A multipath model for the powerline channel

Author

Zimmermann, Manfred ; Dostert, Klaus

Author_Institution

Inst. of Ind. Inf. Syst., Karlsruhe Univ., Germany

Volume

50

Issue

4

fYear

2002

fDate

4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

553

Lastpage

559

Abstract

The development of powerline communication (PLC) systems for Internet, voice, and data services requires measurement-based models of the transfer characteristics of the mains network suitable for performance analysis by simulation. This paper presents an analytic model describing complex transfer functions of typical powerline networks using only a small set of parameters. The model is based on physical signal propagation effects in mains networks including numerous branches and impedance mismatching. Besides multipath propagation accompanied by frequency-selective fading, signal attenuation of typical power cables increasing with length and frequency is considered. A verification of the model at a test network, as well as its use for definition of attenuation profiles and reference channels, demonstrate the practical value of the proposed model

Keywords

carrier transmission on power lines; fading channels; multipath channels; transfer functions; 500 kHz to 20 MHz; Internet; branches; complex transfer functions; data services; frequency-selective fading; impedance mismatching; mains network; multipath model; multipath propagation; power cables; powerline channel; powerline communication; reference channels; signal attenuation; signal propagation effects; transfer characteristics; voice services; Analytical models; Attenuation; Frequency; IP networks; Impedance; Performance analysis; Power system modeling; Programmable control; Transfer functions; Web and internet services;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0090-6778

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/26.996069

Filename

996069