Hoping to spread the application of HomePlug intra-home powerline communications products (aka: in-home BPL) used for linking consumer audio/video equipment around the house, the HomePlug Alliance has announced a plan to coordinate development of products and applications to integrate with so-called smart energy management systems being developed to manage electricity consumption.
Claiming that HomePlug technologies are already being deployed in so-called Smart Meter networks around the world, HomePlug Alliance announced on 18 May 2009 the completion of a Market Requirements Document to " . . . guide the development of new HomePlug specifications, creating a new class of powerline communications products that offer lower cost, low power consumption while also being fully interoperable with the current HomePlug AV standard and the forthcoming IEEE 1901 standard – at data rates tailored to meet the anticipated future requirements of smart energy management."
The HomePlug Alliance, with 70 member companies from around the world, avows to continue working closely with the IEEE P1901 standards development Working Group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) Standards Association. The P1901 Working Group's latest panegyric was reported in a posting to this forum on 17 May 2009.
Get the story straight from the horse's mouth here: http://www.homeplug.org/news/
73, Roger Harrison VK2ZRH