Quarterly Activity Report 2020

ECHONET Consortium activity report (FY2020 4Q)

1.　Announced public release of ECHONET Lite AIF specifications

• Announced at the 14th ECHONET Forum that the ECHONET Lite AIF specifications and the ECHONET specifications after Ver.4.0, which had been open to members only, will be open to the public on June 30, 2021 (scheduled) after the general meeting.

2.　The 14^th ECHONET Forum was held

• The forum was held on the ECHONET Consortium’s website and the activities aimed at realizing ECHONET 2.0 and the activities of each committee in FY2020 were reported. (Started distribution on February 26, 2021)

3.　The ECHONET Symposium 2021 online was held

• The ECHONET Symposium 2021 was held online under the theme of “New Initiatives for the ECHONET 2.0”. The speakers were from the Information Economy Division of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Professor Isshiki of Kanagawa Institute of Technology, Vice President Tan of Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, from Personal Connected Health Alliance, and Amazon Web Service Inc. (March 2021)

4.　Published detailed requirement for ECHONET device objects and certification test specifications

• ” Detailed Requirement for ECHONET Device Objects Release P”, “ECHONET Device Certification Test Specification ECHONET Lite Standard Ver.1.0* 5^th Edition”, and “ECHONET Device Certification Test Specification ECHONET Lite Standard Ver.1.1* 5^th Edition” have been released. (March 2020)

5.　Overseas exhibition

• Exhibited a new ECHONET introduction video created in collaboration with Kanagawa Institute of Technology online on the CES Digital Platform. (January 2021)
• Exhibited an interview video of the representative director and the ECHONET introduction video online at Enlit Europe. (January 2021)

6.　The 25^th Plugfest was held completely online

• The 25^th Plugfest was held at HEMS Interoperability Test Center, Kanagawa Institute of Technology from February 4^th to 5^th. This time, the event was held completely online with all teams connecting remotely. Members from 7 companies and 7 teams participated.

◆ ECHONET Consortium activity report (detailed version) (2020 4Q)[PDF：130KB]

ECHONET Consortium activity report (FY2020 3Q)

1.　Introduced the international standardization activities on ECHONET Lite at JISC/IEC/APCE seminar

• Mr. Matsuda who is a member of international standardization WG introduced the international standardization activities on ECHONET Lite at JISC/IEC/APCE (Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum) seminar 2020 on December 17th.

2.　Application Communication Interface Specifications

• Published Application Communication Interface Specifications between storage battery and HEMS controller version 1.20 and Certification Test Specifications corresponding to those specifications to members (Dec. 2020).

3.　ECHONET Lite Web API

• Opened ECHONET Lite Web API Guideline API Specification Part version 1.1.1 to the public and also released ECHONET Lite Web API Experiential Cloud service (Web API emulator) updated version and GUI tool for its operation check to members (Oct. 2020).

4.　Exhibitions

• Exhibited at CEATEC 2020 online in October (Domestic).
  Exhibited at ENEX2021 actual and online exhibitions in December (Domestic).

5.　Study of data linkage

• Signed MOU with PCHA (Personal Connected Health Alliance) and started the study of data linkage (Oct. 2020).

6.　Held the second Home Appliance Open Innovation Workshop

• Held the second Home Appliance Open Innovation Workshop jointly with Keio University by online (Dec. 2020).

◆ ECHONET Consortium activity report (detailed version) (2020 3Q)[PDF：106KB]

ECHONET Consortium activity report (FY2020 2Q)

1.　Mr. Takebe, member of International Standardization WG, received the International Standard Development Award

• Mr. Takebe received the International Standard Development Award from Information Processing Society of Japan for his contribution to international standardization of AIF specification above (Sep. 2020).

2.　Exhibited at IFA online exhibition

• Exhibited online at the IFA2020 Virtual Hall Exhibition from September 3rd to 5th.

3.　Released the Detailed Requirements Release N for ECHONET Device objects

• Released the Detailed Requirements Release N for ECHONET Device objects which has newly added the smart watt meter subclass (Sep. 2020).

4.　Released the ECHONET Lite Web API Guideline Device specifications section Version 1.2.0

• Released the ECHONET Lite Web API Guideline Device specifications section Version 1.2.0 which has newly added the hybrid water heater and the washing and drying machine and has revised to accommodate the Detailed Requirements Release M for ECHONET Device objects (Sep. 2020).

5.　Held the 24th plug fest by a hybrid of online and onsite

• The 24th plug fest was held at HEMS Interoperability Test Center, Kanagawa Institute of Technology on September 3rd and 4th by a hybrid of online and onsite.

◆ ECHONET Consortium activity report (detailed version) (2020 2Q)[PDF：146KB]

ECHONET Consortium activity report (FY2020 1Q)

1.　Held the seventh Regular General Meeting was held at the Large Hall, Seavans S Building 1F (Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo) on June 3

• In response to the current spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the Regular General Meeting of employees was held via live-streaming video from the venue.
  At the meeting, we reported on the operations of the 6th fiscal year (fiscal 2019) and our business plan and accounts for the 7th fiscal year (fiscal 2020) while obtaining approval for our financial report for the 6th year.
  We then obtained approval for the selection of four board members and one auditor.

2.　Inauguration of a new representative director/span>

• As the term of service for Katsuhiko Hiramatsu, representative director of the ECHONET Consortium has expired, Mr. Nobuo Asahi from Mitsubishi Electric Corporation replaced him, taking leadership of Consortium activities for the next two years.

3.　Completed international standardization of the Application Communication Interface Specifications between home air conditioners and HEMS controllers

• Since 2017, we have been working to make the AIF specifications between home air conditioners and HEMS controllers into international standards with the help of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) through collaboration with the Kanagawa Institute of Technology.
  The standard was officially approved as an international standard in June.

4.　Number of shipped ECHONET Lite devices reached 94 million units

• The number of home appliances installed with ECHONET Lite through 2019 reached 32.93 million (61.13 million, including smart electric meters installed), bringing the total number of devices installed with ECHONET Lite specifications to 94 million.
  With this, we can expect to achieve 100 million shipped units by fiscal 2020, which we set as our numerical target under the ECHONET2.0 Vision.

5.　Held the 13th ECHONET Forum on July 3

• In response to spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the current ECHONET Forum was held remotely via pre-recorded lectures published on the ECHONET website.
  We broadcasted an opening speech by the new representative director, a closing speech by the managing director, our fiscal 2020 business plans from committees, and technical presentations from four Forum member companies.
  It was our first time to hold the Forum remotely; however, there were 508 views in total (average of 56 views).

◆ ECHONET Consortium activity report (detailed version) (2020 1Q)[PDF：139KB]