Plug in with the HomePlug 1.0 Specification

By
iApplianceWeb
(06/27/01, 10:28:59 PM EDT)

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance, an industry consortium established to provide a forum for the development of an open specification of home powerline networking products and services, has completed its powerline networking HomePlug 1.0 specification.

The specification calls out for connection bandwidths of 14Mbps and hopes to define a set of standards that allows PCs, peripherals, and other information appliances to connect and communicate through power outlets and wiring.

Prior to the market release of the 1.0 specification, HomePlug conducted comprehensive field trials in more than 500 homes and nearly 10,000 wiring paths throughout the U.S. and Canada. The field trials indicated that the specification meets regulatory, interoperability, performance, non-interference, reliability, scalability, and diagnostic and maintenance requirements.

While the final implementation is up to each individual company, the spec is designed to work over all line frequencies and voltages used throughout the world. Included in the spec are guidelines for bandwidth priority resolution and acceptable levels of signal to noise ratio.

Intellon, which competed and won the technical challenge for the optimal powerline solution, is first to market with its INT5130 PowerPacket chip set. Intellon's competitor Phonex Broadband has announced licensing agreements with Intellon.

HomePlug compliant products are anticipated to become available to consumers as soon as the fall of 2001. The terms of compliance testing to specification and logo use are in the works. The technology is expected to achieve sub $100 component pricing once in volume production with end products being marketed for less than $500.