First specification of standard formalises powerline communications
22 March 2006
News
The Open PLC European Research Alliance (Opera) today announced the development and approval of the first open global specification for Powerline Communications (PLC) access, also known as Broadband over Powerline (BPL).
This specification will accelerate mass rollout of high-speed, low-cost, broadband access, voice and audiovisual services, as well as utility applications for control and management operations. Technology from Spanish chipmaker Design of Systems on Silicon (www.ds2.es) was selected as the baseline for the specification.
The Opera specification provides a baseline for both PLC access technology as well as in-building applications, where powerline technology extends existing backbone technologies such as fibre-to-the-home (FTTx), DSL and coax.
After two years of development, a consortium of industry specialists supported by the European Commission, developed the specification based on a marketing and functional requirement blueprint ratified by Opera (www.ist-opera.org). The Powerline Utility Alliance (PUA), which includes leading international utility companies, designed the blueprint to cover all grid characteristics and to address global regulatory and industrial parameters.
The new specification provides for interoperability for non-Opera technologies by means of a co-existence mechanism. This unique feature also guarantees that future versions of Opera technology will be compatible with today's specifications, smoothing the way for investment in the technology.
The Opera PLC specification will be promoted through international standardisation organisations, including IEEE and ETSI.
Further reading:
Technical resource centre for smart cities
News
Mouser’s infrastructure and smart cities content hub features comprehensive articles, blogs, eBooks, and products from Mouser’s technical team and trusted manufacturing partners.
Read more...
UFS Flash named Best in Show
EBV Electrolink
News
KIOXIA Europe GmbH was named as winner in the Memory & Storage category of the Embedded Computing Design (ECD) electronica Best in Show Awards at the recently held electronica 2024.
Read more...
Save the date for Securex South Africa 2025
News
Home to Africa’s largest collection of security solutions, Securex South Africa returns to Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand from 3 to 5 June 2025.
Read more...
Trina Storage ranked in top 10
News
Amidst the global energy storage market, Trina Storage has once again earned recognition from authoritative institutions with its outstanding innovation capabilities and global layout.
Read more...
2025 outlook for DRAM is poor
News
According to TrendForce, weak demand outlook and rising inventory and supply forecast to pressure DRAM prices down for 2025.
Read more...
Price hike to challenge energy reforms
News
Eskom’s proposed 44% price hike could undermine renewable energy gains despite tech innovation.
Read more...
IO Ninja debugging tool
RF Design
News
Tibbo has released a major update to IO Ninja, its versatile communications debugging tool for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Read more...
Young SA robotics team takes world title
News
In a demonstration of innovation and teamwork, Texpand, a South African youth robotics team based in Cape Town, recently made history by winning the 2024 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) World Championships.
Read more...
From the editor's desk: A brave new world
Technews Publishing
News
The technology Tesla currently uses in its cars from the batteries, power electronics, controllers, through to the mechanics, gearboxes, and the AI inference computer and software have are incorporated in the development of Optimus, allowing the development of the robot to gain impressive features in a relatively short time span.
Read more...
Seven Labs partnership enhances local electronics distribution
Seven Labs Technology
News
Aimed at revolutionising the electronics distribution landscape in South Africa, Seven Labs has announced a partnership with LCSC, one of China’s most reputable electronics distributors.
Read more...
printer friendly version