Question 8/5

Motivation

Many people are using high speed data services to distribute data in their house. Several technologies are used to provide these services. This is leading to the emergence of a number of different wireless (e.g., wireless LAN, DECT, and IEEE 802.15.4) and wired technologies (e.g. LAN as well as technologies designed to exploit existing telephone extension cabling, coaxial distribution cable and power distribution wiring) to interconnect a variety of in-home electronic and electrical equipment (such as STB, PC and other household devices).

Moreover, a lot of broadband service, such as Internet Protocol TV and Voice over IP, visualization of energy consumption by electronic/electronics devices, have been introduced into the home by Operators. These services have created the need for Telecommunications Network Operators to be able to underwrite Quality of Service (QoS) levels, since both services are essentially streamed and hence loss/delay of packets can be immediately apparent to the user as an interruption of the services. EMC issues of broadband services are one of the key factors to ensure the QoS in home networking. Furthermore usage of the frequency band in the home is becoming widespread and shifting to a high frequency range.

To solve EMC issues on these techniques, knowledge of the following is required:

• the electromagnetic environment in premises;
• characteristics of cables in premises;
• cabling practices in premises;
• immunity performance of services sensitive to interruption;
• immunity performance against wideband disturbances.

This work contributes to a reduction in climate change by developing specifications that allow equipment to operate within this environment without electromagnetic interference. The availability of such equipment avoids the unnecessary manufacture and distribution of equipment that is used to replace existing equipment thought to be faulty. It also reduces the subsequent engineer visit required to resolve the ongoing issue. Moreover, in the advent of an energy management technology, devices that are used to measure the energy consumption of electric/electronics devices are installed in home and communicate among them or send data to a server through home network. Therefore, an EMC issue in home is important to ensure the normal operating condition of these devices. This leads to an improvement of energy saving by allowing the visualization of energy consumption in the home.

The following Recommendations, in force at the time of approval of this Question, fall under its responsibility:

• K.74, K.92 and K.93.

Question

This Question will prepare guidelines for the management of EMC, resistibility and safety issues related to the home network.

Study items to be considered include, but are not limited to:

• Characterization of the Electromagnetic (EM) environment created by the close proximity and use of:
  • The mixture and density of ITE, AV and other electrical/electronic equipment;
  • Technologies designed to re-use existing metallic infrastructure for broadband transmission, including:
    • Telephony extension wiring
    • Coaxial distribution cable such as TV antenna cable
    • Power distribution cabling (i.e. in house-PLC (Power Line Communication) systems)
  • Radio LAN systems,
  • Radio transmission systems used by sensing networks,
  • xDSL systems over internal telephony grade wiring,
  • LAN (Local Area Network) technologies;
• EMC requirements for telecommunications equipment to be located within this environment, especially for immunity performance of services to be sensitive to interruption and that against broadband electromagnetic disturbances;
• Mitigation methods for problems arising from this EM environment;
• The immunity performance of the home network devices is sometime influenced by the characteristics of the cable or installation of cabling in premises. Therefore, collaboration with other Questions needs to be established.

The outputs of this Question could serve the basis for test techniques and procedures, mitigation measures, and performance criteria for K-series Recommendations and Handbooks.

Tasks

Tasks include, but are not limited to:

• A new recommendation on immunity performance of home networking devices against broadband disturbances, including an impulsive noise, repetitive electric noise, etc.;
• A new recommendation on techniques to mitigate electromagnetic disturbance between radio devices and cable or equipment connected to wired broadband networks and TV networks;
• Mitigation methods to problems arising from home networking environment;
• Maintenance or enhancement of Recommendation K.74, K.92 and K.93.

An up-to-date status of work under this Question is contained in the SG 5 work programme (use URL as shown in the table below).

Relationships

Recommendations:

• K-series

Questions:

• 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12/5

Study Groups:

• ITU-T SGs 9, 12, 15, 16, ITU-R WP5D; IPTV-GSI, and JCA-SG&HN

Standardization bodies:

• IEC SC125 WG2, IEC/ISO JTC1 SC25/WG 3, IEC CISPR/I, IEC TC 77, ETSI AT, CENELEC TC215 WG2.