The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is seeking industry input for a a new advanced command and control specification, known as HPCC (HomePlug Command & Control). This low-speed, very low-cost specification is intended to complement the alliance’s higher-speed powerline communications technologies: HomePlug 1.0, HomePlug AV, and HomePlug BPL. The alliance’s Technical Evaluation Group (TEG) will conduct an RFP process. Companies that elect to propose technology will need to submit and present a proposal that details the technology capabilities, and submit their technology to validation tests.
The alliance said its command and control specification will enable advanced, whole-house control of lighting, appliances, climate control, security and other devices.
“Market projections indicate that by 2007 and 2008, millions of command and control nodes will be sold each month,” said Pete Griffin, chairman of the alliance and Director of Technology for Radio Shack Corporation.
“For the past thirty years, home control over powerlines has struggled to reach an significant upward inflection point,” said Oleg Logvinov, president of the alliance, and also president and CEO of Arkados, Inc. “With a common technology standard, companies can compete by making great products that work together using a common underlying technology. Product manufacturers and the consumer are the ultimate winners in this expanded marketplace.”http://www.homeplug.org
- In July, The HomePlug Powerline Alliance announced a co-existence solution that allows all powerline communications technologies, including HomePlug 1.0, HomePlug AV, and HomePlug BPL, to efficiently share the powerline network in both to-the-home and in-the-home applications. The solution would allow multiple powerline communications technologies to share the same wire while maintaining transmission speeds and effective QoS.
The HomePlug Powerline Alliance has been developing a new HomePlug AV specification, which promises 200 Mbps capacity for sharing HDTV, Digital Audio, and Internet access around a home.
The new co-existence technology, which is built-in to the HomePlug AV specification, fully coexists with HomePlug 1.0 data networking devices. When 1.0 devices are detected, the network switches to a Hybrid mode, allowing HomePlug AV devices to control the 1.0 devices and direct their communications, without compromising the AV network performance.