HomePlug powerline networking advocates rejoice: the IEEE is joining the ITA and ITU in approving a new version of the home networking standard that leverages a home's inside power wires. Under the auspices of IEEE 1901, this latest version of HomePlug can not only support speeds of up to 100 Mbps, but also Smart Grid applications.
However, getting to this point has been fraught with various challenges. Among them was that the proposed IEEE 1901 standard was examining three separate MAC/PHY approaches, all of which were not compatible yet could coexist. What's more, one of the MAC/PHY combinations was going to be compatible with G.hn, a different standard that's currently being considered by the ITU as a way to bridge the divide between powerline, coax and phone line-based home networking technologies.
To quell the previous confusion, the proposed IEEE 1901 standard will simplify the MAC/PHY by putting down what it calls a 'placeholder' for a possible third PHY, while the IEEE 1901 standard will only have two PHYs (FFT and Wavelet).
For more:
- CED has this article
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