control software. As a result, it becomes much easier to add, change, or upgrade sensors, thermostats, alarms, and control mechanisms, without having to change the HMI.

The smart energy reference runs on multiple hardware architectures, including Atmel (AT91SAM9M10, AT91SAM9G45), Freescale (i.MX25, i.MX35, i.MX51), and Texas Instruments (AM3517, OMAP3530) processors.

"Sophisticated touchscreens, network connectivity, and video are all converging in smart metering and other home-energy management solutions," said Sebastien Marineau-Mes, vice president of engineering at QNX Software Systems. "This new smart energy reference from QNX simplifies the integration of these converging technologies, while helping developers create highly extensible, future-ready designs."

www.qnx.com