home phoneline networking Alliance (LAN) (HPNA)

The Home Phoneline Networking Alliance, HomePNA (HPNA), is an alliance dedicated to the home networking market. The technology is used in the access area, utilizes existing telephone wiring, and operates similarly to DSL methods in transmission.

The HomePNA has developed specifications for home networks that it hopes to have standardized by IEEE committees. The first version of the HPNA specification is based on a data rate of 1 Mbit/s, the current version 2.0 has a data rate of 10 Mbit/s over telephone cable and a range of 300 meters. Speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s are intended. However, these data rates are likely to be achieved only with higher-quality cabling and, above all, with high-quality splicesand cable terminations. Up to 50 devices can be connected to HomePNA networks.

The physical specification available today is codified under the designation 1M8; where 1M stands for 1 Mbit/s and the 8 for an 8 MHz technology. HomePNA technology uses CSMA/ CD; the extension is to be a maximum of 165 m and allow 25 nodes.