How Insteon Works

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Insteon home automation technology is a dual-band mesh topology, which combines AC powerlines with a radio frequency (RF) protocol to communicate with home electronic devices. It is compatible with X10 products and networks, but provides more flexibility, greater reliability, and easier installation and use.

Peer networks

Insteon was designed to enable simple devices to be networked together, by using both the powerline and radio frequency.

The system is unique in that all Insteon devices are peers – meaning that each device can transmit, receive, and repeat any message of the Insteon protocol. Because of this, Insteon is much more than simply a system for connecting lighting switches and loads without extra wiring; rather, it boasts a flexible and diverse range of applications, and as such, it forms the basis for more sophisticated and complex home automation systems.

So what exactly does the peer system mean? In practical terms, it means that the signal you send from your upstairs bedroom – say, to switch off the exterior lights surrounding the pool – will transmit from a device in the bedroom to another in hallway, before bouncing to the kitchen, the dining room, the back porch and then finally the exterior light switch. Each of the devices receive and repeat the message, in a synchronized manner, and the chain reaction continues until the exterior light controller receives the signal, and turns the door. The entire message is repeated three times for reliability – and it literally happens in a split second.

In an Insteon system, each device receives its own unique ID, of which there are 16,777,216 choices – so as you can see, with Insteon, you’re options are limitless.

Insteon at work

On the powerline, just as occurs with X10, all of the messages synchronize to the AC zero, crossing via a 131.65-kHz carrier signal.

All messages are of fixed length – other than source and destination codes – and contain no other routing information. Standard and extended message sizes are 10 and 24 bytes respectively, allowing the network to provide instantaneous data rates sustained speeds.

With the exception of any X10 devices and the PC or controller, all communications over the network are via RF, or the powerlines, or a combination of the two. The RF component of the protocol is what makes Insteon so fast and reliable; the powerline transmission system is slower, but is used as a backup. For more detailed information on the Insteon system, click here. To learn more about the pros and cons of Insteon, click here.