Home Area Networks and IPTV

The field of Home Area Networks (HAN), a dedicated residential subset of LAN technologies for home-based use, is fast becoming the next frontier for the communications industry. This book describes the various technologies involved in the implementation of a HAN: high-speed Internet connections, indoor implementations, services, software, and management packages. It also reviews multimedia applications (which are increasingly the most important and complex aspects of most HANs) with a detailed description of IPTV technology. It highlights the main technologies used for HANs: information transmission by means of copper pairs, coaxial cables, fiber optics, and Wi-Fi radio systems, as well as the software systems necessary for the processing and management of these data communications. These technologies – examples of which include the well-known 802.11 family of standards, and less widespread applications such as the HomePlug powerline standard – are highly relevant to multimedia, remote healthcare, remote working, energy, and device management in the home. The book is written for engineers working in the field, or who are interested in high-speed communication technologies and their actual or potential use in the home or in the small – medium size enterprise (SME) commercial environment.

Chapter 1. Services Offered by Home Area Networks 1 1.1. Why home networking? 1 1.2. Service convergence 2 1.3. IP or non-IP home area networks 8 1.4. Bibliography 11 1.5. Appendix: the uses of very high bit rates 11 Chapter 2. Receiving Television via Internet: IPTV 19 2.1. Introduction 20 2.2. Digital TV formats (DVB and MPEG standards) 20 2.3. Digital TV transmission through IP 29 2.4. IPTV: elements of the network 33 2.5. Set-top box (STB) hardware and software design 50 2.6. Bibliography 53 2.7. Appendix: notes on digital television 53 Chapter 3. Household Internet Connections 61 3.1. Network cables 61 3.2. Internet access by means of outdoor PLC 91 3.3. Fiber optics to the home (FTTH) 98 3.4. xDSL networks 120 3.5. High bit rate radio: satellite, WiMAX and LTE 144 3.6. Bibliography 152 Chapter 4. Home Area Network Technologies 155 4.1. Copper pair cables 155 4.2. The home network in coaxial cable 157 4.3. Home networks using indoor power line communications 160 4.4. LTE femtocells 165 4.5. Plastic optical fibers 167 4.6. WiFi home area networks 175 4.7. Home gateway 204 4.8. Bibliography 206 Chapter 5. Software Structure used in Home Area Networks 207 5.1. Characteristics of Home Area Networks 207 5.2. The digital leisure network: UPNP/DLNA 211 5.3. Home systems networks 226 Chapter 6. Software Structures in Use for Home Area Networks 237 6.1. Service gateways 237 6.2. Security in home systems and multimedia networks 242 6.3. Bibliography 245 Chapter 7. Service Platforms 247 7.1. Service platform for a managed network 247 7.2. Internet kiosk on an unmanaged network 252 7.3. Sharing resources 255 Glossary 259 Index 271