IEEE 802.3bv amendment Addresses 1 GBE over Plastic

The IEEE has announced the publication of the new IEEE 802.3bv, Standard for Ethernet amendment: Physical layer specifications and management parameters for 1,000 Mbit/s operation over plastic optical fibre.

The new IEEE 802.3bv standard amendment is intended to address growing demand for high-speed Ethernet connectivity solutions for automotive, industrial and home networking, and leverages the ability of plastic optical fibre to meet the requirements of these applications where long link lengths are not involved.

The IEEE noted that automotive and industrial networks are increasingly migrating towards the use of Ethernet technology, with plastic optical fibre already being used in automobiles and other vehicles. The IEEE 802.3bv standard is designed to provide a reliable media option for Ethernet automotive networks, and also offers an alternative transmission medium applicable for harsh, electrically noisy environments such as industrial automation islands.

The non-conductive cable construction and simple installation properties enabled by plastic optical fibre are also being utilised by telecom providers to enhance Ethernet-based home networks for wireless network access based on IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) devices.

IEEE recently announced the approval of New Ethernet Applications, an IEEE-SA Industry Connections (IC) Program established to identify and address standards development requirements to support the broader utilisation of IEEE 802.3 standards across a range of industries.

The organisation noted that with emerging, non-traditional applications creating demand for new IEEE 802.3 standards, it ahs expanded the scope of the IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections Next Generation Enterprise, Data-Center, Campus (NG-ECDC) activity. Therefore the IEEE 802.3 New Ethernet Applications Industry Connections (NEA-IC) activity has been formed to cover applications outside data centre, campus and enterprise environments.

As part of this effort, study groups and standards development activities have been launched to address industrial and automotive applications, including the IEEE P802.3cg, Physical layer specifications and management parameters for 10 Mbit/s operation over single balanced twisted-pair cabling and IEEE P802.3 Multi-gig automotive Ethernet PHY study group, as well as application for networking management protocols such as the IEEE P802.3cf, Yang data model definitions task force.

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