HD-PLC Alliance Goes More Global - Aiming at high-speed in-home network up to 210Mbps
HD-PLC Alliance Goes More Global
Aiming at high-speed in-home network up to 210Mbps
HD-PLC (High Definition Power Line Communication) Alliance, which aims for popularization of high-speed in-home network using electric power lines and improvement in interoperability among the equipment or devices, have begun more business development outside Japan. The Alliance exhibited at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2008, a tradeshow involving PC and relevant technologies held in Taiwan from June 3rd to 7th, and performed activities to spread HD-PLC technology.
HD-PLC Alliance was formed by Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) as the initiator in September 2007. At present, there are 15 member companies. HD-PLC is a technology to build home networks. It is composed of PLC adapters that puts data on the power line and takes the data out. PLC adapters plugged in to electric power outlets make networks. High-speed data transfer up to 210 Mbps is possible, allowing to exchange even high-quality HD videos.
At COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2008, HD-PLC Alliance held a large booth and displayed products developed by each member company (Figure 1). Panasonic connected a PLC adapter and a PC with a LAN cable to show transfer of video data to an LCD television through the power line. Two BL-PA300s were used as PLC adapters (Figure 2). As for the effective data speed of BL-PA300, UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is up to 65 Mbps, and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) up to 90 Mbps. Two BL-PA300s plugged into existing electric outlets enable the high-speed data communication. BL-PA300 is also equipped with a LAN port, allowing to connect PCs, home electronics, and so on to it to easily build a home network. They said that even a network between the 1st floor and the 2nd is easily achievable while wireless LAN is difficult in such a situation.
According to a member of the booth staff, " Globally, 500,000 to 600,000 pieces of PLC equipment have been shipped." If such a high-speed network can be easily built at home, it will be easy to exchange HD video among the instruments. Trend in HD video will accelerate even further.