Mobile phone as control center

CeBIT 2010: Intelligent energy management for the home
(PhysOrg.com) -- In order to save energy, consumers need to be able to obtain up-to-date information at any time about the energy consumption of their appliances, and be able to control them while away from home. At CeBIT 2010, Fraunhofer scientists unveil two applications that help consumers manage their power use.
Mobile phone as control center
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT in Sankt Augustin are offering an alternative helpful support: They have created an application that displays the energy consumption of individual appliances within the home. This means that consumers can figure out what device guzzles energy, and get a feeling for which appliances consume how much energy - and that will clearly help them save money. The application is based on the "Hydra" middleware developed by the institute, which was upgraded with a specialized energy protocol. "Using his mobile phone as a display and control mechanism, the resident can control the energy consumption of his appliances," says Dr. Markus Eisenhauer, who developed the system. "For instance, he can display consumption per room, turn appliances on or off, or dim the lights." And that's not all: The cell phone's camera image can be used as a "magic lens." Just point the camera to a certain appliance, and, as if waving a magic wand, the appliance's exact wattage is displayed in real-time.
Provided by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft