IEEE 1901b-2021

The scope of this standard is to define defines medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for high-speed (>100 Mb/s at the physical layer) communication devices via electric power lines, so-called broadband over power line (BPL) devices as well as lower speed Internet of Things communication devices. This standard uses transmission frequencies below 100 MHz. It is usable by all classes of BPL devices, including BPL devices used for the first-mile/last-mile connection (<1500 m to the premise) to broadband services as well as BPL devices used in buildings for local area networks (LANs), Smart Energy/Smart Grid applications, transportation platform (vehicle) applications, Internet of Things applications, and other data distribution (<100 m between devices). This standard focuses on the balanced and efficient use of the power line communications channel by all classes of BPL devices, defining detailed mechanisms for coexistence and interoperability between different BPL devices, and assuring that desired bandwidth and quality of service may be delivered. The standard addresses the necessary security, privacy, authentication, and authorization questions to provide privacy of secure communications between users and network operations. This allows allow the use of BPL to be used for security-sensitive services. It is limited to the physical layer and the medium access sublayer of the data link layer, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Basic Reference Model.

New modulation techniques offer the possibility to use the power lines for high-speed communications. This new high-speed medium is open and locally shared by several BPL devices. Without an independent, openly defined standard, BPL devices serving different applications will may conflict with one another and provide unacceptable service to all parties. The standard will provide provides a minimum implementation subset that allows fair coexistence of the BPL devices. The full implementation will provide provides interoperability among BPL devices, as well as interoperability with other networking protocols, such as bridging for seamless interconnection via IEEE Std 802.1X-2020. It is also the intent of this effort to progress quickly toward a robust standard so power line applications may begin to impact the marketplace. The standard also complies with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) limits set by national regulators, so as to enable successful coexistence with wireless and telecommunications systems.

Amendment Standard - Active. State-of-the-art authentication and authorization mechanisms for networks, especially for IoT and access devices, are integrated in this amendment. Specifications for how IEEE Std 802.1X may be utilized for authentication and authorization by IEEE 1901 networks are provided in this amendment.