A couple of weeks back STMicroelectronics announced its new addition to the development ecosystem for its ST8500 programmable power-line communication (PLC) modem chipset – STMicroelectronics Evaluation Boards. For those new to the connectivity of smart-grid and IoT devices, G3-PLC Hybrid is a:
standard that offers extended capabilities for smart grid and IoT applications in one seamlessly managed network over both wired and wireless media
ST8500 is a high-performance, programmable power-line communication (PLC) modem system-on-chip that has the capability to run any PLC protocol in the frequency band up to 500 kHz. This system-on-chip is integrated with the ARM 32-bit Cortex-M4F core clocked up at 200 MHz maximum frequency.
G3-PLC hybrid is different in terms of how each device in the mesh network can use PLC as well as RF for communication. This allows several systems with ST8500 system-on-chip to “select the powerline or wireless channel autonomously and change dynamically to ensure the most reliable connection”.
ST’s hybrid protocol stack is based on G3-PLC, IEEE 802.15.4, 6LowPAN and IPv6 open standards. By embedding support for RF Mesh in the physical (PHY) and data-link layers, the ST8500 combines the strengths of powerline and wireless mesh networks for communication between smart nodes and data collectors.
Read more: STMICROELECTRONICS EVALUATION BOARDS TO BOOST THE G3-PLC HYBRID CONNECTIVITY INTO SMART DEVICES
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