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PLT Plugtests go live at ETSI7th December 2004One of the major attractions to the ETSI Powerline Plugtests™ event, taking place over the last two weeks has been the availability of a sophisticated and dedicated test bed provided by the ETSI Plugtests service at ETSI and, a week later, field tests on a Medium and Low Voltage Network at EDF, close to Paris, from the 22nd to the 26th November.

Power-Line Telecommunications (PLT) means the transmission of information over the existing powerlines with a high bandwidth. Recent PLT systems use the frequency range between about 1.6 MHz and 30 MHz. The tests carried out at the ETSI Powerline Plugtests were designed for this frequency range.

Installation of one of the Test beds for the ETSI hosted tests coupling/decoupling boxes (CDB) (rear view) which simulate house connection points and household sockets

As different Powerline technologies exist, this week’s event has tested the performance of different products and has identified any technical issues to be addressed. There has been little emphasis on the inter-working of equipment, testing has focused mainly on co-existence of In door and Access PLC equipment and performance of equipment against test cases in an artificial environment and in real installations.

At the ETSI hosted event, equipment and support has come in various ways from the participants themselves. An example of this is the support given by Spirent Communications, by supplying their SmartBits Systems to allow standard measurements of data traffic during the tests. Other support from participants included;

• The assistance of the IST 6POWER Project (http://www.6power.org), from which Consulintel and DS2 were responsible for carring-out the measurements.

• Eichhoff GmbH supplied filters, used inside the test bed.

Holger Hirsch, of the University of Duisburg-Essen, who was responsible for the Test Cases used at the event commented;

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“The tests at ETSI represented a selection of different tests which has delivered significant information about the performance of recent PLT technology. We assumed that the modem and PLT system manufacturers have taken care about correct implementation of protocols, therefore the tests here have concentrated on the lower levels of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Model”.

The tests have been carried out over two weeks. The first week at the ETSI premises, was in an artificial test environment. The second week has focused on real installations and has taken place in Antony, close to Paris, on an experimental EDF nework, including tests on the Medium and Low Voltage part.

Amit Yuda, VP Marketing and Sales of Main.net said;

"I was very pleased that ETSI has chosen to focus this Plug Test on In Door and Access Co-existence, and on complex real life scenarios. After all, PLC devices will be installed in the field and not in labs, and it is important to test functionality in similar conditions."

NOTES TO EDITORS

About the Plugtests Service of ETSI The ETSI Plugtests Service is a professional service that specializes in the organization of interoperability events for any telecommunication / Internet / Information Technology standard.

The 2nd Powerline Plugtests was supported by DS2 (www.ds2.es) as Gold sponsor and the PLCforum (www.plcforum.org) as Silver sponsor.

For more information about this event and other activities organized by the Plugtests Service visit: www.etsi.org/plugtests/ .

About ETSIETSI - the European Telecommunications Standards Institute - is officially responsible for standardization in telecommunications, broadcasting and certain aspects of information technology within Europe. It produces a wide range of standards and other technical documentation as Europe's contribution to world-wide standardization. A non-profit making organization based in Sophia Antipolis, France, ETSI unites nearly 700 members from more than 50 countries inside and outside Europe, and brings together manufacturers, network operators, administrations, service providers, research bodies and users - in fact, all the key players in the ICT arena. For more information: http://www.etsi.org/

About the PLT Technical Committee PLT makes the necessary ETSI deliverables to cover the provision of multimedia, voice and data communications over the power lines, for example to access and in-house networks. The standards are developed in sufficient detail to allow coexistence and interoperability between equipment from different vendors, including inputs from CENELEC in those areas that have been agreed to be in their responsibility.

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The committee is active in the following areas, when appropriate in collaboration with other technical bodies.

• PLT Networks using the low, medium or high voltage power lines • Architecture, functions and performance for PLT networks • Coexistence and interoperability between systems whenever PLT is involved • PLT relevant Interfaces and protocols

The PLT web site is at http://portal.etsi.org/plt