Emerging home digital networking needs

In this paper, the situation of an emerging home network environment is examined. There are four driving needs for a home network. They are home automation, home computer, digital audio and video distribution, and digital access network. In the past, the home network is driven by home automation and analog audio and video distribution systems. Most recently, the effort on the development of a digital home network has been driven by emerging digital access and digital consumer electronics technologies. The system requirements are analyzed for different home network applications. The possibility of using IEEE 1394 protocol for a digital home network is explored.