We are living in a world where everyone wants to remain connected to the internet or network 24/7 to access various internet applications like emails, news, social media, e-commerce and tons of other internet enabled services. Or if we see the other way round, the internet services of the modern day have almost forced people to remain connected to the network all the time. Today not only people but the devices are also connected to the internet for applications like smart homes, smart cities etc. The exponentially growing user base along with growing number of internet services has put forward a challenge for network providers to continually find ways to offer higher bandwidth. Network service providers today have a challenge of providing high data rate, high efficiency and increased network capacity. To meet these challenges new physical mediums are being explored over which data could transmitted. One such medium is Power Line.

Power line Communication (PLC) is a technology that uses the already existing power lines for communication. It allows consumers for example to use their already existing wiring system to connect various home appliances to internet and build a smart home using Internet of Things. Power line communication networks are gaining popularity in various applications such as home and office automation, in ships, aircrafts, trains, vehicles, in industry systems control, and in advanced metering infrastructure.

Power line communication is also known as power-line telecommunications, power line networking (PLN), Power line carrier, Power line digital subscriber line (PDSL) and mains communication. Since it uses the existing electrical network for communication. The cost of installation is lower than other communication system as the physical medium is by default present and availability of connection is almost everywhere because power line is present almost everywhere.

Broadband Power Line Communication

The power lines as we know are designed to transmit electrical power from a small number of generators to large number of consumers in the frequency range of 50-60 Hz. Electrical power lines are usually classified into the high (>100kV), medium (1-100kV) and low (<1kV) voltage network. In order to make communication possible in power supply networks, PLC modems are used which convert the data signal from conventional communication devices like telephone, computer into a suitable form for transmission over power lines. However there are a few challenges associated with it. The data signals through the PLC transmission channel undergo fading, frequency dependent attenuation and unwanted noise condition. Electromagnetic radiation is produced by the PLC network disturb other services in the same frequency range. There are two types of PLC. Narrowband PLC working at frequency less than 500KHz with data rate upto 100kbps and long range upto several kilometers quite popularly used in applications like smart grids, micro-inverters for solar panel for smart energy generation. Broadband PLC with frequency upto 250MHz but short range find applications in internet distribution and home networking. Some of the specific applications of PLC are street lights control, traffic lights control, machine to machine communication, and transport including cars, trains and aircrafts.

By - Ashu Taneja, Assistant Professor (ECE), Chitkara University- Himachal Pradesh

References:-

1. F.N. Pavlidou, A.J. Han Vinck, J. Yazdni, B. Honary: "Power Line Communications: State of the Art and Future Trends", IEEE CommunicationsMagazine, pp.34-40, April 2003.
2. Galli, S., the Inter Inter-Co-PHY Protocol (IPP): A Simple Co Existence Protocol. IEEE International Symposium on Power Line Communications, Dresden, Germany, 31 March 2009.
3. Xavier Carcelle, "Power line communication in practice", 2006.
4. M. Zimmermann and K. Dostert, "A multipath model for the powerline channel," IEEE Trans. on Commun., vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 553-559, Apr. 2002.