News

HomePlug® 1.0 Technology Integrated Into New TIA-1113 International Standard By Telecommunications Industry Association

May 31, 2008 by Jeff Shepard

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance announced that the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has incorporated its HomePlug 1.0 powerline technology into the newly published TIA-1113 international standard. TIA-1113 defines modem operations on user-premises electrical wiring. The new standard is described as the world’s first multi-megabit powerline communications standard approved by an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited organization.

The TIA describes itself as the leader in advocacy, standards development, business development and intelligence for the information and communications technology (ICT) industries - published TIA Standard 1113 this week following a successful ballot vote that ended April 7, 2008. The standard, titled "A Medium Speed (Up to 14 Mbps) Power Line Communications (PLC) Modem," was developed by the TIA subcommittee TR-30.1 (Multi-Media Access, Protocols and Interfaces – Modems).

"The HomePlug Powerline Alliance applauds the publishing of this first-ever broadband-class powerline communications standard by an ANSI-accredited organization," said Paul Dixon of Huawei Technologies, who serves as vice president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. "We believe it augments our efforts toward global standardization for powerline communications, a necessity as our industry grows and more consumers deploy these networking solutions in their homes and offices."

Standardization in the powerline communications industry is said to be important because of the number of devices in the market, more than 18 million to date, and the increasing growth of this industry. HomePlug-based product shipments have more than doubled in the past 12 months, and the technology is used in many different applications. It is most widely used for in-the-home broadband-speed communications and multimedia distribution, but is also being deployed in to-the-home internet access, hotels and commercial buildings, and on-the-grid energy-saving "green" power and smart-grid implementations.

It is claimed that a well-established standard will allow a more competitive market and foster further growth in the use of this technology, potentially creating an easy-to-use, ubiquitous method of connecting devices that communicate and share digital content using the existing electrical wiring.

"During its first eight years, the HomePlug alliance has succeeded in delivering open powerline communication standards, complemented with rigorous Compliance and Interoperability testing processes," said Jed Johnson, Motorola’s Senior Director of Systems Engineering, who also serves as Chief Technology Officer of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. "The newly adopted TIA-1113 standard, based on HomePlug 1.0 technology, is the first true standard in the history of broadband powerline communications, and it is an important milestone that elevates the recognition of HomePlug technology to a new level. This is an excellent stepping stone on our path to the future IEEE and G.hn standards, where HomePlug and HomePlug member companies lead the effort."

The TIA-1113 Standard defines the functions, operations and interface characteristics of a system for medium-speed networking based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and using the medium of power line wiring.