.FLYINGHEAD THE COMPUTING UNPLUGGED INTERVIEW
.TITLE Understanding broadband over powerline technology
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
.SUMMARY Broadband technology is changing at a wildly accelerated pace. Whether it’s EvDO technology in your new Treo 700p or WiFi in your local coffee shop, it’s clear Internet access is leaving POTS (Plain Ol’ Telephone System) connections behind. One of the most exciting areas of innovation is broadband over powerline (BPL) technology, which distributes high-speed Internet connectivity over your household powerlines. We examine BPL in-depth this week in a detailed, exclusive interview with Chano Gomez, one of the leading experts on this technology.
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Broadband technology is changing at a wildly accelerated pace. Whether it’s EvDO technology in your new Treo 700p or WiFi in your local coffee shop, it’s clear Internet access is leaving POTS (Plain Ol’ Telephone System) connections behind. One of the most exciting areas of innovation is broadband over powerline (BPL) technology, which distributes high-speed Internet connectivity over your household powerlines.
Everything the President of the United States says is carefully planned and vetted, so when President Bush has a comment on an Internet technology, you can get a feel for how important it might become:
.QUOTE We need to get broadband to more Americans and so, therefore, I want to talk about two other ways to get broadband to the consumer. We need to use our power lines better. They go everywhere. It seems to make sense, doesn’t it, if what you’re looking for is avenues into the home. Well, electricity goes into the home. And so one great opportunity is to spread broadband throughout America via our power lines.
We continue our series of exclusive, strategic interviews with experts in emerging technology. This week, I had the opportunity to interview Chano Gomez, VP of Strategic Development and Marketing for DS2, a company that makes the chip technology that makes broadband over powerline possible. This interview contains our first article-level editorial coverage of BPL, so it’s a worthy read.
.TEASER Tap here to read the full interview.
.Q David
Chano, please introduce yourself and tell us something about your background.
.A Chano
I am the vice president of technology and strategic partnerships for DS2. I oversee US operations and manage DS2’s key partnerships from our office in Santa Clara, CA. Prior to this role, I served as customer support manager for the company, coordinating of all DS2’s support activities to our international customers. This included product development support, field support, network design and deployment support and technical training.
.Q David
Help us understand broadband over powerline (BPL). What is it and why is it important?
.A Chano
Powerline Communications or PLC uses electrical wiring for high speed transmission of data as an alternative to copper wiring, optical fiber or wireless technologies and constitutes a competitive solution to provide a wide array of services such as Internet broadband access, telephony, multimedia and audiovisual services, in-home networking services, energy related applications for utilities, etc.
Broadband over powerline (BPL) is one of the two better know applications associated with PLC. BPL is a reliable, low-cost method of delivering high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses over the powerlines that make up the nation’s existing electrical grid. This is significant considering our current options for Internet service.
Many areas of the country — and many more throughout the world — currently lack reliable access to high-speed Internet. DSL has become more readily available in recent years, but it can only service areas with the necessary infrastructure. BPL is capable of reaching nearly every area through the nation’s previously established powerlines, and since capital investment in new cabling and/or construction is not necessary, the cost can be dramatically lower.
My company, DS2, has led the technology development in the BPL market and has built additional competitive advantages in terms of technical consistency, bandwidth capacity, performance, flexibility, reliability, cost efficiency, regulatory stability and speed, so that today DS2 technology is a competitive alternative to more established broadband technologies and, in some applications, clearly outperforms them.
.Q David
How does it work?
.A Chano
Radio energy is coupled onto powerlines and distributed into homes through nearby transformers. The modem or other connectable device is then plugged into the home’s basic wall outlet to provide Internet access. The end user pays a subscription fee similar to those paid for other types of Internet service.
.Q David
With so much unclean power, is it really possible to have reliable networking? Do the power companies need to run new power lines?
.A Chano
Reliable networking is a reality with DS2 powerline technology and there is no need to run extra cabling. There are many forms of modulation that could be used over the powerline channel, but after sophisticated measurements DS2 identified OFDM as the most suitable because it was the most immune to the interference, providing the highest level of spectral efficiency and performance.
OFDM is an acronym for "Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing," a real mouthful, but what it really represents is a way of sending lots of data simultaneously and in a very efficient manner. When using DS2 technology the inherent robustness of the OFDM modulator is further increased by means of a powerful patented error recovery mechanism.
This feature provides reliable, error-free communication even in the presence of strong impulsive noise occasionally generated by some electrical appliances, so that applications using DS2 technology are glitch free.
DS2 chips also contain a range of exclusive features that provide a reliable and secure networking experience. For example DS2 IC’s implement 3DES encryption that guarantees total isolation between neighboring networks, providing privacy and security levels not found in any other PLC home-networking or access technology.
.Q David
How do the power and the IP network coexist?
.A Chano
PLC works by transmitting high frequency data signals through the same power cable network used for carrying electricity power to household users. Devices are installed along the electrical path to carry the information together with the power signal, from the service provision central office until the end user.
In the house, PLC modems are used to filter out the voice and data signals and to feed them to the various applications (PC, Internet, telephone, TV, etc.). PLC can be used to provide a wide spectrum of applications and services. In addition to voice, data and video, PLC is also used for home automation, surveillance, energy management, Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), and gaming.
.Q David
What are the benefits to the power companies themselves with this technology? Why would they want to invest in it?
.A Chano
BPL not only offers utilities the possibility to develop a new line of business as an Internet provider, it also helps improve the quality of electrical services that utilities provide as their core business by providing intelligent grid solutions through the provision of a bidirectional broadband communication platform capable of delivering real time data for real time monitoring and control of a wide range of applications.
Some of the more interesting applications include Automated outage detection and restoration confirmation, automated meter reading, remote monitoring and operation of switches and transformers, and remote capability to connect and disconnect electric service.
BPL allows the utility to leverage the electricity network to deliver new services and applications to generate new revenue streams and/or to manage consumption and maintenance of the network which helps to reduce costs and guarantee service.
.Q David
How prevalent is this for homes? What kind of bandwidth can go into each home? When will it be available? What will it cost?
.A Chano
BPL is already available in Europe and Asia and tests are underway in monitored environments in the US With DS2’s new generation 200 Mbps chipsets the maximum speeds generated are equivalent to the newest generation ADSL technologies. The end user will see upload and download speeds generally between 2 and 4 mbps, depending on the number of homes sharing the connection simultaneously.
.Q David
Sweet. Speed good!
We’ll continue our interview on BPL next week. BPL is a powerful enabling technology, especially in developing countries. This is an important technology, so stay make sure to read the rest of the interview next week!
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on DS2 and BPL, visit http://www.ds2.es.
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