CEA Hosts Discovery Group On RF Home Networks Group To Explore In-Home Radio Frequency Coexistence And Compatibility Issues

17-Nov-00

As part of the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) ongoing efforts to promote interconnectivity among consumer electronics products, CEA's Home Networking Committee (R7) announced the formation of a Discovery Group that will explore wireless home networking issues. The Radio Frequency (RF) Home Networks Discovery Group meeting, to be held at the Las Vegas Hilton on January 8, 2001 (Las Vegas, Nevada), will identify the technological opportunities and potential obstacles presented by wireless home networks and will include discussions on engineering standards, frequency allocation and competition for bandwidth. Spearheaded by the CEA Technology and Standards Department, the Discovery Groups are a series of industry-unifying discussion forums that explore the regulatory challenges, technological issues and the need for standards in a variety of product areas.""Consumer demand for the features and benefits of connected products is driving the rapid evolution of home networks,"" said Gary Shapiro, CEA President and CEO. ""CEA is working to create an environment in which consumers can easily and consistently enjoy the benefits of home networks.""A home network facilitates communication among the appliances, home systems, entertainment products and information devices in a home, so they can work cooperatively and share information. This allows users to get information about the home's condition and remotely control home systems and appliances, as well as provide access to information and entertainment resources outside the home. Applications such as shared Internet, distributed audio and video and personal computer networks require connections between multiple products and in different rooms. Increasingly, structured wiring systems - cabling systems that provide multiple rooms with wiring that supports current and future home networking technologies - are being built into new houses. While structured wiring offers the benefit of being nearly immune to interference it is not always practical, which has lead to the development of ""no new wires"" home networking solutions. These products either use a home's existing AC, telephone or cable television wires to share information. CEA's Data Networking Subcommittee (R7.3), is a leader in the development of powerline carrier standards and continues to work with industry leaders to promote compatibility and coexistence among powerline based home networks.Wireless RF networks have emerged as a popular alternative to wired networks because they are not location specific. However, the borderless nature of wireless technologies including Home RF, Bluetooth, WiFi and a host of proprietary protocols which may be incompatible with each other, may create coexistence and compatibility issues that threaten to delay the widespread introduction of wireless home networking products. The intent of the RF Discovery Group is to identify these issues and determine how they are best resolved.CEA Discovery Groups provide an open forum for all interested technology developers and potential manufacturers to identify emerging obstacles to industry growth and direct the Association's work toward resolving them. Past Discovery Groups have been very successful and have led to the creation of several standards activities including the Data Network Subcommittee itself. All consumer electronics companies and groups with an interest in RF home networks, regardless of their membership in CEA, are invited to attend. For more information or to RSVP for the RF Discovery Group, contact Tarra Davis at tdavis@ce.org.Source: CEA

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