This is the repository for the netnode project. 

WHAT IS THIS?
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The netnode is an Ethernet-connected microcontroller. It is designed as a generic electronics platform that can be used to automate various tasks in and around the house.

The first version is built around a Microchip PIC microcontroller and a LanTronix XPORT serial to Ethernet convertor.

In this form, the netnode is running for over 5 years at our home. It is used to control electrical blinds, to measure temperatures in our HVAC system, to monitor our solar heating installation, to measure the output of a photovoltaic installation and to interface to wireless sensors.

The latest developments around the netnode focus on adding a standard interface for reporting sensors data and to control basic devices. The selected standard is xPL, because it allows coupling the netnode to a vast amount of existing software such as e.g. Misterhouse.

This repository is divided in three sections: 
 * hardware: the hardware design files of the netnode. The netnode is designed in Eagle and the design is open source (see license below).
 * firmware: the firmware for the controller on the netnode. Currently there is only a single subfolder here. All existing firmware is mapped on a netnode v1.x that is based on a Microchip PIC18F controller.
 * software: various host software packages used to interface to a netnode running a certain firmware. Most of the subfolders here implement a kind of datalogging functionality to RRD databases.
    
AUTHOR
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Lieven Hollevoet designed the netnode at the time he was building his house. His goal was to build a low-energy home, and setting such a goal of course implies deploying a measurement network to check if the efforts were worthwhile. 
After experimenting with a CAN-based solution, he decided Ethernet was the way to go. The main reasons to go for Ethernet were that the cabling was already present, and that on the computer interface side Ethernet is an interface that is available on every computing device, opposed to CAN which isn't. 

CREDITS
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Some 'like-minded' people have contributed to the codebase. 

Dirk Buekenhoudt helped in coding and debugging the xPL interface code. He is currently working on adding digital inputs and outputs.

Roeland Vandebriel wrote the initial code for the SHT7x humidity sensors and is working on merging my Technische Alternative DL output interface code that I initially wrote for my TA UVR61-1. He is working on interfacing to the TA UVR1611.

DEMO
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A demo of what measurements are done using netnode hardware can be found here:
http://lika.be/uushuus_stats/live.htm

LICENSE
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All work in this repository is available under the Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license 3.0.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/