CEBUS NEWS
Bob Hetherington, Editor HTI News

A few recent developments and conversations lead me to believe that CEBUS products for the average consumer are on the verge of being released. Last issue we carried a news release from Intellon that announced a new line of inexpensive IC's that will allow the manufacture of components for "cost-sensitive applications in the security, appliance, environmental controls and lighting segment".

The new IC series targets classes of products on the home network. The SSC P400 Power Line Network Interface Controller is designed for advanced home controller devices, custom installation products, utility meters and gateways. It implements the full CEBus Standard data link layer and has advanced signal processing techniques for improved noise immunity. The SSC P400, when combined with new (1Q97) SSC P111 Power Line Media Interface IC, results in a two chip high performance solution for CEBus Standard power line communication. This combination provides the network services required for advanced controllers such as audio/video equipment, PCs, intelligent thermostats, security panels and communications products.

The third IC (2Q97) in the new series is targeted at very cost-sensitive applications in the security, appliance, environmental controls and lighting segment. It is critical that these consumer products be inexpensive to implement, as the target consumer retail price is less than $20. The SSC P200 Simplified Network Interface implements appropriate portions of the CEBus Standard needed for sensor and actuator class devices. The SSC P200 provides all the necessary CEBus Standard Data Link Layer (DLL) and Spread Spectrum Carrier(TM) (SSC) physical layer functions to enable simple devices such as lighting modules to be implemented with sub $1 microcontrollers.

Further investigation tells me that in fact manufacturers are poised to release some real products in the next few months. Will there finally be some competition for X10 on the powerline ... stay tuned. With any luck I'll gather enough information to publish a CEBUS issue of the newsletter next month.

If you've got information about CEBUS products please let me know (bobh@hometoys.com).