Press release for immediate publication

FINAL IEEE 1901TM BROADBAND OVER POWER LINE STANDARD NOW

PUBLISHED
Globally recognized standard enables communications data rates in excess of 500
Mbps

New Delhi, India, February 1, 2011: IEEE, the world's largest professional association
advancing technology for humanity, today announced that the final IEEE 1901TM Broadband over
Power Line (BPL) standard finalized in December 2010 is now published and available online at:
http://standards.ieee.org/findstds/standard/1901-2010.html or through the IEEE Xplore Digital
Library at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/articleSale/Sarticle.jsp?arnumber=5678772. Sponsored by
the IEEE Communications Society (www.comsoc.org), this globally recognized BPL standard is
designed for use in a wide range of applications including smart energy, transportation and Local
Area Networks (LANs) in both the home and the enterprise. Networking products that fully
comply with IEEE 1901 will deliver data rates in excess of 500 Mbps in LAN applications. In first-
mile/last-mile applications, IEEE 1901-compliant devices will achieve ranges of up to 1500
meters. The technology specified by IEEE 1901 uses sophisticated modulation techniques to
transmit data over standard AC power lines of any voltage at transmission frequencies of less
than 100 MHz.

In the transportation sector, for example, the standard’s data rates and range make it possible to
deliver A/V entertainment to the seats of airplanes, trains and other mass transit vehicles.
Electric vehicles can download a new entertainment playlist to the A/V system while the car is
charging overnight. In the home segment, PLC will complement wireless LANs by providing a link
through walls and other RF impediments as well as over distances beyond the normal range of
wireless networks. It will also complement wireless networks in hotels and other multistory
buildings by carrying multimedia data over the longer distances and allowing wireless to
complete the communication link over the last few meters. IEEE 1901 will also benefit utilities,
service providers, and consumer electronics companies – anyone with a stake in smart grid
technologies – as well as smart-meter providers and home appliance manufacturers.

About the IEEE Standards Association: The IEEE Standards Association, a globally
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NOTE TO EDITORS - Broadband over Power Line in India and the

relevance of 1901 standard:
For the fast growing Indian market, BPL technology will enable access to affordable
communication to the country’s vast rural network. The biggest technology challenge in India is
that several dozen residences are served from a single low voltage (LV) cable line operating at
230–400V which can cause problems such as radiated interference. This is a cause for concern
because of the non-uniform nature of the supply network. Further, typical latency is below 3 ms
and latency being dependent on traffic load and number of users, when the number increases it
leads to heavy loading of the network which inturn affects VoIP applications.

1901 includes cutting edge features for minimizing and resolving interference if necessary. The
transmitted signal power can be globally controlled over the frequency spectrum and also locally
controlled carrier per carriers, for each device. These parameters are set by the BPL system
operator using the network management tools. It allows to notch out the frequency bands, the
local regulator (Government) would like to protect permanently and to resolve potential
interference case by case in frequency bands, that are not permanently protected. 1901 includes
a TDMA access method that allows allocation of dedicated channel resources, for high QoS
demanding services such as VoIP. It means that VoIP continues to work when the standard traffic
grows. This feature does not exist on pre-1901 devices that were deployed in BPL pilots in India.
Despite India’s power grid being not as advanced as developed countries, BPL is likely to make
an impact as its benefits far outweigh its drawbacks. Corporate India could quickly embrace BPL
because of its inherent advantages over Ethernet. IIT Allahabad has successfully tested
BPL. Jamia Milia Islamia used the BPL to capture hairline differences in track and field
events, that would decide the winner, during the Commonwealth Games 2010. Delhi
Technological University has submitted a research on BPL to the Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology and a pilot project in ‘Alipur’ which
probably has the most challenging electricity infrastructure in India, was successful.
The project executed on a central government grant as part of its e-governance
initiative in rural areas. The pilot was to check benefits of the technology in the
remotest corners of India.

At present, broadband connection has a speed of 100 MBPS, but BPL promises 200 MBPS and an
easy-to-use connection within 30 minutes. Apart from consumer-based advantages, BPL can be
used by power companies to solve their problems in the line with communication signals flowing
over power signals. Other opportunities include automatic energy meter reading (AMR), real-time
system monitoring, preventative maintenance, voltage control, outage detection and restoration,
load management on the power grid, load scheduling, load forecasting, capacitor bank control,
and development of smart grids, which could add to conservation of energy and improve system
reliability, service, and safety for electricity customers. A global standard such as IEEE 1901
being immediately available will support faster adoption of BPL in India. Also, since broadband
penetration is a major area of focus for Indian corporate and BPL is considered among the best
options to enhance penetration, the 1901 standard will be a boon. .
For editorial enquiries only contact:
Sumathi.M.Chari , PRHUB Shuang Yu, IEEE-SA
080-22483007/ sumathi@prhub.com /media@prhub.com +1 732-981-
3424/shuang.yu@ieee.org