FY2021 Activity Report
ECHONET Consortium examined the strategic guidelines for ECHONET 2.0 in the “ECHONET 2.0 Realization WG” under the Board of Directors and announced them at the February 2022 forum and the March symposium. The specific guideline is to promote the realization of an “orderly collaborative creation space” for the spread and expansion of services based on ECHONET Lite devices, and to study the construction of a demonstration environment for that promotion. At the same time, a new roadmap was formulated with the aim of expanding service collaboration in addition to the conventional expansion of equipment.
In addition, we focused on activities aimed at realizing ECHONET 2.0, which has been ongoing since FY2019. As a measure to strengthen cooperation with service providers, we promoted activities with W3C WoT and Advanced Collaborative Research Organization for Smart Society (ACROSS) 5Grids Digital Society Study Group and held a Home Appliance Open Innovation Workshop with VPP providers co-sponsored by the Japan Electrical Manufacturers’ Association (JEMA) and Keio University. As a measure to promote membership of service providers, the ECHONET Lite AIF specifications and property declarations for objects equipped on certified devices were open to the public (June 2021, October 2021), and the ECHONET IoT MASTER system started from November 2021. In addition, in order to strengthen data linkage with other standards, we continued data linkage discussions with PCHA (Personal Connected Health Alliance) through joint research with Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and also started discussions with the CHAdeMO Council. Regarding ECHONET Lite Web API, the guidelines (API specification section Version 1.1.3, device specification section Version 1.3.0) were released to the public, and the learning application “ELWebAPIStudy” was released to members and the experimental cloud was released to academic members.
On the other hand, we have also continuously promoted activities such as promotion activities in Japan and overseas, international standardization activities, continuous operation activities of the ECHONET Lite AIF certification system, new formulation, and revision activities of the ECHONET Lite standard, which have been activities from the past.
In domestic promotion activities, we continued to strengthen cooperation with JEMA, Japan Federation of Housing Organizations (JFDE), Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), etc., and actively participated the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s next-generation smart meter system study group. Regarding the exhibition, we exhibited at CEATEC 2021 online and at ENEX 2022 both in real and online in collaboration with Kanagawa Institute of Technology (KAIT), and actively promoted the activities of the consortium.
In overseas promotion activities, in addition to exhibiting at Enlit Europe (Europe) and CES (US) (real & online), we exhibited online at Enlit Asia (Indonesia) and Energy Taiwan (Taiwan) to improve recognition overseas.
In the international standardization activities, in cooperation with KAIT, which was entrusted with the international standard development project (national project) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, we prepared the transition to the Committee Draft for Voting (CDV) of the Application Communication Interface Specifications between Storage Batteries and HEMS Controllers.
In the continuous operation activities of the ECHONET Lite AIF certification system, 46 cases of ECHONET Lite and 74 cases of ECHONET Lite AIF (48 cases of controller, 26 cases of device) were newly certified this year. As a result, the cumulative number of certifications was 885 for ECHONET Lite certification and 715 for ECHONET Lite AIF certification (390 for controller and 325 for device).
In the new development and revision activities of the ECHONET Lite standard, the Application Communication Interface Specifications between electric vehicle chargers/dischargers and HEMS Controllers was revised to Version 1.30. And the APPENDIX Detailed Requirements for ECHONET Device Objects Release P rev.1 was released to the public.
As a result of these activities, the total number of ECHONET Lite certified products shipped has reached 100 million xxxx million units (Note: Fill in after confirmation).
FY2022 Business Plan
In 2022, ECHONET Consortium will promote studies toward the realization of an orderly collaborative creation space in line with the ECHONET 2.0 strategic guidelines formulated last fiscal year. Specifically, we will work on the construction of a demonstration environment as a study of how to ensure the reliability of the entire system for the expansion of ECHONET 2.0 -compatible devices. In addition, the “Service Dissemination WG” will be establish under the Promotion Committee in collaboration with the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) Smart Home Subcommittee as a forum for discussions with service providers and platform providers in order to consider measures to increase ECHONET 2.0 service cases. Furthermore, as a measure and policy development for the spread of ECHONET 2.0, we will promote activities such as recommending the use of ECHONET Lite Web API for the JEITA’s IENAKA (means “in house”) cooperation platform.
We will continue to promote activities for the realization of ECHONET 2.0, which we have been implementing since 2019. Specifically, we will continue to expand the API specification section and device specification section of ECHONET Lite Web API so that service providers can easily develop applications and start full operation of ECHONET 2.0 technical seminar which was started last November with ECHONET IoT MASTER system as a measure to promote membership of service providers. In addition, to strengthen cooperation with other organizations, we will promote activities with the Home Appliances Association in addition to JEITA, CHAdeMO Council, W3C WoT, and Ultra-Distributed 5Grids Digital Society Study Group. Furthermore, in joint research with Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, we will promote data linkage discussions between standards in collaboration with PCHA (Personal Connected Health Alliance).
We will continue to carry out domestic and overseas dissemination activities, new formulation and revision work of ECHONET Lite standards and AIF standards, and technical studies for future IoT support.
As a domestic dissemination measure, in order to disseminate HEMS to all households in 2030, we will strengthen ZEH business support activities and appeal activities at exhibitions (CEATEC and ENEX) in parallel with collaboration with related organizations such as Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEMA), Federation of Housing Production Organizations (JUDANREN), JEITA, and standardization organizations such as PCHA.
As an overseas dissemination measure, in consideration of deregulation of international travel, we will exhibit in real time at overseas exhibitions with the support of national projects entrusted by Kanagawa Insitute of Technology (KAIT), and promote activities to raise overseas recognition of ECHONET Lite. Especially in the Asian region, we will promote lobbying activities and active public relations activities toward the adoption of ECHONET Lite standards. In international standardization activities, we will promote international standardization activities for AIF specifications in international standardization organizations such as IEC, and strive to improve the international status of ECHONET Lite.
The AIF certification system will be continuously improved while listening to the market’s demands for certification tests, etc., and various specifications will be prepared to support the expansion of test targets.
In addition, as an activity for the dissemination of ECHONET Lite and HEMS by industry, government and academia, we participate in various study groups sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry which is to achieve the carbon neutral government target in 2050, as well as listening to the opinions of related industrial organizations and member companies and formulate and revise the standards based on those opinions. Based on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s international standard development project, we will also promote international standardization activities for AIF specifications in cooperation with KAIT.
Through these activities, ECHONET Consortium disseminates the ECHONET Lite standtard and responds to requests for cooperation from the government, domestic and foreign industry groups and member companies for the expansion of the home network and IoT market. We also, and is a permanent operation to carry out the activities. We will continue to strengthen our organization and operational structure to build a permanent operational foundation for our activities.
