IEEE 1901

Not to be confused with Power over Ethernet (PoE).

IEEE 1901 is a standard for high-speed (up to 500 Mbit/s at the physical layer) communication devices via electric power lines, often called broadband over power lines (BPL).[1] The standard uses transmission frequencies below 100 MHz. This standard is usable by all classes of BPL devices, including BPL devices used for the connection (<1500m to the premises) to Internet access services as well as BPL devices used within buildings for local area networks, smart energy applications, transportation platforms (vehicle), and other data distribution applications (<100m between devices).[2]

The IEEE 1901 Standard, established in 2010, set the first worldwide benchmark for powerline communication tailored for multimedia home networks, audio-video, and the smart grid. This standard underwent an amendment in IEEE 1901a-2019, introducing improvements to the HD-PLC physical layer (wavelet) for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. It was further updated in 2020, known as IEEE 1901-2020.[3]

The IEEE 1901 standard replaced a dozen previous powerline specifications. It includes a mandatory coexistence Inter-System Protocol (ISP). The IEEE 1901 ISP prevents interference when the different BPL implementations are operated within close proximity of one another.[4] To handle multiple devices attempting to use the line at the same time, IEEE 1901 supports TDMA, but CSMA/CA (also used in WiFi) is most commonly implemented by devices sold.[5][6]

The IEEE 1901 standard is mandatory to initiate SAE J1772 electric vehicle DC charging (AC uses PWM) and the sole powerline protocol for IEEE 1905.1 heterogeneous networking. It was highly recommended in the IEEE P1909.1 smart grid standards because those are primarily for control of AC devices, which by definition always have AC power connections - thus no additional connections are required.

  1. ^ Nayagam, Arun; Rajkotia, Purva R.; Krishnam, Manjunath.; Rindchen, Markus. (February 2014). "chapter 13: IEEE 1901: Broadband over Power Line Networks". In Berger, Lars T.; Schwager, Andreas; Pagani, Pascal; Schneider, Daniel M. (eds.). MIMO Power Line Communications: Narrow and Broadband Standards, EMC, and Advanced Processing. CRC Press. pp. 391–426. doi:10.1201/b16540-17. ISBN 978-1-4665-5752-9. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Final IEEE 1901 Broadband Over Power Line Standard Now Published". Press release. IEEE Standard Association. 1 February 2011. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  3. ^ Nessum. "IEEE 1901". Nessum.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference realities was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "IEEE 1901 Access System: An Overview of Its Uniqueness and Motivation" (PDF). Morse.colorado.edu. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Fairness of MAC Protocols: IEEE 1901 vs. 802.11" (PDF). Infoscience.epfl.ch. Retrieved 15 May 2018.