An innovative, open-standards solution for Konnex interoperability with other domotic middlewares

Two technical aspects need to be developed to reach the goal of interoperability: an open, standardized, and interoperable framework based on Web Services paradigm to provide seamless interoperability of services and applications, called DomoNet (Domotics Network); a standardized XML grammar to be used on the DomoNet infrastructure, DomoML (Domotics Markup Language). Following this approach, specifications for an architecture, that permits the integration of all the possible devices in a home environment, have been outlined. According to Konnex philosophy, the interaction model among the devices is similar to a network of distributed applications; however, the communication between the nodes in this network takes part through the use of Web Services standards and DomoML, instead of using the specific protocols of a particular domotic middleware. Just to exemplify, a prototype has been developed, in accordance with the proposed architectural specifications, to show the correctness of our solution through the integration of UPnP and Konnex lighting devices. To connect the Konnex middleware to DomoNet we had to develop a software interface that permits, on one side, the interaction with Konnex devices through the use of FALCON libraries and on the other side the communication with DomoNet Web Services through the use of DomoML.