20th ECHONET Forum was held in a hybrid format, both on-site and online, on February 7, 2024. We had special presentation from Mr. Nakajima of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Mr. Shiraishi from Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, and the representative director Saito presented a report on ECHONET Consortium activities and future activity policies.
2. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry certifies educational programs including
”ECHONET 2.0 technical seminars” as fourth industrial revolution skill acquisition courses.
The “IoT Engineer Training Course A + ECHONET IoT Overview of MASTER”, which includes ECHONET 2.0 technical seminars, has been certified by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as a Fourth Industrial Revolution Skill Acquisition Course (commonly known as the Re Skill Course).
3. ECHONET Lite standards / System Design Guidelines
We have released the 4th edition of the ECHONET Lite System Design Guidelines, which includes added and revised descriptions related to smart meters, to the public. (March 2024).
4. Interface Specifications for Application Layer Communication
“AIF specifications between residential solar power generation and HEMS controllers Ver.1.20”, “AIF specifications between storage batteries and HEMS controllers Ver.1.30”, and “AIF specifications between electric vehicle charger/discharger/electric vehicle charger and HEMS controllers Ver.1.40” have been updated and released to the public with the main purpose of improving remote maintenance services. (January 2024).
5. Exhibited at ENEX
We exhibited together with Smart House Research Center, Kanagawa Institute of Technology at the ENEX2024 exhibition held at Tokyo Big Sight from January 31st to February 2nd, 2024, and received support from Japan Federation of Housing Organizations and Japan Electrical Manufacturers’ Association.
6. ECHONET Symposium
ECHONET Symposium 2024 was held on March 11, 2024 as a hybrid of real (venue: Seavans Large Hall) and online. 491 people applied to participate, and 345 people participated on the day, making it the largest number of participants for ECHONET Consortium event in recent years.
7. Home appliance open innovation workshop
A Home Appliance Open Innovation Workshop was held on March 18, 2024, and a discussion was held regarding the spread of Route B of next-generation smart meters.
1. Started distributing ECHONET IoT MASTER certificates using open badges
We started the distribution of ECHONET IoT MASTER certificates using open badges (October 2023). Open badges are digital certificates and certifications issued in accordance with universal technical standards. They can be used as credentials and can also be shared on social media.
2. ECHONET Lite Web API has been implemented in Nomi City’s elderly monitoring system
ECHONET Lite Web API was implemented in the elderly monitoring system in Nomi City, Ishikawa Prefecture, along with a IENAKA data linkage platform (October 2023). ECHONET Consortium held a joint press release with JEITA regarding the collaboration between the Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation and smart homes.
3. Workshop
We held a workshop jointly with Keio University on October 5th.
4. Exhibition
Exhibited at CEATEC 2023, which was held from October 17th, with the theme of collaboration between the Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation and smart homes.
The 19th ECHONET Forum was held on July 7, 2023, and lectures were given by Dr. Yumiko Iwafune from the University of Tokyo and Mr. Naoki Shiraishi from AIoT Cloud Inc. In addition, the three member companies introduced their technologies, and the ECHONET Consortium introduced its 2023 activity plan.
2. International Standardization Working Group member Mr. Takebe received Information Processing
Society of Japan’s “International Standards Development Award.”
In recognition of his contribution to the publication of the “AIF Specification between storage battery and HEMS controller” as an international standard at ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25, Mr. Takebe, a member of the International Standardization Working Group who served as a project editor, received the Information Processing Society of Japan’s “International Standards Development Award.” (September 2023).
3. PlugFest
The 30th ECHONET PlugFest was held on Wednesday, September 6th and Thursday, September 7th, 2023, in a hybrid system with participation at the venue (Kanagawa Institute of Technology HEMS Certification Support Center) and remote participation.
1. The cumulative shipments of ECHONET Lite devices by FY2022
The cumulative shipments of ECHONET Lite devices until the end of FY 2022 reached 138.79 million units (May 2023).
2. Publication of international standards
Application communication interface between storage battery and HEMS controller was published as international standard IEC/ISO 14543-4-302 on April 20.
3. Member ID/manufacturer code
In consideration of the use in API, etc., the manufacturer code that was used in the past was changed to the member ID/manufacturer code.
4. Policy on the use of ECHONET Lite Web API guidelines (usage guidelines)
As guidelines for businesses declaring that they are using the ECHONET Lite Web API guidelines, the “Policy on the use of ECHONET Lite Web API guidelines (usage guidelines)” was released (June 2023).
5. Various regulations and specification publication
Detailed Requirements for APPENDIX ECHONET Device object Release R (May 2023), ECHONET Lite Web API Guidelines API Specifications, ECHONET Lite Web API Guidelines Device Specifications etc. were released to the public one after another.
◆ ECHONET Consortium activity report (detailed version) (2023 4Q)[PDF：215KB]