PRIME interoperability tests and results from field

PRIME (PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution) is one of the prominent upcoming powerline communication technologies, targeted for use in smart metering applications. The PRIME PHY / MAC specifications are open, publicly available and are developed by the PRIME Alliance, an industry consortium that includes utilities, meter vendors and semiconductor suppliers. PRIME employs OFDM modulation in the CENELEC A band (9 - 95 kHz), and achieves data rates from 21 kbps to 128 kbps at the PHY layer. The PRIME MAC is optimized for tree-topology networks, and features a novel node discovery and network building process. PRIME converges to IPv4 and IEC 61334-4-32 at the network layer, and is evolving to support IPv6. In this paper, we describe the PRIME Alliance, and review technical details of the PRIME PHY and MAC. We review the certification and interoperability tests defined by the PRIME Alliance, to ensure openness and future-proof technical performance with multi-vendor solutions. We present some initial results from small-scale PRIME field deployments.