Pilots tests will aim to prove the suitability of the power line for high speed communications. The building blocks will be integrated in demo boards and cabinets (as part of existing routers and/or DSLAMs) that will be used in the pilot tests.

• Introduce advanced Mixed-Signal, Hardware/Software Codesign, Top-Down Design Methodologies throughout the proposers' design teams in order to enhance the design cycle of high-performance, complex, mixed-signal ICs for broadband modems.

 
• In order to demonstrate the achievement of these design methodologies and design skills, state-of-the-art data converters will be developed for the HE (Head End) and for the CPE (Customer Premises Equipment), as well as digital signal processing software and hardware using co-design techniques.

 
• To develop a chipset comprising advanced digital modulation DSP algorithms together with complex analogue and digital hardware blocks, enhancing the use of state-of-the-art mixed-signal throughout the proposers' design teams.

 
• To demonstrate, through laboratory characterization, demonstrator boards and field test, that the general concept of the power line modem is sound, the architectural definition of the system is correct and the analog integrated circuits achieve the performance specifications required for communicating data through power lines at rates competitive to those based on telephone twisted pair wires and coaxial cables.