High-speed home networks move a step closer

Unlike Ethernet, G.Hn uses cables already found in the home

The G.hn standard for wired home networking has passed another milestone, after gaining approval from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards body.

The ITU said that the physical layer and architecture portion of the standard were approved by ITU-T Study Group 15 on 9 October, while the data link layer of the new standard is not expected to be approved until the group's next meeting in May 2010.

However, early chipsets employing G.hn are expected to be available early in 2010, which could lead to the technology appearing in kit such as home entertainment, home automation and security products by the end of 2010.

The technology has been uprated since it was first mooted in December 2008, and is now intended to move data at speeds up to 1Gbit/s over commonly used household wiring such as coaxial cable and standard phone and power lines. It is also expected to be reliable enough to carry high-bandwidth multimedia content around the home, such as high-definition TV.

"G.hn is a technology that gives new use to the cabling most people already have in their homes. The remarkable array of applications that it will enable includes energy-efficient smart appliances, home automation and telemedicine devices," said Malcolm Johnson, director of the ITU's Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau.

The ITU said that it has also agreed a new standard to focus on coexistence between G.hn-based products and those using other technologies, especially power-line communications standards such as IEEE P1901.

A certification programme is being developed by the HomeGrid Forum, a group set up to promote G.hn, to help vendors bring standards-compliant products to market.