Panasonic to show Powerline Network concept at CES
updated 08:50 pm EST, Tue December 30, 2008
Panasonic powerline at CES
Electronics giant Panasonic will demonstrate a networking system at next week's CES expo in Las Vegas that will allow, among other things, owners of electric vehicles to check on the charge status via a home device using the existing electrical wiring to send and receive signals, according to a recent report. Such an interface and others like it fall under a Panasonic-developed technology called High-Definition Powerline Communications (HD-PLC) and will be displayed at the HD-PLC Alliance booth. Other applications showcased will include a security camera and an electrical monitoring system.
The technology is in competition with the HomePlug Powerline Alliance and Universal Powerline Association to become the standard for data connections over existing electrical cabling. Neither of the three takes on the idea requires Ethernet cables for their operation but are nevertheless not compatible.
The HD-PLC Alliance is made up of several companies under the Panasonic umbrella along with IO Data, Icron and Advanced Communications Networks (ACN). The technology, in prototype form, was first announced at the CES show in 2004, where it was offered to the HomePlug Powerline Alliance as a standard. When the alliance chose a competitor, Panasonic continued development on its system.
