Echelon Provides Brains for Fleetwood's ``Smart'' Motor Coach
REDMOND, Ore.--Aug. 13, 2001--Today Fleetwood Enterprises , the nation's largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles and a leading producer and retailer of manufactured housing, unveiled a "smart" recreational vehicle (RV) that uses Echelon Corporation's LonWorks(R) technology as the brains in its "Mobile RV Information System." The vehicle will be showcased this week at the Family Motor Coach Association's (FMCA) 38th Annual Summer Grand International Convention. Designed in conjunction with Intel(R) Solution Services, the pre-production home on wheels networks a variety of devices inside and outside the RV to provide users with enhanced comfort and safety features.Intel is providing the project design and architecture, an Intel Pentium(R) 4-based personal computer, and a portable Intel Web Tablet through which a touch pad interface can be used to access these devices. From the Intel Tablet, RV owners have the ability to open and close slide-out living rooms and bedrooms, monitor and/or change set points on their thermostats, turn air conditioning and heating systems on and off, control lighting, and enable predetermined scenes (for example specific light levels, HVAC set points, and slide-out configurations) with the tap of a finger. Smart switches provide an optional user interface to the automated devices in the RV. The portion of the customized Intel Web Tablet Graphical Interface communicating to LonWorks devices is built on top of Echelon's LNS(TM) network operating system.
The potential benefits of such a system include:
| -- | Centralized user interface -- The ability to monitor and control all automated devices inside and outside the RV. |
| -- | Portable interaction with all automated devices. For example, the ability to stand outside the RV, enable the slide-out living room and bedroom, and prevent potential damage to the slide-outs from extending too far into a large tree or branch. |
| -- | Flexible Scene Control -- The ability to customize the interaction of multiple devices to user-definable levels for reading, entertainment, and traveling environments. |
| -- | Standard Network Infrastructure -- The network deployed in this RV gives Fleetwood the framework to add additional LonWorks devices such as on-board energy management systems, smart appliances, monitoring of generators, batteries, inverters, and waste water systems, exterior awning control, and more, to production model units. |
"The flexibility and power of the LonWorks platform made this a very simple project to put together," said Tom Jones, Fleetwood's project manager. "We were able to create a completely self-contained system that can be scaled up or down and have new types of devices easily added to it to meet the specific needs of a customer. It's important that we be able to offer products that have a unique competitive edge -- and a smart infrastructure allows us to do just that."
"Echelon's LNS software proved to be an ideal base for interfacing with our Web Tablet system," said Tim Campion, solutions marketing manager at Intel Solution Services. "We are extremely pleased with the end result, a flexible network operating system that will be very easy for end-users to understand."
Bea Yormark, Echelon's vice president of sales and marketing, added, "We have said many times that the possibilities for LonWorks technology are limited only by the imagination and this is a perfect example of an extremely unique and interesting application, one that has both practical and novel benefits for consumers."
The FMCA's 38th Annual Summer Grand International Convention is taking place at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond, from Aug. 14-16. More information can be found at http://www.fmca.com/redmond/.
