IEEE P1901 Draft Standard
for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control
and Physical Layer Specifications
Report on the meeting held
in Las Vegas, NV, USA, in May 2009
The P1901 working group dedicated the majority of the Las
Vegas meeting time to Technical Subgroup activity.
Technical Subgroup 2 (TSG2) (dedicated to MAC/PHY) presented
to the working group thirteen revised chapters of the draft
Standard on MAC/PHY layers and security. The Working Group
approved with more than 83% majority.
TSG4 (dedicated to coexistence) presented a draft annex
describing the Inter-System Protocol (ISP) that enables
various BPL devices and systems to share communication resources
(frequency/time) when installed in a network with common
electrical wiring. In particular, ISP will allow P1901-compliant
devices and ITU-T G.hn-compliant devices to coexist. The
protocol provides configurable frequency division for Access
and time division for in-home with a granularity compatible
with the QoS requirements of the most demanding Audio/Video
applications. The Working Group unanimously approved the
ISP annex.
The TSGs will continue holding weekly teleconferences.
In addition, TSG2 will hold a face-to-face meeting during
the week of 15-19 June 2009 in Fukuoka, Japan.
The P1901 working group stated its interest in the IEEE
P2030 Working Group that is slated to develop a Guide for
"Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and
Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power
System (EPS) and End-Use Applications and Loads". Chair
Faure of P1901 and various member entitiy representatives
will participate in the P2030 kick-off meeting scheduled
for 3-5 June in Santa Clara, CA, USA.
The next Working Group meeting is scheduled for 21-24 July
2009 in Tokyo, Japan (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.
About IEEE P1901
The working group, formed in June 2005, has grown from
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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