In-Home Testing Shows the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Behind IP over Powerline
A number of technologies are competing to provide in-home transport for a new generation of IP-based multimedia content and services. One popular alternative is running IP multimedia content over the existing power line network installed within a home.
This makes perfect sense as there are multiple power sockets in every room into which products such as televisions, set top boxes, PVRs and multimedia appliances must plug. And new powerline products coming to market tout theoretical maximum throughput of up to 200 Mbps, more than enough capacity to run multiple video streams.
But our real-world testing of the 200 Mbps systems within a 3,000 square foot home showed that capacity isn’t the issue and that powerline offerings suffer from a wide-range of limitations that prohibit reliable, whole-house distribution of multimedia content. These include interference from common household equipment such as dimmers, microwave ovens and hair dryers, performance degradation with increasing electrical loads, signals crossing circuit breakers, power strips and surge protectors, and interference in multi-tenant dwellings where the main power source is shared.
For example, when connecting a halogen lamp to the same circuit, performance decreased from 30 to 60 percent. With a surge protector on one end of a link, performance drops from 15 to 100 percent were experienced. Surge protectors on both ends consistently reduced throughput from 45 to 100 percent. Even a hair dryer reduced throughput by 60 to 100 percent.
While on the surface, the premise of powerline networking is attractive to many — provides a home data network using existing in-home wiring — the powerline infrastructure in a house is designed to deliver power, not data. Pushing data through the power infrastructure introduces a unique set of challenges that powerline has not presently solved.
Ultimately, powerline solutions are limited in their function as a general-purpose point-to-multipoint networking system. They don’t provide the consistent bandwidth, predictable throughout and quality of service fundamental to providing whole-home multimedia distribution for the coming generation of delay-sensitive IP-based multimedia content.
About Ruckus Wireless
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Ruckus Wireless is supplier of advanced wireless systems for the mobile Internetworking market. The company markets and manufactures a wide range of indoor and outdoor “Smart Wi-Fi” products for mobile operators, broadband service providers and corporate enterprises around the world. Since 2006, the company has realized record revenue and shipments with a CAGR of over 119% percent. Ruckus invented, and has patented, state-of-the-art wireless technology that steers Wi-Fi signals around obstacles and interference. This unique capability extends signal range and ensures consistent reliable distribution of delay-sensitive multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi. The company has shipped over 2 million Smart Wi-Fi systems around the world and has raised $51 million in funding from premier investors such as Sequoia Capital, Focus Ventures, Sutter Hill, Motorola, T-Ventures, Telus Ventures and Firelake Capital. The company is led by Ms. Selina Lo, president and chief executive officer. For more information, visit Ruckus Wireless at http://www.ruckuswireless.com.
