Specifications

Chapter 1 - Introduction
2 PL 3120/PL 3150/PL 3170 Power Line Smart Transceiver Data Boo
k
Overview
This data book provides detailed technical specifications on the electrical interfaces, mechanical interfaces, and
operating environment characteristics for the PL 3120
®
, PL 3150
®
and PL 3170 Power Line Smart Transceivers. This
data book also provides guidelines for migrating applications to the PL Smart Transceiver using the NodeBuilder
®
Development Tool, the Mini EVK Evaluation Kit, or the ShortStack
®
Developer’s Kit.
In some cases, vendor sources are included in this data book to simplify the task of integrating the PL Smart
Transceivers with application electronics. A list of related documentation is provided in section 1.5, Related
Documentation, at the end of this chapter. The documents listed in this section can be found on the Echelon Web site at
www.echelon.com unless otherwise noted.
Product Overview
The PL Smart Transceivers provide a simple, cost-effective method of adding LONWORKS
®
power line signaling and
networking to everyday devices. Compliant with the open ANSI/EIA standards, the smart transceivers are ideal for
networked appliance, audio/video, lighting, heating/cooling, security, metering, and irrigation applications.
Representing a breakthrough in price, performance and packaging size, the PL Smart Transceivers integrate a Neuron
®
processor core with a power line transceiver that is fully compatible with the L
ONMARK
®
PL-20 channel type.
Essentially a system-on-a-chip, the smart transceivers feature a highly reliable ANSI/EIA-709.2 compliant, narrow-band
power line transceiver, an ANSI/EIA-709.1 compliant Neuron processor core for running applications and managing
network communications, a choice of on-board or external memory, and an extremely small form factor. A wide variety
of pre-designed, low-cost coupling circuit designs enable the PL Smart Transceivers to communicate over virtually any
AC or DC power mains, as well as over an unpowered twisted pair.
LONWORKS Networks
In almost every industry today, there is a trend away from proprietary control schemes and centralized systems. The
migration towards open, distributed, peer-to-peer L
ONWORKS networks is being driven by the interoperability, robust
technology, faster development time, and scale economies afforded by L
ONWORKS based solutions. All of the everyday
devices in a L
ONWORKS network communicate using the ANSI/EIA-709.1 protocol standard. This seven-layer OSI
protocol provides a set of services that allow the application program in a device to send and receive messages from
other devices in the network without needing to know the topology of the network or the functions of the other devices.
L
ONWORKS networks provide a complete suite of messaging services, including end-to-end acknowledgement,
authentication, and priority message delivery. Network management services allow network tools to interact with
devices over the network, including local or remote reconfiguration of network addresses and parameters, downloading
of application programs, reporting of network problems, and start/stop/reset of device application programs.
Neuron Chips, a family of microprocessors originally designed by Echelon and licensed to third party semiconductor
manufacturers, combine an ANSI/EIA-709.1 compliant processor core for running applications and managing the
network communications, with a media-independent communication port, memory, I/O, and a 48-bit identification
number (Neuron ID) that is unique to every device. The communication port permits short distance Neuron Chip-to-
Neuron Chip communications, and can also be used with external line drivers and transceivers of almost any type.
The Neuron 3120 Chip family includes self-contained application program memory (no external memory bus) and the
real-time operating system (RTOS) and application libraries pre-programmed in ROM. The Neuron 3150 Chip family
includes both internal memory and an external memory bus.