Globally recognized standard enables communications data rates in excess of 500

Mbps
Mumbai, India, February 19, 2011: IEEE, the world's largest professional associa
tion advancing technology for humanity, announced that the final IEEE 1901TM Br
oadband over Power Line (BPL) standard finalized in December 2010 is now publish
ed and available online at: http://standards.ieee.org/findstds/standard/1901-201
0.html or through the IEEE Xplore Digital Library at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org
/articleSale/Sarticle.jsp?arnumber=5678772. Sponsored by the IEEE Communications
Society (www.comsoc.org), this globally recognized BPL standard is designed for
use in a wide range of applications including smart energy, transportation and
Local Area Networks (LANs) in both the home and the enterprise. Networking produ
cts that fully comply with IEEE 1901 will deliver data rates in excess of 500 Mb
ps in LAN applications. In first-mile/last-mile applications, IEEE 1901-complian
t devices will achieve ranges of up to 1500 meters. The technology specified by
IEEE 1901 uses sophisticated modulation techniques to transmit data over standar
d AC power lines of any voltage at transmission frequencies of less than 100 MHz
.
In the transportation sector, for example, the standardâ s data rates and range make
it possible to deliver A/V entertainment to the seats of airplanes, trains and o
ther mass transit vehicles. Electric vehicles can download a new entertainment p
laylist to the A/V system while the car is charging overnight. In the home segme
nt, PLC will complement wireless LANs by providing a link through walls and othe
r RF impediments as well as over distances beyond the normal range of wireless n
etworks. It will also complement wireless networks in hotels and other multistor
y buildings by carrying multimedia data over the longer distances and allowing w
ireless to complete the communication link over the last few meters. IEEE 1901 w
ill also benefit utilities, service providers, and consumer electronics companie
s â anyone with a stake in smart grid technologies â as well as smart-meter providers a
d home appliance manufacturers.
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NOTE TO EDITORS - Broadband over Power Line in India and the relevance of 1901 s
tandard:
For the fast growing Indian market, BPL technology will enable access to afforda
ble communication to the countryâ s vast rural network. The biggest technology challe
nge in India is that several dozen residences are served from a single low volta
ge (LV) cable line operating at 230â 400V which can cause problems such as radiated i
nterference. This is a cause for concern because of the non-uniform nature of th
e supply network. Further, typical latency is below 3 ms and latency being depen
dent on traffic load and number of users, when the number increases it leads to
heavy loading of the network which inturn affects VoIP applications.
1901 includes cutting edge features for minimizing and resolving interference if
necessary. The transmitted signal power can be globally controlled over the fre
quency spectrum and also locally controlled carrier per carriers, for each devic
e. These parameters are set by the BPL system operator using the network managem
ent tools. It allows to notch out the frequency bands, the local regulator (Gove
rnment) would like to protect permanently and to resolve potential interference
case by case in frequency bands, that are not permanently protected. 1901 includ
es a TDMA access method that allows allocation of dedicated channel resources, f
or high QoS demanding services such as VoIP. It means that VoIP continues to wor
k when the standard traffic grows. This feature does not exist on pre-1901 devic
es that were deployed in BPL pilots in India.
Despite Indiaâ s power grid being not as advanced as developed countries, BPL is like
ly to make an impact as its benefits far outweigh its drawbacks. Corporate India
could quickly embrace BPL because of its inherent advantages over Ethernet. IIT
Allahabad has successfully tested BPL. Jamia Milia Islamia used the BPL to capt
ure hairline differences in track and field events, that would decide the winner
, during the Commonwealth Games 2010. Delhi Technological University has submitt
ed a research on BPL to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
and a pilot project in â Alipurâ which probably has the most challenging electricity in
rastructure in India, was successful. The project executed on a central governme
nt grant as part of its e-governance initiative in rural areas. The pilot was to
check benefits of the technology in the remotest corners of India.
At present, broadband connection has a speed of 100 MBPS, but BPL promises 200 M
BPS and an easy-to-use connection within 30 minutes. Apart from consumer-based a
dvantages, BPL can be used by power companies to solve their problems in the lin
e with communication signals flowing over power signals. Other opportunities inc
lude automatic energy meter reading (AMR), real-time system monitoring, preventa
tive maintenance, voltage control, outage detection and restoration, load manage
ment on the power grid, load scheduling, load forecasting, capacitor bank contro
l, and development of smart grids, which could add to conservation of energy and
improve system reliability, service, and safety for electricity customers. A gl
obal standard such as IEEE 1901 being immediately available will support faster
adoption of BPL in India. Also, since broadband penetration is a major area of f
ocus for Indian corporate and BPL is considered among the best options to enhanc
e penetration, the 1901 standard will be a boon. .
For editorial enquiries only contact:
Sumathi.M.Chari , PRHUB , Moushmi Kishore, PRHUB
Shuang Yu, IEEE-SA
, sumathi@prhub.com /media@prhub.com , moushmi@prhub.com /9482016512/9323403707
+1 732-981-3424/shuang.yu@ieee.org