The approaching G.hn standard, which proposes to send around 700 mbps signals across powerlines, twisted pair and coaxial cable, using the same protocols, has been pushed through the ITU standards process, and Spanish powerline chip maker is promising a chip for it in the middle of next year.
The idea came out of the HomeGrid Forum which this week said the ITU will publish an approved G.hn PHY and Data Link Layers (which includes the all important MAC layer). This is the starting gun for silicon players to commit to specifying silicon, HomeGrid said and DS2 promptly complied by speaking up.
‘G.hn will empower service providers to deploy new offerings, including IPTV, more cost effectively; allow consumer electronics manufacturers to network all types of entertainment, home automation, and security products throughout the house; and greatly simplify consumers purchasing and installation processes,’ said Matthew Theall, president of HomeGrid Forum.
HomeGrid Forum will now develop a certification program for G.hn to check that semiconductor and systems manufacturers create compliant products which will earn the by use of the HomeGrid certified logo.
DS2 even went so far as to name the chipset, as the DSS9960 for delivery next year and said it would offer seamless interoperability with its current 100 Mbps and 200 Mbps UPA compliant chips.
“DS2 has been one of the most active participants in the development of G.hn, working closely with other ITU-T members. The next logical step is the completion of a strict Compliance and Interoperability (C&I) Program to ensure that all G.hn-based implementations work well together.
Even at this accelerated approach to bringing this to market, we would expect first chips to take 9 months to emerge, for certification to take another few months, and for any final adjustments and volume, plus product integration to take a further 6 months, meaning that products which rely on G.hn may appear first quarter 2011 at the earliest.