A new standard from the Telecommunications Industry Association defines a data modem that operates on electrical wiring (ac power lines) on users’ premises. The document, TIA-1113, “Medium-Speed (up to 14-Mbit/s) Power Line Communications (PLC) Modems Using Windowed OFDM,” is the first global multi-megabit, broadcast class, PLC standard approved by ANSI, according to the association.
TIA-1113 defines the functions, operations, and interface characteristics of a system for medium-speed networking based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) using power lines. Standardization in the powerline communications industry is recognized as important because of the number of devices in the market, more than 18 million to date, and the increasing growth of this industry.
The standard was written under the auspices of the TIA TR-30’s (Committee on Multi-Media Access, Protocols, and Interfaces) TR-30.1 Subcommittee on Modems. The subcommittee used contributions based on Homeplug1.0 powerline technology to develop the standard. The technology, most widely used for in-the-home broadband-speed communications and multimedia distribution, 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.
“The HomePlug Powerline Alliance applauds the publishing of this standard,” said Paul Dixon of TIA member company 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.”
Telecommunications Industry Association
www.tiaonline.org