|
Overview
Phoneline-based home networking is the ability to network PCs,
consumer electronics, and other information appliances using existing
telephone wiring in the home. It provides an excellent medium to
network PCs and PC peripherals within the home without adding additional
wires - thus providing ease of use.
The average multiple PC household in the U.S. has four to five
telephone jacks, and most are near existing PCs. Phone lines also
provide a secure environment for data transmission.
HomePNA
The Home Phoneline
Networking Alliance (HomePNA) is an association of industry-leading
companies working together to ensure adoption of a single, unified
phoneline networking standard and rapidly bring to market a range
of interoperable home networking solutions.
The primary objectives of HomePNA are to:
- Ensure mass deployment of a consumer-friendly, low-cost, high-speed
"no-new-wires" solution for in-home, phonelines-based networking.
- Develop certification standards to ensure interoperability among
HomePNA member company products from the broadest possible range
of technology and equipment vendors.
- Achieve industry standardization both nationally and internationally
through deployment and acceptance by appropriate standards bodies
such as ITU and IEEE.
More than 200 companies offer HomePNA-based products to help consumers
experience the true value of a networked home from enjoying multi-player
games, to sharing printers and peripherals to hooking up multiple
PCs and other devices using a single broadband Internet connection.
Announced last year, the HomePNA 2.0 specification supports high-speed
(10 Mbps) networking over ordinary phone lines. HomePNA established
a requirement that all current and future technologies be transparent
to phoneline-based voice services, as well as xDSL technologies.
All three technologies (POTS, G.Lite, home phoneline network) operate
over the same phonelines simultaneously without impacting one another.
They utilize separate frequencies similar to the tuning dial of
a car radio. Initial tests indicate that the technology can be successfully
installed and operated in more than 99 percent of homes. For a complete
list of HomePNA-based and compliant products, visit the HomePNA
web site.
Challenges
Home networking using phonelines does have issues such as: signal
attenuation and noise, phone wiring topology, coexistence with other
phone line equipment, performance, and the need for multiple telephone
jacks.
Xilinx Solutions
The Spartan™-II FPGA architecture has enabled a whole new generation
of low-cost high volume solutions. This, combined with a vast portfolio
of soft IP (Intellectual Property) cores allows Spartan-II FPGAs
to provide solutions at a significantly lower cost than ASSPs and
custom ASICs, while offering all of the time-to-market and flexibility
benefits associated with programmable devices. The presentation
provides specific details on how Xilinx solutions enable phonelines-based
home networking.
|
