Panasonic Holdings' Technology Approved as a Technology Draft Standard for IEEE's Next-generation Communication Standard:Accelerating Global Development with a New Brand Name, Nessum

Osaka, Japan – Panasonic Holdings Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") today announced that the Company's technology based on its Wavelet OFDM^*2 scheme was approved in August as Draft 1.0 of IEEE P1901c^*3 by the working group under the IEEE Standards Association^*4 in which the Company participates. This next-generation communication standard allows the same modulation and demodulation method to be used via various communication media, including wired, wireless, and underwater communication. It was developed as a form of communication to contribute to the realization of IoT Society. With this approval, the Company will change the brand name for the communication technology from HD-PLC^*5 to Nessum^*6 and accelerate its global business development.

The next-generation communication standard, for which the Company's technology has been approved as the draft standard, extends the frequencies to be used for wired communication from the conventional megahertz range to the kilohertz range, enabling even longer distance communication over a variety of communication media. In addition, the application of this technology to wireless communication that uses an antenna and very weak radio waves will make it possible to achieve secure short-distance and high-speed wireless communication that can limit the communication range^*7. The technology also contributes to the realization of IoT communication under the sea, which was previously considered difficult^*8. The application of this technology to undersea and underwater IoT has been adopted in the Beyond 5G R&D Promotion Project of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), titled "Research and development of wireless communication technology for undersea and underwater IoT (No. 02301),"^*9 which is undergoing technological development and demonstration experiments.

Up to now, the Company has used this technology for wired communication under the brand name of “HD-PLC (High Definition Power Line Communication)”. It was originally named in 2000 to express its aim of providing high-definition video transmission along home mains power lines. However, the technology is now adopted also in buildings and factories beyond video transmissions and can also employ coaxial and exclusive lines in addition to power lines. Furthermore, the technology is now being utilized for near-field and high-speed wireless communication for smart factories and undersea/underwater IoT. Because advances in technology have led it to be used in more areas than initially envisaged, the Company takes this timing of approval of draft standard to change the brand name to Nessum to brand this globally.

If it is adopted as an IEEE international standard in the future, it is expected to be further applied in various fields around the world; thereby contributing to the reduction of the overall introduction cost of IoT devices. As with HD-PLC, the Company will utilize Nessum in Panasonic Group's products and services, and also license the technology to other companies to encourage its broader use. Examination of the potential for wider utilization of the Nessum brand has already started in the HD-PLC Alliance^*10, which the Company established in 2007. The Company will continuously work with the 24 member companies of the alliance to establish this technology as an international standard, expedite compatibility certification, and promote its use in an expanding range of applications.