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Connected Lighting
Basic Concepts of Wireless Routers and Networks
Many homes today have a home network router to allow multiple devices in the home to connect to the Internet
as well as each other. Many people use a wireless router as their network router so that they are not tethered
by a cable that physically connects them to the router. For example, most modern laptop computers and smart
devices have internal wireless hardware that allows you to connect them to a wireless router without a physical
cable.
Modem and Router Connection
In a typical home network configuration, the router (wireless or not) connects to a modem, which in turn
connects to the Internet. For example, cable companies and DSL providers often provide their customers with
a modem that connects directly to the cable company or DSL provider’s network and thus to the Internet. You
could connect a computer directly to this modem so that you can access the Internet through your computer’s
Web browser or other applications. However, many people connect a router to the modem instead to allow
for multiple computers and devices to all share the same connection to the Internet through one modem. The
router also allows the attached computers and devices to connect with one another.
Wireless Network
Before wireless networking became common, routers only allowed for computers and devices to connect
physically through cables.
This limited where you could place your computer or device based on the location of the router and the length
of the cable. With the advent of wireless networking in the home (commonly referred to as “wi-fi”), many routers
began including wireless technology in addition to the physical cable connections. This type of wireless router
allows you to connect a wireless-enabled device from anywhere around the home as long as the wireless radio
signal can be maintained. Many of the computers and devices built today come with internal wireless hardware
so that they are ready to connect to your wireless network. As a wireless device, a smart device can connect
to a wireless network, and applications installed on the smart device (including the lighting application) use that
network connection to access the Internet or other devices on the home network.
Since any wireless device within radio range can connect to a wireless router (and thus the corresponding home
network), wireless routers allow you to set up a user name and password so that wireless devices must be
authenticated in order to connect. Modern smart devices support this type of wireless infrastructure. Typically,
when you set up your wireless settings on your smart device, you store the user name and password for your
wireless network so that your smart device is always connected when in range of your home network.
Wireless Lighting Network
Wireless lighting uses your router’s wireless technology to allow you to control and manage your lights from a
smart device. To do this, the Gateway in your lighting kit is built to communicate with the wireless light bulbs.
Since the Gateway connects to your wireless router, other devices connected to that same router (such as your
smart device) can access the Gateway.
