I'm imagining something like an Arduino shield (or maybe a purpose-built Arduino clone, like one of Dave Houston's offerings), that would interface with the TW523 (or the XTB-IIR's emulation of it).
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Add in an RF transceiver (all 256 codes would be cool!), and the Ethernet and/or WiFi shield(s) for connectivity to a network.
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If there is non-volatile storage (like the SD card on the Ethernet shield), and a real-time-clock with a long-life battery, the unit could survive power outages and pick up right where it left off when power returns (reading the configuration off the storage card at startup).
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All the above will soon be available - if my health cooperates.
ZBasic recently began offering a generic license which allows compiling ZBasic code and installing it to generic Atmel AVR ICs. That changed the whole ballgame, lowering costs tremendously, and I had to redesign everything I was working on. I'll try to update my
ZarduinoTM webpages in between trips to the hospital. I have some boards already in hand and most others are on order.
Long range, the costs will depend on whether the distributor (who has a Chinese partner) can find an assembler who can build them in small quantities for a reasonable cost, but even buying components retail from Digi-Key and assembling them myself (not practical beyond the prototyping stage), the costs are excellent. This is patterned after the Arduino Mega designs (but with more rational IO and power schemes -
more below) and includes options for ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and other connection methods. There are up to 6 serial ports for interfacing with existing (future?) X10, Insteon, UPB, ZWave, RS485, etc. devices. It has tons (64KB EEPROM, 32KB FRAM) of onboard memory, plus a MicroSD slot, and a battery-backed RTC (although my preferred WiFi & ethernet interfaces will automatically get the time if there's internet access). It can also interface with TW523/PSC05 as well as legacy controllers designed for the TW523/PSC05. I've kept it as dumb as possible, giving it
smarts only where required by an interface (e.g. CM11A handshaking) so it is mostly a matter of responding to a bitstream from a specific port with the bitstream/port response
programmed by the user. It should be able to deal with future devices as long as they do not need handshaking. All sourcecode (and gerber files) will be released so it will be possible for others to update it for new devices, if needed. I still plan Windows, Linux, OSX and Android interfaces but the protocol will be released so others can create other interfaces as desired.
I have also designed a two-way powerline modem (easily adapted to 120V or 240V) with a wideband superhet RF receiver. (Both the PLM and RF Receiver are frequency stable using crystals or ceramic resonators.) It uses a serial interface with optional external $3 USB-Serial adapter for those without a serial port. It does not require an FCC ID, qualifying for self-testing. It should also comply with CE requirements. If sold, it would likely require a customer waiver similar to what Jeff uses. It's unlikely to include an RF transmitter as that does require an FCC ID with attendant high costs. It may include an option for an external IR transmitter that knowledgeable folk might figure out can be used for other purposes.
![Wink ;)](http://forums.x10.com/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
I'll write ZBasic app notes detailing how to handle most everything (except Insteon where I'm constrained by a developer's gag order).
MORE BELOW: I really do not like the Arduino power scheme which provides no protection to the processor and only limited protection for shields - it is designed to protect the USB host. So, I redesigned to use external 3V3 or 5V SMPS with separate fuses for the processor and shields. As a fallback, should the costs prove too high to have my main board made in small quantities, the Arduino Mega 1280 (
http://arduino-direct.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=9) can be modified by merely changing the processor crystal. It only has half as much program memory so will not be ideal but it should suffice in the interim or it might be possible to have that board assembled with the ATMega 2560 IC.
Stay tuned.
@Noam: Sorry - only one LED and it's buried beneath Mega sized shields.