Managing Policy Interactions in KNX-Based Smart Homes

Smart homes have enjoyed increasing popularity in recent years. In order for them to further expand their market share, users need to be able to fully control devices. Policies are one way for users to achieve such flexible control of devices. However, user policies often tend to interact in unwanted ways leading to unexpected behavior of devices. This paper describes the design of a run-time policy interaction management module (PIMM) that serves as manager for detecting and resolving interactions between user policies in KNX-based smart homes. This module extends the traditional KNX networking system with the ability to manage policy interactions. The module operates in the run-time S-mode of the KNX network and works as part of the engineering tool software (ETS) used to configure and control the operation of the KNX network in smart homes. The proposed module serves as the first of its kind that can be implemented inside the KNX networking system to detect and resolve unwanted policies interactions.