Signal processing challenges in the design of the HomePlug AV powerline standard to ensure co-existence with Homeplug 1.0.1

Abstract

The HomePlug 1.0.1 standard was released in 2000 by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance and is now in use worldwide in powerline communication products for in-home LANs and for broadband powerline (BPL) Internet access, providing typical aggregate TCP throughput of 5-7 Mbps. The HomePlug AV standard, expected to be released in mid 2005, will provide a tenfold improvement in average throughput over 1.0.1. While AV is optimized for multimedia audio-visual (AV) communication, it is important that AV devices coexist with those of 1.0.1. To achieve this, the preamble which begins all AV packets should be robustly detectable by both AV and 1.0.1 nodes. AV devices must also be capable of transmitting 1.0.1 compatible priority and control waveforms, which conform to each region's spectral mask. This paper describes the hurdles that needed to be scaled to generate the compliant waveforms for coexistence, using the AV structures.