PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- IEEE, the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology, today announced the ratification of the IEEE 1901TM Broadband over Power Line (BPL) standard. Sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society, this globally recognized BPL standard will be a key enabling technology for a wide range of applications including smart energy, transportation and Local Area Networks (LANs) in both the home and the enterprise.

Networking products that fully comply with IEEE 1901 will deliver data rates in excess of 500 Mbps in LAN applications. In first-mile/last-mile applications, IEEE 1901-compliant devices will achieve ranges of up to 1500 m. The technology specified by IEEE 1901 uses sophisticated modulation techniques to transmit data over standard AC power lines of any voltage at transmission frequencies of less than 100 MHz.

“More than 94 corporations, trade associations and universities contributed to the standard’s evolution through the IEEE 1901 Working Group,” said Jean-Philippe Faure, Chair, IEEE 1901 Working Group, “to create the world’s most innovative, mature and unified BPL standard.”

Although IEEE 1901 has been widely recognized as the standard that will enable universal communications in Smart Grid applications, it will also have significant impact in other applications.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE)