The G3-PLC Hybrid specification allows smart-grid, smart-city, industrial, and IoT equipment to select the best available wireless or powerline channel at any time, automatically and dynamically, according to network conditions. This enables much improved levels of coverage, reliability, and scalability, while also allowing cost-efficient system operation and enabling new use cases.
One of the world’s first Hybrid-ready solutions, ST demonstrated its ST8500 Hybrid chipset at a G3-PLC Alliance interoperability plugfest in 2020. The chipset is now the first to complete the latest G3-PLC certification scheme, published in March 2021, which incorporates the Hybrid profile tests.
The certified chipset combines the ST8500 programmable multi-protocol powerline communication system-on-chip (SoC) and STLD1 line driver with ST’s S2-LP ultra-low-power sub-GHz radio transceiver. The SoC’s programmability enables a software-defined implementation capable of supporting a broad portfolio of powerline protocol stacks, in worldwide frequency bands such as CENELEC and FCC.
The ST8500 SoC platform is widely used in smart-metering smart industrial and infrastructure applications. This new ST Hybrid turn-key solution has already been chosen by a number of key stakeholders in the smart-grid market.
ST’s hardware and firmware solution has also been selected to power the official G3-PLC Alliance RF certification-testing equipment.
