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Echelon Brings Low Cost Power Line Networking to Any Device

Smart Transceiver Delivers ANSI Standard Device Networking at Unmatched Low Price

The manufacturer says . . .

ChipCenter's Paul O'Shea says . . .

Echelon Corporation, the creator of the LonWorks device networking platform and the worldwide leader in networking everyday devices to each other and the Internet, today announced a groundbreaking set of products that make it cost-effective to add intelligence and power line networking to any everyday device. The new PL 3120 and PL 3150 Power Line Smart Transceivers are open ANSI standards based, ıdevices on a chipı that deliver the worldıs leading power line technology and an intelligent networking processor core in a package the size of a pencil eraser head. The PL 3120 and PL 3150 each have a North America single unit price of $10 with substantial high volume discounts, and are expected to sample in February and June, respectively. Volume availability is expected in April and summer 2003 for the PL 3120 and PL 3150, respectively. ıEchelon's new Power Line Smart Transceivers raise the bar for power line networking products - field-proven, standards-based, plug and play communications in a single highly integrated, low-cost chip," said Jaclynn Bumback, In-Stat/MDR's Home Networking analyst. "The penetration of power line networking into everyday devices has been stymied by the lack of low cost, high quality, enabling technology. Products like Echelon's new Smart Transceivers are just the catalyst the market needs to break open, and drive rapid growth in the consumer market for smart appliances and devices.ı Developed in conjunction with STMicroelectronics, the PL 3120 and PL 3150 Smart Transceivers use state-of-the-art chip manufacturing technology to pack a Neuron Chip core ı an 8-bit multi-processor optimized for intelligent, connected devices ı together with a new, fourth generation implementation of Echelonıs field-proven PLT-22 Power Line Transceiver technology onto a single chip. ıThese new power line transceiver products are an important step forward for Echelon and, we believe, for the entire device networking industry,ı said Ken Oshman, chairman and CEO of Echelon. ıThe volume advantage that we have through our current power line projects has enabled us to take the next step in integration and cost reduction, leading to products with unmatched price and performance that we believe will open new markets and further propel our growth. We are thrilled to have STMicroelectronics as a partner as they represent the leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing ability and have a proven track record of quality, innovation, and execution.ı According to Mr. Enrico Villa, STMicroelectronicsı corporate vice president Europe Region and vice president external technological coordination, ıWe are very pleased to work with Echelon on these new, important products. We see a very large market opportunity for smart, Internet connected devices in homes and businesses over the next few years. Our new relationship with Echelon puts STMicroelectronics in an ideal position to benefit from this boom.ı Designed to send information between everyday devices like appliances, electric meters, water heaters, security systems, and lighting systems through a home or building's AC power wiring, the PL 3120 and PL 3150 Smart Transceivers employ advanced digital signal processing and error correction techniques to ensure reliable signaling. The products can be used worldwide and comply with regulations from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (Japan), FCC (US), Industry Canada (Canada), and CENELEC (Europe). ıSamsung has developed a line of home appliances that use Echelonıs power line technology, including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens and gateways," said Mr. Yongoe Han, president of the Digital Appliance Business unit at Samsung Electronics. ıWe are committed to the home networking market and believe that low cost, highly reliable power line device networking technology is essential to success. Echelonıs new power line Smart Transceivers, with their unmatched price and performance, are exactly what our industry needs for accelerated growth.ı The PL 3120 Smart Transceiver combines an enhanced ANSI/EIA 709.2 compliant power line transceiver with a Neuron core, 4K bytes of non-volatile memory for application code and configuration information, 2K bytes of RAM, and I/O drivers, a task scheduler, and the ANSI/EIA 709.1 device networking protocol built into ROM. It is ideal for use in sensors, actuators, switches, lamps, and energy meters. The PL 3150 Smart Transceiver combines an enhanced ANSI/EIA 709.2 compliant power line transceiver with a Neuron core, 0.5K bytes of non-volatile memory for configuration information, 2K bytes of RAM, and an external memory bus that addresses up to 64K bytes of external memory. It is ideal for use in devices with larger application programs or more input/output. Echelon Corporation is the creator of the LonWorks platform, the world's most widely used standard for connecting everyday devices such as appliances, thermostats, air conditioners, electric meters, and lighting systems to each other and to the Internet. Echelon's hardware and software products enable manufacturers and integrators to create smart devices and systems that lower cost, increase convenience, improve service, and enhance productivity, quality, and safety. Thousands of companies have developed and installed LonWorks products and more than 24 million LonWorks enabled processors have been shipped for use in homes, buildings, factories, trains, and other systems worldwide. The protocol underlying LonWorks networks and the signaling technology used by Echelon's power line and free topology transceivers have been adopted as standards by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Echelon is also a founding member of the LonMark Interoperability Association, an open industry forum of hundreds of leading manufacturers, integrators, and users dedicated to promoting the use of interoperable LonWorks devices. More information is available at http://www.lonmark.org. Echelon Web Site

The Neuron chip is an 8-bit microcontroller that is optimized to control applications. Echelon took the Neuron chip and its powerline transceiver core and integrated it onto 1 piece of silicon. Echelon already owns a huge market with their power line technology. For example, they provide solutions for all the brakes, the doors and many other electrical controls for the subway cars in the major cities around the world. Their power line technology is also used in the building trades for electrical controls. Recently the company introduced the power line technology for electrical meters. The just introduced PL 3120 and 3150 transceiver chips are the basis for control of electrical meters. One of the key technical aspects that makes the PL3120/50 reliable is the dual frequency of operation. The product automatically switches to a secondary frequency when the primary signal is blocked by noise. It uses a DSP with several embedded signal processing algorithms to determine the best frequency. The communications is via a narrowband signal that filters out the noise and corrects for distortion effects. If the noise affects the 132 kHz primary frequency then it tries a couple times and if that fails it automatically switches to a secondary frequency. The primary and secondary frequencies are spaced so that they wonıt be blocked by noise signals or related harmonics. Another important point about this product is its output amplifier that provides 7 Vp-p and also meets world-wide emission standards. Additionally, the error correction algorithm used for these products has a low overhead, so it doesnıt require valuable memory space and slow the operation. If you look at other power line device data sheets you may find that if you switch on the error correction algorithm, which is needed in these power line applications, the advertised data rate will drop dramatically. The company said this product was designed in such a way that the error correction does not affect the data rate. Echelon used the stringent European (CENELEC) power line regulations when they developed these transceivers. In Europe customers can only use from 9 kHz to 148.5 kHz for power line communications. That range was divided into four bands from A through D bands. Within those four bands only the B, C, and D bands are available for consumers. The A-band is for electricity suppliers. C-band is reserved for consumer applications that use protocols, while B and D are set aside for consumer applications that donıt use protocols. The C-band protocol requirement is harder to meet because it defines when you can communicate, how long you can communicate, and when you need to get off. This is to ensure that when you have multiple power line devices they wonıt collide or interfere with each other. Obviously, the C-band is also very efficient. The Echelon transceivers operate in both power line A- and C- bands and only require a different frequency crystal for the different bands. There are other solutions available that state that they comply with the European regulations but they donıt tell you that they only comply with the B- or D- bands and not the C-band protocols. The D-band allows any kind of communications, which means you are prone to interference and it wonıt be as reliable as the C-band. The companyıs transceivers are also compliant with FCC regulations. Another reason Echelon chose Narrowband technology was because there is only 15 kHz of space (125 to 140 kHz) to communicate (as defined in the CENELEC standard) and spread spectrum technology wonıt work in such a small band. And if youıre thinking about possible security violations you can rest at ease because the Echelon transceivers have a unique 48-bit ID and have an authentication algorithm so when one transceiver talks to another they have to meet the requirements of the ID and authentication algorithm. For utility applications there is a 96-bit authentication ID with authentication criteria. The previous generation transceiver chips had a list price of about $30 for single units. The PL3120 and PL3150 cost $10 for single units with discounts for volume orders. That means the price has come down enough to be cost effective to be put in everyday devices such as thermostats, appliances, and electricity meters. So you can expect to see a large number of appliance manufacturers put this technology in their equipment. You will also see pay-per-use products, as well as remote monitoring and control. Where Echelon thinks their technology makes sense is in the utility segment. For example, Motorola has designed a meter for utility companies in Kentucky and Arizona for pre-paid, pay as you go applications. They could be for vacation homes, college dorms or other residences that arenıt occupied for 365 days a year. The meter comes with a card reader that debits a separately purchased card, much like telephone calling cards. Home automation is another potential use for this technology. It allows remote monitoring and control of connected appliances. It can also do load balancing. For example, if there is only a certain amount of power that can be used (as is the case in some countries) then connecting another appliance would put you over your limit and cause a fuse to blow. This device can allow the other connected devices to talk with each other, allowing or not allowing devices to come on or even regulate them when they come on. Low priority items like a dishwasher would then come on at night when there is low demand, and high priority items like a refrigerator would come on any time. Finally, the device will also allow utility companies to cause brown-outs to non-essential items instead of forcing a black-out of electrical power. With this idea, utility companies would supply power usage meters that would tell you how much electricity you are consuming at any given time so the customer can determine if they need to reduce their electrical consumption (demand-side management), because they are over their limit and may be paying a premium price. The PL 3120 Smart Transceiver operates at up to 10 MHz and is offered in a 38-lead TSSOP package. The PL 3150 Smart Transceiver operates at up to 10 MHz and is offered in a 64-lead TQFP package. Samples of PL3120 will be available in February with volume shipment scheduled for April. PL3150 will be available in June and volume shipments in Q3 2003. No data sheet was available at the time of this review but you can call the company at: 408-938-5200 or you can find a list of available data sheets at: Data Sheets

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