OPERA project reaches its END

OPERA Project has reached its end as the Final Review of the Project took place in Madrid on February 24th and 25th. European Commission officers and independent experts rated OPERA as a good to excellent project, the highest possible mark.

Final review in Madrid.

Final conclusion

At this point in time, and as a final conclusion from OPERA Project, there are some lessons and tips to share with all PLC stakeholders (remember the open attitude and neutral behavior that has been characteristic of OPERA):

• OPERA achieved a very good assessment of access PLC technology and huge experience on services over PLC, created new ancillary devices to integrate PLC equipment to all electrical grids and gained experience on using PLC along with other technologies, etc. All this knowledge and experience is publicly available on OPERA website – active till the end of 2010- and it can be very useful for companies working in powerline (www.ist-opera.org).

• The final and wide acceptance of a baseline for the global IEEE standard is a critical step forward but it is not enough as the situation is still unclear and some different efforts are taking place in parallel. We call for a collective effort from all the industry to move forward as fast as possible to a final and complete standard. Otherwise final technology customers (utilities, telecom operators, end users,…) will be reluctant to adopt proprietary technologies; hence PLC business will never grow to its full market potential.

• It is now the time for the industry to take the lead as PLC is not anymore in a precompetitive stage. Each OPERA member has its own exploitation plan, which are excellent examples of potential business opportunities and new markets. Again this information is available at OPERA website –deliverable D54.

OPERA consortium hopes that the work carried out has been useful for all the PLC community. It has been a pleasure for all OPERA members to work developing the future of PLC technology and opening the results for all interested players.

We hope that next time we meet again, we will be doing further business with PLC technology!!

The OPERA 2 project partners have been:

The project results (available in this website) are a reflection of the huge work done by all the consortium partners, including the effort to successfully coordinate the whole project activity. OPERA has successfully addressed all the relevant aspects of PLC technology, becoming during the project life in a worldwide recognized PLC stakeholder. In a synthesized way, the project results can be summarized as follows:

• Technology enhancements: In terms of technology improvements, the new OPERA features developed in the project increase significantly the overall performance of PLC as an access solution. In particular through the optimization of the BPC (Bits Per Carrier) algorithm, coverage and bit rate has been significantly improved thereby improving potential service delivery to end-users. New features have also been implemented to address Overhead lines and In-Building environment to enlarge the application field of the technology. Finally, new features have been implemented to drive more powerful applications like IPTV, VoIP and data delivery. The technology therefore is now stronger, safer and more complete for a more efficient and wider network application. The project results related to this area are summarized in Deliverable D51 and detailed in deliverables D17 to D22.

• New services: OPERA has also dealt with services over powerline networks (PLC networks). Mentioned services are for instance Internet access, telephony (VoIP), video signal distribution (IPTV), surveillance, energy management, smart grid monitoring and control... just to name a few. Requirements & needs as well as their practical applicability, and the performance of PLC which will be necessary and which is achievable for these services have been investigated in the project. The project results related to this area are Deliverables D23 to D26.

• Field trials: OPERA successfully made the implementation of 3 main Field Trials (LINZ, LISBON, MADRID), together with one field test in BRAZIL. Laboratory implementations using the OPERA2 technology were also successfully completed. These installations allowed to conduct operational installations using the state of the art OPERA technology in order to test implementation practices, gain expertise in the configuration and tune up of the PLC network, test Operation and Maintenance procedures and report the necessary improvements. Despite all the differences between the field trials (topologies, density, infrastructure, etc) the results achieved demonstrate similar performance values / service support, indicating that the OPERA2 technology proved to adapt well to these different implementation scenarios. Using the devices, coupling methods, alternatives of planning, etc. described in the OPERA2 project, it could be said that the OPERA2 technology can be mass deployed in order to do a business PLC network in any electrical grid with a high percentage of success. The project results related to this area are Deliverables D11 to D16.

• Standardization: OPERA had been widely involved in standardization process through IEEE and IEC organizations. OPERA contribution was well recognized thanks to the high level of knowledge developed either in protocol, EMC or in field deployment expertise. Opera contributed to give fundamental inputs for the Access standardization inside the IEEE P1901 Working Group in charge to develop the first IEEE BPL Communication Protocol Standard. These inputs are integrated in the baseline and will be implemented in the first draft of the IEEE P1901 Standard. The project results related to this area are Deliverables D27 to D31.

• Business results: OPERA was also focused on the creation of knowledge in business processes and opportunities. The business plan tool derived from OPERA phase one was enhanced with further considerations concerning utility core applications. The target costs for different PLC deployments have been evaluated and defined on a basis of a top down approach. Concerning the target costs requirements and the experiences drawn from the field trials, considerable primary data was realized. The resulting overall conclusion is that PLC is a true alternative to other broad band technologies if the main obstacle is removed. When PLC equipment manufacturing will reach the critical mass an as a result the prices of the devices will come down, PLC networks can offer an economic and effective option for a range of broadband and utility network services. New business models incorporating several new wireless technologies have been investigated and a global PLC market research has been conducted. The biggest effort was spent in defining and developing the GIS (Geographic Information System) as part of a provisioning system. The implementation of that system allows the operator to gain a better overview of the existing network and the infrastructure of the electricity network.

THE END.