IEEE P1901 Draft Standard
for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control
and Physical Layer Specifications
Report on the
meeting held in Santa Monica, CA, USA, 8-12 February 2010
(revised 11 March)
In January 2010 the working group (WG) voted on the question
of whether Draft 2.0 was ready to go to Sponsor Ballot.
The vote received 100% affirmative votes.
During the meeting in Santa Monica, CA, USA, the WG addressed
the comments received on Draft 2.0, and Draft 3.0 was generated.
With 95% affirmative votes, the WG voted to move Draft
3.0 to Sponsor Ballot. The initial Sponsor Ballot opened
on 9 March 2010 and is scheduled to close on 8 April 2010.
Draft 3.0 is available for sale through the IEEE
store.
Approval of P1901 as an IEEE standard is targeted for September
2010.
The P1901 WG continues to pursue robust liaison activity
with other groups:
* Draft 3.0 will be made available to the IEEE P2030 working
group.
* P1901 leadership will continue working with the NIST PAP15
group on coexistence between BPL protocols. The specification
of the ISP coexistence mechanism adopted in P1901 was made
available to NIST PAP15 in January 2010. P1901 ISP allows
coexistence between P1901 (in-home and access), ITU-T G.hn,
and Low Rate Wide Band Services (LRWS) over powerlines.
The next P1901 WG meeting is scheduled for 12-16 April
2010 in Osaka, 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.
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.
December 2009: Comment resolution on Draft 1.0 completed.
January 2010: Draft 2.0 is circulated for comment and vote
on whether it is ready to go to Sponsor Ballot.
February 2010: Draft 2.0 receives 100% approval from the
WG, affirming that it is mature enough to go to Sponsor
Ballot. The comments received on Draft 2.0 are addressed,
and Draft 3.0 is generated. The WG decides to move Draft
3.0 to Sponsor Ballot.
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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Standards are developed in company-based working groups
in which each member has one vote. This industry-oriented
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to two years, depending on participant commitment and funding
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