IEEE P1901 Draft Standard
for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control
and Physical Layer Specifications
Report on the meeting held
in Boston, MA, USA, 13-16 October 2009
At the meeting held in Boston, MA, the working group focused
its efforts on comment resolution associated with the project's
first letter ballot. Other activity included an important
decision related to the ITU-T G.hn Compatible PHY/MAC and
the creation of comments for submission into the process
associated with the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart
Grid Interoperability Standards.
The votes and comments on the group's first letter ballot
answered the question of whether Draft Standard 1.0 is ready
to go to Sponsor Ballot. Votes and comments were due by
14 September 2009. The vote received 61% affirmative votes
and thus failed to receive the required 75% majority approval.
More than 3,000 comments were received.
The Technical Sub Groups (TSGs) began resolving comments
and updating the draft in September, immediately following
the close of the vote. These efforts continued during the
working group meeting and will continue via bi-weekly teleconferences
after the Boston meeting until all comments are considered.
By the last day of the working group meeting, 50% of the
comments were addressed. TSG2 will hold a face-to-face meeting
on 6-8 December 2009 in Tel Aviv, Israel, to further accelerate
this work.
During the meeting in Boston, the working group decided
to stop the development of the ITU-T G.hn Compatible PHY/MAC
Draft option. Related chapters and annexes were removed
from the Draft.
The working group also prepared comments in response to
the request for public comment on the NIST Framework and
Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards.
A second letter ballot on Draft 2.0 is scheduled for December
2009 and Sponsor Ballot will follow.
The next Working Group meeting is scheduled for 8-10 December
2009 in Tel Aviv, Israel (see next
meetings).
June 2005 - PAR approved
November 2005 - Adoption of the general
work flow - Formation of a sub-group to develop unified
requirements
January 2006 - Approval of the use cases - Decision to split
the requirements into three clusters: In-Home, Access and
Coexistence/Interoperability
March 2006 - Approval of the down
selection process to achieve the baseline of the standard
- Approval of the description of topologies.
September 2006 - Approval of the channel and noise models.
February 2007 - Approval of 400 requirements split into
three clusters: access, in-home and coexistence - Calls
for technical proposals
June 2007 - 12 proposals received; 4 proposals per cluster
of requirements
July 2007 - 11 proposals passed the low hurdle vote; 4 in-home
proposals, 4 access proposals and 3 coexistence proposals
September 2007 - Only two proposals per cluster remain for
consideration after voluntary mergers.
October 2007 - One in-home proposal and one access proposal
remain as candidates for confirmation after the first round
of elimination voting.
March 2008 - A single coexistence proposal remains as candidate
for confirmation after the last round of elimination voting.
July 2008 - The first round of confirmation voting for the
in-home, access, and coexistence proposals is held. All
three votes fail.
September 2008 - The second round of confirmation voting
for the in-home, access, and coexistence proposals is held.
The votes on the in-home and access proposals fail. The
vote on the coexistence proposal is ruled invalid because
the number of abstain votes exceeds the established percentage.
A reset vote is held for in-home and access yielding a single
proposal for confirmation in the in-home cluster, and two
proposals for the access cluster. A voluntary merger in
the access cluster is announced at the end of the meeting,
bringing the total for access to a single proposal.
November 2008 - The first round of confirmation voting for
the in-home and access proposals is held. Both votes fail.
December 2008 - The second round of confirmation voting
for the in-home, access, and coexistence clusters is held.
All three proposals are confirmed.
February 2009 - A tentative table of contents of the Draft
Standard is adopted and four Technical Subgroups are formed
to merge the confirmed proposals and develop a unified document.
July 2009 - The first Draft Standard is created. The Draft
is sent for comment and vote on whether it is ready to go
to Sponsor Ballot.
October 2009 - Development of the ITU-T G.hn Compatible
PHY/MAC Draft option is stopped. Related chapters and annexes
are removed from the Draft.
About IEEE P1901
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20 to more than 50 members. Members are corporations, government
agencies, trade associations, universities, and standards
developing organizations. Each entity has one vote.
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