The ZigBee® Alliance has announced a new initiative to evaluate the use of the forthcoming ZigBee Internet Protocol (IP) specification and the IEEE 802.15.4g standard on the 920 MHz frequency band in Japan for home energy management.Last December, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) designated the 920 MHz band for active low power radio systems.
In February, the IP-based ECHONETLite standard was endorsed as the Japanese Smart House Standard by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
The ECHONET consortium is developing ECHONETLite to define the application for electric appliances and electronic equipment to connect to a home energy management system but it will not define the underlying communication layers, allowing the use of any appropriate communication standard. Japanese product manufacturers are currently examining open communication standards for future products using ECHONETLite.
Source: Metering.com