Implementation and evaluation of HEMS management middleware using XML

Recently, efficient energy management systems have been in high demand to reduce overall energy consumption. In particular, energy consumption in the civilian sector is increasing considerably. Therefore, the effective use of energy in this sector should be emphasized. To do so, the introduction of a Home Energy Management System (HEMS) is effective because such systems allow households to control power consumption, generation, and charging. HEMSs are designed to provide services that are appropriate from the perspective of the user. However, in order to control a variety of consumer electronics devices, existing middleware does not consider descriptive and operational abilities when designing HEMS applications. In this paper, we propose an HEMS control mechanism that uses a combination of control statements written in Extensive Markup Language. These control statements, or «HEMS modules,» comprise three types: Trigger, Condition, and Event. The modules can connect with each other to express event transitions. The proposed middleware facilitates the description and control of HEMS devices for users. The proposed middleware was implemented in an embedded HEMS controller and evaluated in a real household environment.