xAP-in-a-box

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Introduction

External view of xapinabox The xAP-in-a-box project is aimed at providing a "turnkey" home-automation system which provides a core set of services that are commonly required in a Home Automation environment. Whilst each of the services provided by xAP-in-a-box can be distributed if required, it is often convenient from both a logistical and cost perspective to group a set of services together in a single host. xAP-in-a-box will integrate with, and interoperate with existing home automation application servers, such as homeseer, Mister House or Home Vision, if required. The picture shows a xAP-in-a-box based on an LinITX motherboard. What isn't clear from the photo is that this is a very minimal PC - it has no hard disk, no CD ROM or floppy drive - and has no fan, so it's completely silent.

Supported Services

The xAP-in-a-box software is currently in late alpha/early beta. I have been running the system without any major issues for several months in my own environment, but it has yet to be extensively tested in a range of environments.

The xAP-in-a-box provides:

WAP and Web server, with ability to generate pages based on current and historical state of devices and interact with xAP enabled devices. (E.g. the time the doorbell last rang, the last ten incoming phone calls, turn on a lamp).

Python based scripting engine with ability to build conditional logic between devices. (E.g. facilitate rules-based control of the central heating based on occupancy)

Speech synthesis with text-to-speech capability for spontaneous announcements

Connectivity with:

Comfort security system

Meteor caller id

Oregon Scientific Weather Station

Quasar 4-point temperature sensing board

X-10 via a CM12U interface

Falcom GSM module providing SMS support

POP3 mailboxes for notification of new e-mail

Tutorial: Building a xAP-in-a-box

How-To: Configuring a multi-port serial card for use with xAP-in-a-box

How-To: Network booting a xAP-in-a-box

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