Development of Top-Up And Bottom –Up Techniques for Assessment of Power Line Communication Channel Model

Abstract

Power Line Communication (PLC) is the transfer of data and voice signals from one communication system to another over the electric power delivery network. However, with the advent of technology, human dependency on electricity and communication has grown beyond leaps and bounds. The power transmission line channel has not been designed with wired channel requirements for broadband applications and appears as a harsh environment for the low-power high-frequency communication signals. This study therefore evaluate the performance of PLC on power grid by simulating a practical multipath power line communication channel model using top-down and bottom-up approach. The statistical multipath parameters such as path arrival time, magnitude and interval for each category were analyzed. This is done over the frequency range of 100-300 kHz. The result shows that at 100 kHz, data can be transmitted up to 350 meters without signal distortions while for 300 kHz only 50 meters can be covered. In addition, signal attenuation with a distance of 2 km is about 0.2 of the original signal at 300 kHz and less at higher frequencies. The results in the time and frequency domains indicate that data transmission in PLC environment needs signal to be amplified at higher powers.

Keywords: Power Line Communication, Power Grid, Transmission Line, Multipath Parameters, Channel Modelling, Top-Down Approach, Bottom-Up Approach.

DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/9-16-03

Publication date: August 31^st 2019