Powerline communications

Power Line Communications offers the first single source for information on every key issue associated with successfully engineering PLC networks. Dostert introduces the historical roots, limitations, and potential of power-line networks, presenting key applications that range from Internet access to building automation and digital multimedia. He covers PLC networks based on Europe's CENELEC EN 50065 standard; and presents today's best technical options for maximizing data rates and addressing electromagnetic compatibility problems. Dostert covers today's most promising transmission and access methods, and introduces the state-of-the-art in both device and system development. The book concludes with a realistic assessment of the future of power line communications. It also contains an extensive bibliography, structured by issue.

For every professional involved in evaluating, designing, or implementing PLC networks.

Table of Contents

1: Introduction

2: The Electric Power Supply System and Its Properties

Topological and Electrical Structures

3: Historical Development of Data Communication over Powerlines

Possibilities and Limits of Classical Usage Types

4: New Usage Possibilities of the Low-Voltage Level Based on European Standards

The European CENELEC Standard EN 50065 for the Frequency Range Below the Long-Wave Broadcast Band

5: Innovation Potential from Deregulation

Deregulation of the Telecommunication Markets

Fast Data Transmission over Building Installations (Last Meter Solutions) the HomePlug Powerline Alliance

Telecommunication Access over the Low-Voltage Grid (Last-Mile Solutions)

Energy Market Deregulation (Free Electricity Trade)

Bandwidth Requirements and Frequency Allocation

Channel Characteristics, Coupling and Measuring Techniques at High Frequencies for PLC

The Powerline Channel Model

The High-Frequency Interference Scenario

Access Impedance

Estimating the Powerline Channel Capacity

Electromagnetic Compatibility: Problems and Solutions

Measures of Network Conditioning Analysis of Feasibility and Efficiency

6: Appropriate Modulation Schemes for PLC and Communication System Concepts

Introduction

Single-Carrier Modulation and CDMA

PLC Signal Characteristics and Level-Limit Measurements

OFDM A Multicarrier Scheme for High-Speed PLC

OFDM Signal Synthesis, Carrier Modulation and Demodulation

OFDM for High-Speed PLC Summary

7: Conclusions and Further Work

8: Reading List and Bibliography by Topics

Carrier-Frequency Modulation in High-Voltage Lines

Ripple Carrier Signaling

Standards and Regulation Issues

Spread-Spectrum Techniques

Fundamentals of Communications, Systems Theory, and RF Technology

PLC-Related Electronic Circuit Design, Application Notes

Communication over the Electric Power Distribution Grid