Electronics and Communication Engineering

`
 




Connecting to the Internet is a fact of life for business,
government, and most households. The lure of e-commerce, video on
demand, and e-mail has brought 60 million people to the Internet. Once they
get to the Internet, they find out what it¶s really like. That includes long waits
for popular sites, substantial waits for secure sites, and horrible video quality
over the web.

Telephone companies have offered high bandwidth lines for

many years. For the most part, the cost of these lines and the equipment
needed to access them has limited their usefulness to large businesses. The
lone exception has been ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) which
has won over some residential customers. ISDN offers fast Internet access
(128k) at a relatively low cost.

Here the solution is Powerline communications (or PLC).

Powerline communications is a rapidly evolving market that utilizes
electricity power lines for the high-speed transmission of data and voice
services.

None of the available Internet access services offer the right

balance of cost, convenience, and speed. G

    
 could
change all that. It gives customers high speed Internet access through
electrical networks. Lower costs are achieved because the service is
implemented on standard electrical lines. The service is also convenient
because it¶s already in your home. Internet access through Digital Powerline
would be at (at least) 1Mbps, 20 times faster than a standard phone/modem
connection.
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` `



The technology has roots going back to the 1940s.It has been
used by power utilities for simple telemetering and control of electrical
equipment in their networks.

What is new is the integration of activities outside the

building with those inside the building at a much higher bandwidth, 2.5 mbps
or higher.


` 



 



PLC works by transmitting high frequency data signals
through the same power cable network used for carrying electricity power to
household users. Such signal cannot pass through a transformer. This requires
devices that combine the voice and data signals with the low-voltage supply
current in the local transformer stations. The signal makes its way to
neighborhoods and customers who could access either it wirelessly, through
utility poles.

Digital Powerline use a network, known as a º


 
   
 
(HFCPN), to transmit data and electrical signals.
A HFCPN uses a series of    
   (CU) to filter those separate
signals. The CU sends electricity to the outlets in the home and data signals to
a communication module or "
   ". The service unit provides multiple
c

channels for data, voice, etc.     


 at local electricity
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

substations connect to the Internet via fiber or broadband coaxial cable. The
end result is similar to a neighborhood local area network.


`  `



The Digital Powerline base station is a standard rack

mountable system designed specifically for current street electricity cabinets.
Typically, one street cabinet contains twelve base station units, each capable
of communicating over 1 of 40 possible radio channels. These units connect
to the public telecommunications network at E1 or T1 (*see appendix D)
speeds over some broadband service.

Several options, with different costs, can provide broadband

Internet service to each base station. The simplest solution is connecting
leased lines to each substation. This solution is potentially quite costly
because of the number of lines involved. A wireless system has also been
suggested to connect base stations to the Internet. This option reduces local
loop fees, but increases hardware costs. Another alternative involves running
high bandwidth lines, along side electric lines, to substations. These lines
could be fiber (*See appendix C), ATM, or broadband coaxial cable. This
option avoids local loop fees, but is beset by equipment fees. The actual
deployment of Digital Powerline will probably involve a mix of these
alternatives, optimized for cost efficiency in different areas and with different
service providers.

These base stations typically serve approximately 50

customers, providing over 20 MHz of usable spectrum to near end customers
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and between 6 and 10 MHz of useable spectrum to far end customers. The
server operates via IP to create a LAN type environment for each local service
area.


`  









The conditioning Unit (CU) for the Digital Powerline Network

is placed near the electric meter at each customer¶s home. The CU uses band
pass filters to segregate the electricity and data signals, which facilitate the
link between a customer¶s premise and an electricity substation.

The CU contains three coupling ports. The device receives

aggregate input from its Network Port (NP). This aggregate input passes
through a high pass filter. Filtering allows data signals to pass to a

Fig- Conditioning Unit

Communications Distribution Port (CDP) and a low pass filter

sends electric signals to the Electricity Distribution Port (EDP).
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The 50 Hz signal flows from the low pass filter, out of the
EDP and to the electricity meter. The low pass filter also serves to attenuate
extraneous noise generated by electrical appliances at the customer premises.
Left unconditioned, the aggregation of this extraneous noise from multiple
homes would cause significant distortion in the network.

The high pass filter facilitates two way data traffic to and
from the customer premise. Data signals flow through the CDP to the
customer¶s service unit via standard coaxial cable.


`  





The service unit is a wall or

table mountable multi-purpose data
communications box. The unit facilitates
data connections via BNC connectors to
cable modems and telephone connections
via standard line termination jacks. The
service unit provides its own line power for
ringing and contains a battery backup in
case of power outage.

Alternative Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM) is

used for speech sampling. Because Digital Powerline allows for the
termination of multiple radio signals at the customer premises, the service unit
can facilitate various 
 
       simultaneously.
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

In a manner similar to ISDN, data (computers) and voice (telephones) devices

can coexist without interfering with each other.


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PLC offers end-users a broad spectrum of applications and
services including broadband u
   ,    
 u,    

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  . Powerline offers the opportunity for the PC to be integrated
into the household as never before. As part of the household power grid, PCs
could easily be programmed to turn off lights and control security devices.

`  `


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Powerline telecommunications is a rapidly evolving market that

utilises electricity power lines for the high speed transmission of data and
voice services. The especially exciting thing about the potential for PLT is
that it holds the promise of solving the underlying structural problem
confronting the local access market today. PLT can provide the holy-grail of a
much needed, highly elusive, alternative source of ubiquitous local loops
other than the incumbent telco operator, something we sadly have yet to see
happen on a sufficient scale and scope. Indeed, what make PLT so attractive
from a public policy point of view are the facts that:
c The power grid is ubiquitous; it constitutes an existing network
infrastructure to billions of private consumers and businesses
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

c The power grid offers last-mile conductivity

c The power grid supports information based services with strong
growth potential.

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The Home Plug Powerline Alliance (HPA), a U.S. consortium
of 90 members, including such high-tech giants as Cisco, Intel, Motorola, and
Hewlett-Packard is working on technology to link appliances such as TVs,
computers and cookers via the home electrical system.

Appliance makers like Samsung Electronics Corp. have been

solidifying cooperation with their technology partners to enable them to
market Internet-controllable home appliances this year. Samsung plans to set
up a ³Dream LG´ site on its homepage to advertise its Internet-enabled
products to potential customers.

`  

" 

Last December Intellon announced its PowerPacketTM

Powerline networking chipset, the first product certified as compliant with the
HPA¶s 1.0 Specification introduced earlier that year. The chipset allows users
to access the Internet and connect computers and other devices at speeds up to
14 mbps by simply plugging into power outlets throughout a home or small
office.

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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

`  

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Near energy services are defined as energy services with in the

confines of current business which ads new forms, features and scales.
Examples are remote billing, remote metering, demand side e management
distribution automation and remote control of supply. Advantages of such
system for utilities lie in their potential for cost cutting and improving
customer loyalty

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This telecommunications model has multiple advantages over

others including speed, an established local loop, and dedicated connections.
These advantages make Digital Powerline technology an attractive alternative
for telecommunications systems.

In the Digital Powerline model, small LANs are created; they

terminate at each local electricity substation. These LANs will share a T1/E1
connection to the Internet, similar to a corporation leasing a T1 line.
Individual users should experience tremendous speed increases over
conventional 28.8kbs or 56kps dialup connections, even at peak usage.

Another inherent advantage to the Digital Powerline model is

the fact that it works well over the existing electric power infrastructure (at
least in the UK, see the Limitations section below). Only the substation server
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

equipment and customer conditioning/service units need to be installed in

order to establish a Digital Powerline network.

Dedicated, multipurpose communication lines make the Digital

Powerline model an attractive option for the information age. Wide
bandwidth and frequency division multiplexing allow for multiple lines to a
single household. Ideally, an entire family could utilize their own
communication devices simultaneously, whether telephone or PC, without
interrupting one another.

Powerline carry signals for long distances without requiring

regeneration. Their near light speed propagation makes them very powerful
for fast delivery of video and audio data. There is no topology limitation for
power lines.

High transmission rate, right now 3 mbps in uploading and

downloading. The data transmission rate is expected up to 200 mbps in the
future by improving the PLC chip.

Permanent on-line connection with the potential for lower

charges. No need for complicated wiring and additional installations. Move
your computers and appliances where you want. Secure data-encryption.
Lower investment costs compared to those envisaged for other broadband
data access systems.

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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

` )

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There are many possible extensions to the Digital Powerline

model. Those mentioned in reviews and technical journals include "the wired
home" and remote customer information services. Since Digital Powerline
creates a LAN type environment by running IP, people could theoretically
control all of the appliances in their home from their PC or a remote device.
Each home on the neighborhood LAN would operate as a sub-network of the
LAN and each electrical outlet could be treated as a node on that sub-network.

The Nortel web site predicts, "It could also be feasible to have
an Internet address for every plug in the house, through which you could e-
mail, for example: µfridge@home¶ and study the picture relayed by the video
camera to see what shopping you require; or you could remotely turn the
lights off and the burglar alarm on using your own password."

Remote services such as remote metering have already been

tested under this model and many more services are possible. Because the
service provider can keep track of electricity and bandwidth usage via the
network, customers will also be able to monitor their usage, reliably predict
billing and keep an eye on household usage (i.e. the teenager¶s phone usage).

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Powerline solutions, like phone line solutions, are unintentional

radiators. Emissions can potentially cause interference with radio, television,
community antenna television, telephone and DSL services.

Second generation PLC technologies are using techniques like

OFDM, which substantially reduce the potential of interference to radio users,
thanks to a decrease in transmitted power spectral density. The OFDM
modulation spreads the signal over a very wide bandwidth, thus reducing the
amount on power injected at a single frequency. Field trials of PLC
technologies carried out during the last 2 years in Europe (Spain, Italy,
Germany), North America, South America (Chile, Brazil) and Asia
(Singapore) have shown that interference with radio users is no longer a
problem for PLC. The same technique explains why current PLC technology
does not affect other appliances in the home.

` , 






As the number of users and devices connected to Power Lines
increases by orders of magnitude, it becomes clear that we cannot satisfy the
demand using IPv4/NAT, at least not without enormous administrative
complexity. A much larger address space is needed to provide end-to-end
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

connectivity in a simple manner and to allow new applications and services to

work in a transparent manner.

Clearly, the solution of problem is with IPv6, or Next

Generation Internet Addresses (IPNG) unlimited address space of IPv6 is
needed to provide end-to-end connectivity and allow new applications and
services to work in a transparent manner across PLC networks at massive
scale (imagine every power socket in Beijing or Mumbai becoming an
Internet access point!).


` , 
 



The transmission of data over a network that anybody has
access to could also pose a data security problem, however. Tapping the
signal could allow somebody to eavesdrop on communications. Only data
encryption eliminates that problem.

` , 



 

Power line networking is also vulnerable to interference from

devices connected to the power infrastructure, such as microwaves and
computers.
This can be solved by either using repeaters or dynamic chang
of frequencies.

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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

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Powerline's maximum access speed is shared with all users

connected to the same local network station. The more people that are
simultaneously on the Internet, the lower the speed obtained.

Several implementation issues have held back Digital

Powerline in North America and the UK. Respectively, the problems are the
numbers of users per transformer and the size and shape of light poles.

In North America, a transformer serves from 5 to 10

households while in Europe a transformer serves 150 households. Digital
Powerline signals cannot pass through a transformer. Therefore, all electrical
substation equipment needed for Digital Powerline has to be located after the
transformer. Since there are fewer households per transformer in North
America, predicted equipment costs are prohibitive. However, this conclusion
has been debated. Analysts suggest that 100% subscription rates are possible
in the US, and that at such rates Digital Powerline is profitable. Conventional
wisdom suggests that there is a way to make Digital Powerline profitable in
North America, whether it is through bundling a variety of services or higher
fees.

Soon after the first trials of Digital Powerline in the UK, some
unanticipated problems arose. Certain radio frequencies were suddenly
deluged with traffic, making it impossible to transmit on those frequencies.
BBC, amateur radio, and the UK¶s emergency broadcasting service were
affected. The apparent culprits were standard light poles. Then it became clear
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

that by pure chance British light poles were the perfect size and shape to
broadcast Digital Powerline signals. This situation posed problems not just
because of the frequencies involved but also because anyone could listen in
on the traffic. Nor.Web is addressing the problem by proposing to lease the
frequencies involved from their owners and offering amateur radio operators a
new frequency. Negotiations on this topic are currently taking place in
London. The privacy issue has not been fully addressed at this point, besides
suggestions that all sensitive information should be encrypted.

While the promise of Powerline Telecommunications is great,

it is important for everyone to understand that this technology is in its infancy
and there are several hurdles the Powerline industry is working hard to
overcome to make PLT a true close substitute to the existing incumbent
public switched telephone network (PSTN) in the United States. Specifically,
the main weaknesses of PLT products and services are that:

(a) They are still at the developmental stage;

(b) There is no significant installed customer base to date;
(c) And the distances that Powerline technology can cover are limited.

Moreover, the industry is working hard to resolve the complex

issues of standardization and interoperability.

` 2

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Trends in both the electric and telecommunications industry

have lead to a climate where Digital Powerline should be a big player. These
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

trends include customer demand for affordable and high speed Internet
access, deregulation of electrical utilities, and the repercussions of a variety of
telecommunications legislation.

Customers want cheaper, faster, and more reliable access to the

Internet right now. Not only can Digital Powerline provide that type of
service, but it will be available before other broadband access technologies.
Therefore Digital Powerline has both a time to market and cost advantage.

The utility industry is facing deregulation in North America,

Europe, and some parts of Asia. Deregulation means increased competition in
the slow growing electricity market with little protection for utilities. An
unenviable position indeed. Consequently, many utilities are actively seeking
to diversify into other, more profitable, industries. For many utilities
telecommunications and Internet services have been a sensible choice. That
option can only become more popular as Digital Powerline matures.

Digital Powerline offers a deregulated utility several options

and advantages. The utility can either lease the rights to implement Digital
Powerline on its electrical grid or develop the technology itself. The
advantages include the low cost of the local loop, differentiating the utility
from other utilities, and bundling a variety of services.

The most recent telecommunications act has tried to make it

easier for all types of telecommunications firms to sell local services and long
distance services. However, Regional Bells actually have control over local
lines and charge other companies who place calls on their lines. Many of the
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

larger phone companies have sought to get around these charges by building
or leasing their own networks to connect to local points. Digital Powerline is
an existing network that fits those needs. Expect to see smaller
telecommunications companies partnering with electrical utilities to provide
alternative local phone service.

` 2 `
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Proof that the PLC concept works in practice was furnished by

a series of field trials by Main.net of Israel, Ascom of Switzerland and some
other companies in 16 European countries from Portugal to Scandinavia, as
well as in Hong Kong, Korea, India, Singapore and the Americas. These trials
fulfilled all expectations of reliability, functionality and the practical
applications of Powerline communications. The first installations are now
already up and running or about to go live.

Users in Germany include the electricity companies RWE

Energie Essen and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg, while in Spain the
energy and telecoms group Endesa uses PLC technology. Lina.Net of Iceland,
a subsidiary of Reykjavik Energy, has recently begun introducing PLC
technology with the declared objective of providing private households with
fast Internet access over the power grid rather than the telephone network. In
Sweden Sydkraft, one of the leading energy providers in Scandinavia uses
PLC for bridging the last mile as well as for networking inside buildings.
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

-




New York-based Ambient - which will partner with Cisco,

perhaps the technology's largest supporter, and Bechtel on future projects - is
working with the utility Consolidated Edison of New York and Southern
Telecom of Atlanta, a subsidiary of Southern Co., a leading energy company
to expand its testing to several hundred homes. Results indicated that high
frequency data transmissions could be transmitted and received over distances
of more than half a mile, with minimal signal loss. In recent months, Ambient
has achieved throughput speeds in excess of 20 mbps, and connectivity over
distances of 1.5 miles. Up to 200 users can be supported on a single
distribution circuit. Pricing for the systems is not yet available. Ambient
expects to go fully commercial with its systems by first quarter 2003.

Powerline Technologies in Reston, Virginia, is trying out its

system with two utilities in the East and one in the Midwest. Earlier last year,
the company finished initial PLT tests in suburban Atlanta, where a handful
of households accessed the Net through a specially designed modem that can
hit speeds greater than 1.5 mbps.

Owing to recent advances for PLC in Europe, and the efforts of

a handful of U.S. PLC vendors ± including one backed by American Electric
Power (AEP), PLC is closer to being a commercial reality in the U.S. than
ever before. Beta tests scheduled by each of these firms over the next 12
months will be crucial to resolving outstanding technical hurdles,
standardizing equipment and deployment techniques, and building interest
and partnerships with utilities.
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

 6
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7




The performance of a communication system is directly related
to the noise level at the receiver and the attenuation of the channel. If the
noise level or the attenuation is too high then any communication system will
have problems. In order to design a communication system, it is useful to
have as much knowledge as possible of these parameters. If, e.g., the
attenuation is known then a proper combination of coding, diversity and
choice of modulation method can increase the performance of the
communication system [41].

In this chapter we study the characteristics of some channels in a

specific low-voltage grid. Measurements have been done at several locations
in the grid, corresponding to these channels, to estimate the noise level and
the attenuation of the power-line channel. The measurements have been
carried out in the same area as the studies in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. For a
description of this grid see Section 2.2.1.
The disposition of this chapter is as follows

Section 4.1 describes the measurement setup.

Section 4.2 explains how the measurements have been performed.

Section 4.3.Measurements at frequencies up to 16 MHz are shown.

Section 4.4 Measurements in the 20-450 kHz frequency band are shown.
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

Section 4.5 concludes this chapter.

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!

The measurements have been carried out with an oscilloscope

and a function generator. To protect the sensitive equipment from the
damaging 220 V / 50 Hz signal used for power distribution, passive
coupling circuits have been used. A schematic of the setup is shown in Zù is
the output impedance of the function generator and
the input impedance
of the oscilloscope. These impedances have been set to 50 Ohm, which is
supported by most measurement devices and also used in many
communication applications.In the next two sections we describe the
measurement devices and the coupling circuits.


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The oscilloscope that has been used is a Lecroy 931 0CL

Oscilloscope [29] with the following specifications
c 100 MS/s sample rate
c 1 MB memory per channel
c 2 channels
c 120 MB PCMCIA hard disk

The function generator is a Wavetek Model 193 with a

bandwidth of 20 MHz and an option to generate a chirp signal over the entire
frequency band. The power to the devices has been taken from the same cable-
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

boxes used for transmitting and receiving, but not at the same phase that has
been used for communication.


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!


 


As coupling circuits, passive filters have been used. Figure 4-2

shows a schematic of the filter. The filter is a transformer isolated, differential
mode, coupling circuit, and isolates the connected device from the power-line.
The capacitor C1 and the self-inductance, L1, of the transformer, T1, form a
series resonance circuit, a high pass filter to effectively remove the 50 Hz signal
and its harmonics, but also other spectral components with low frequencies.
The varistor serves as a surge protection unit, minimizing the effect of tran-
sients. Capacitor C2 prevents the transformer from shorting out the DC offset
of the transmitter and has not been mounted when the filter has been used as a
receiver. A description of how to design filters for the power-line is given in
[17].

Two variations of this filter have been used, Filter A and Filter
B, see Table 4-1. The cut-off frequency, specified in Table 4-1, is the frequency
for which the transfer function magnitude is -3dB.

As the figure shows, both filters attenuate low frequencies, thus

the 50 Hz signal and its harmonics are effectively removed (to a certain degree).
Filter A has a flat frequency response above 10 kHz and is very well suited for the
CENELEC A band (9-95 kHz) [8].

Filter B, to a greater extent, attenuates low frequencies to further

c

increase the dynamic range of the receiver and is especially suited for
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frequencies above 100 kHz, e.g., the CENELEC B and C bands. Because the
filter has a non-flat frequency response below 100 kHz the input impedance of
the filter is affected in this region (the absolute value of the impedance
increases). Test measurements have shown that the reduction in power of the
noise and the signal on the power-line is small above 25 kHz. Below that
frequency, the noise and the signal is scaled by a factor, which is the combination
of the attenuation of the filter and the impedance mismatch between the filter and
the power-line.

In all cases Filter B has been used to receive the signal and to
measure the noise level. Filter A has been used to transmit signals with
frequencies up to 450 kHz, while Filter B has been used to transmit higher
frequencies.

The effect of aliasing has shown to be low when sampling at high rates (100
MS/s), since the noise level is low at high frequencies. Measurements in the
frequency band up to 450 kHz have been done with a lower sample rate and in
order to prevent aliasing, a high-pass filter attenuating frequencies above half the
sample rate had to be used.

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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

 
/"$
 
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As a measure of the noise level we have chosen to estimate the

power spectrum, l The power spectrum describes how the power of a signal
is distributed in the frequency domain [41], [42].
To estimate the power spectrum of a signal,  samples have been taken in the
time-domain, at a sample rate of samples (S) /second (s) during /seconds.
By calculating the discrete fourier transform [42] on the samples it is possible to
obtain an estimate of the power spectrum. Section 4.2.3 explains this procedure.

In all cases the number of samples have been set to 1 MB (the

limit of the oscilloscope) and the sample rate and the window length have been
set depending on the frequency band of interest.


  
"

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The attenuation has been measured using a function generator,

transmitting a chirp signal with constant amplitude (into a fixed impedance) at
the sub station. A chirp signal is a signal that starts at a given frequency and
continuously increase (or decrease) the frequency until it reaches the end
frequency. The function generator has been set to generate this signal periodically
with a sweep time of two minutes.

When the chirp signal arrives at the receiver it has been affected
by the channel and has been attenuated. Because the attenuation vary in

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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

frequency, different parts of the chirp signal are attenuated differently and the
received signal is a measure of the frequency response of the channel.
To estimate the attenuation, blocks of length  samples has been taken
repeatedly of the received signal (at a much higher rate than the sweep rate of the
function generator) at a sample rate of samples/second. The power spectrum
of each block has then been estimated with the technique described in Section
4.2.3. By taking the maximum of all blocks (for each frequency), we get an
estimate of the attenuation for each frequency (assuming the power in the
received signal is greater than the power of the noise). Because the blocks are
much shorter (in time) than the length of the sweep time we get a fine-grain
resolution of the frequency response. This process is the same method as
transmitting a pure sinusoidal tone, calculating the power spectrum of this tone,
changing the frequency to another tone, and so on until the frequency response for
an arbitrary number of blocks has been measured. A similar method is used in
[20].

The amplitude of the transmitted signal has been set to 2.5 V (into
50 Ohm) and the range of the chirp has been tuned to the frequency band of
interest.


 

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8

9"

In this section we study the characteristics of the power-line

channel in the 1-16 MHz frequency band. The interest in this frequency interval
has increased because of the assumed lower and more stable noise level in this
frequency band. Another reason is the demand for higher bit rates, which
suggests a wide bandwidth.
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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

Chapter 2 showed that the quality of the channels in this grid

varies depending on the location in the grid (among other factors). In this section
we study one low-voltage line with some low-quality channels and one with only
high-quality channels. Note that the quality of the channels was estimated from
the PLC-P system, which uses the CENELEC A band. The measurements in this
section are located at much higher frequencies and the results in chapter 2 do not
necessarily imply the same relative quality at these frequencies.

We have chosen to study cable-boxes 444, 447 (these are

connected to the same low-voltage line) and 443, see Figure 2-2. 444 and 443 can
(out of the results in Chapter 2) be considered as high-quality channels and 447
represents a low-quality channel.


  `



-

Measurements are shown at two different phases, phase one and

phase three. The number of samples is 1 MS, the window length 8192 S and the
sample rate 100 MS/s.

The figures show that the noise level is rather similar in different
cable - boxes although the actual levels differs. At 1 MHz the background noise
is roughly -150 dB(W/Hz), it decays with frequency and at 7 MHz it is close to
(and at some frequencies is) being out of dynamic range of the oscilloscope.

At higher frequencies, such as around 12 and 15 MHz, narrow-

band frequencies may be found, probably corresponding to the frequencies used

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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

in broadcast radio. The location and strength of these disturbances varies

depending on the actual cable-box.

Measurements in [15] and [20] show about the same behavior and
levels as the measurements presented in this section, non-white noise that decays
with frequency and narrow-band disturbances.


  

"


To measure the attenuation of the power-line channel, the

function generator has been connected to the sub station, transmitting a chirp
signal in the range of 1 to 16 MHz with a magnitude of 2.5 V (into 50 ohm). The
signal was then decoupled at each cable-box and the power spectrum of the
received signal and the noise have been estimated with the technique described in
Section 4.2.

Figure 4-7 - 4-9 show the power spectrum of the received signal
and the noise in the selected cable-boxes. The bottom trace in each figure shows
the average noise level measured at the receiver (as measured in the previous
section), the trace in the middle is the maximum noise (calculated with the
samples in the previous section) and the upper trace is the received signal. The
transmitted signal has a power of -62 dB(W/Hz), the window length is 2002 S,
the number of samples 1 MS, and the sample rate 100 MS/s. The figures show
that the signal strength decays (the attenuation increases) with frequency and
above 10 MHz it is in some cases hard to distinguish the received signal from the
back-ground noise.

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 Electronics and Communication Engineering

The 0  l  in cable-boxes 443 and 444 are rather good, below 10

MHz it is above 20 dB. These two cable-boxes are located about 100 m from
the sub station. Cable-box 447 is located on the same low-voltage line as cable-
box 444, at a distance of 220 m from the sub station. This cable-box has a
0  l  up to roughly 25 dB lower than cable-box 444. This is reasonable since a
longer physical channel imply a higher attenuation. Figure 4-7 - 4-9 also show
that the actual 0  l  varies with frequency.

It is also clear that a lot of power is wasted in the sub station.

When the signal reaches the first cable-box at least 25 dB (for high frequencies
much more) has been lost. This might be, e.g., due to impedance mismatches
between the transmitter and the power-line and other impedance mismatches
within the sub station.

 

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6.'6
31

8
9"

The frequency band up to 450 kHz is of particular interest because

it enclose the allowed bandwidth in Europe [8] and also includes the bandwidth
normally used in the United States and Japan. In this section we study the noise
level and the attenuation of these frequencies for the same cable-boxes as in the
previous section, cable-box 443, 444 and 447.

The results in Chapter 2 show that 443 and 444 can be

considered as having relatively high-quality channels, on the contrary 447 is
considered a low-quality channel. The PLC-P system, which is the system
observed in that chapter, uses frequencies in the CENELEC A band (9-95 kHz),
which is within the frequency band considered here. An objective with these
JNIT
26
 Electronics and Communication Engineering

measurements has also been to try to point out which parameters reduce the
quality of some channels in the PLC-P system. Note that we do not evaluate
PLC-P, but the quality of the channels that is used in the system.


  `



-

Measurements are shown for a weekday and a weekend. The

number of samples is 1 MS, the window length 32768 S and the sample rate 10
MS/s. The measurements show that the noise level decays with frequency and is
especially high in the frequency band up to 95 kHz, the CENELEC A band. At
25 kHz the noise level is about -110 dB(W/Hz). It is also seen that several narrow-
band signals exist on the channel, with varying location and strength, depending
on the actual cable-box. The measurements show that the noise level tends to be
higher during the weekend, which might imply a time-varying effect of the
channel.

  

"


The attenuation of the power-line in this frequency band has

been measured with the technique described in Section 4.2.2. A chirp signal from
20 kHz (this frequency has been chosen because of a limitation in the function
generator) to 450 kHz with a magnitude of 2.5 V (into 50 Ohm) has been
transmitted at the sub station and the signal has been received in each cable-box
considered. The power of the transmitted signal is -45 dB(W/Hz). The window
length used, is 10002 S, the number of samples 1 MS and the sample rate is 10
MS/s.

JNIT
27
 Electronics and Communication Engineering

Figure 4-13 - 4-15 show the power spectrum of the noise and
the received signal for the cases considered. The figures do not show the large
variation in attenuation as in higher frequency bands, instead the transfer
function is rather flat and without many notches. However, the transfer function
in the frequency band up to 100 kHz varies with frequency and the 0  l  in this
region is also lower. This could depend on the lower impedance in this region,
which limits the input signal. Also here a lot of power is lost at the transmitter.
Cable-box 443, which is located closest to the sub station, has lost about 30-60
dB of the power. This is more than the loss between cable-boxes 444 and 447 (the
distance between these two is the same as between 443 and the sub station) and
is probably due to impedance mismatches within the sub station.
The measurements also show that the low-quality channel in
cable-box 447 has a higher attenuation than the other cable-boxes, which is
reasonable due to the longer communication distance.

JNIT
28


 *0


 




Digital Powerline technology is an exciting alternative to connecting to the
Internet via phone and modem. Though this technology is not commercially available yet, it
should be available before other broadband technologies due to the relativ ely low cost of its
local loop. Moreover, its high speeds will provide Internet access, video on demand, local
phone, and long distance phone services to customers.





















 *0




0 



c http://www.powerlineworld.com/powerlineintro.html
http://www.powerlinecommunications.net/
c www.powerline-plc.com
c www.powerline.com
c O'Neal Jr., J.B. (1986) "The residential power circuit as a
communication medium," IEEE Trans. on
Consumer Electronics, vol. CE-32, No. 3, pp. 567-577.
c Malek, J.A. & Engstorm, J.R. (1976)
"R.F. impedance of United States and European power
lines," IEEE Trans. on Elec. Comp., vol. EMC- 18, pp.
36-38.

 *







Preface i
Abstract ii
List of Tables iii
List of figures iv
Abbreviation v
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1.2.1 The Server 3
1.2.2 The HFCPN Conditioning Unit 4
1.2.3 Service Unit 5
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1.4.1 Powerline telecommunication 8
1.4.2 Home Automation 9
1.4.3 Internet access 9
1.4.4 Power management (Near energy services) 9
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1.7.1Electro-Magnetic Radiation Issues 12
1.7.2 Addressing issue 13
1.7.3 Security 13
1.7.4 Noise interference 13
1.7.5 Regulatory and standardization issues 14
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1.8.1 Who is testing or has tested the technology? 17
PLC abroad 17
 PLC in USA
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2.1.1 Measurement Devices
2.1.2 Coupling Circuits
 
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2.2.1 Noise Measurements
2.2.2 Attenuation Measurements
2.2.3 Theory of Power Spectrum Estimation

 

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2.3.1 The Noise Leve
2.3.2 The Attenuation
 

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2.4.1 The Noise Level
2.4.2 The Attenuation

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