MODELLING OF TRANSMISSION CHANNELS OVER THE LOW-VOLTAGE POWER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

Rastislav Róka - Stanislav Dlháň

   For the expansion of power line communication (PLC) systems, it is necessary to have detailed knowledge of the transmission channel properties, such as the transfer function, interference scenario and channel capacity. Their understanding represents the basics in a way of searching for the most powerful coding and modulation techniques. Then, power lines would be able to provide popular services such as Internet access or in-home/office networking at minimal costs. This contribution briefly discusses possible ways for modelling the transmission channels over the low-voltage power distribution network together with various modulation and coding techniques. A result of this discussion is a proposition of a simulation model for the PLC environment. The main part of our contribution is focused on the description of the proposed simulation model and on the explanation of simulation methods for principal impairments in PLC channels, such as time-varying channel attenuation, multiple access interference, background and impulse noises. Presented information represents a knowledge base reach enough for the design of the PLC channel model that can be extremely helpful for various tests and performance comparisons.

Keywords: PLC environment, PLC transmission channel, PLC simulation model

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