Power line communications (PLC) technology: More than 20 years of intense research

Abstract

After more than two decades since intensive research began on power line communications (PLC) technology, this interesting field of telecommunication engineering is still progressing towards maturity. Despite some factors that delay its worldwide acceptance, its implementation is starting to take off. Research in PLC is motivated (i) by many factors such as the crowded radio frequency spectrum that requires to be sustained by alternative technologies and (ii) by the emanation of other new technologies that may help PLC to extend its practical implementation such as visible light communications or other wireless communication technologies like near‐field communications. PLC technology is used in applications requiring both low and high data rate but traditionally exploited in applications in which the node does not move. Nowadays, PLC has become widely accepted; hence, a review of the technology may be useful to keep the readers aware of new updates. In this paper, we provide an overview of the evolution of PLC technology over the last few decades.

Novel low complexity decoding method for the binary coded frequency shift keying modulation

“…These frequencies are chosen for a complete assessment of channel and noise effects on the communication since the channel attenuation and the IN power are different for the two bands. These bands are the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) band from 3 to 148.4 kHz and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) band for the frequencies from 9 to 490 kHz 1 . The first set is in the CENELEC band ( f 0 CEN = 72 kHz and f 1 CEN = 108 kHz) and the second one is in the FCC band ( f 0 FCC = 153.6 kHz and f 1 FCC = 201.6 kHz).…”

“…Both methods may be used separately or in combination to improve reliability and coverage. The power line channel, which is not initially dedicated for communication purposes, is known for its severe attenuation and different types of noise, like background noise and impulse noise (IN) 1,2 . To achieve reliable communication over the power lines, robust modulation schemes need to be defined to defeat the channel impairments.…”

“…This paper contributes to the narrow‐band power line communication (NB‐PLC). NB‐PLC in the frequency range from 3 kHz to 500 kHz has been used mainly for Smart Metering applications through the development of outdoor multicarrier PLC industrial standards, such as G3‐PLC, Prime and IEEE 1901.2 1 . These standards use complex error‐correcting schemes, such as convolutional codes and Reed‐Solomon codes, combined with interleaving.…”

“…First, the different parameters are uniformly chosen from the intervals defined in the characterization study of the measured noise. 5,6 Then, the pulse is generated using the time domain equation in (1). Finally, white Gaussian noise with a PSD varying from −120 dBm/Hz to −130 dBm/Hz is added.…”

Design and tuning of digital power line carrier to improve network line parameters at high voltage transmission lines

“…Additionally, the system may have the possibility of false signals or any kind of tripping in the presence of burst noise; the DPLC's can combat these problems. Through DPLC, 100 to 800km distance long range information can be transmitted without any use of repeater stations (Ndjiongue, & Ferreira, 2019).…”