Abstract :
There have been two serious impediments to the growth of the power-line carrier (PLC) communications industry in particular, and the home and building automation market in general: line noise, which plays havoc with communications´ reliability, and the lack of a standard communication network protocol. Both stumbling blocks have been removed-the first, by the development of spread-spectrum PLC technology, which all but eliminates the noise impediment, and the second, by the industry-wide adoption of the Electronic Industries Association´s Consumer Electronics Bus (CEBus) standard. The author discusses the use of spread spectrum for distributed control systems. The techniques of spread spectrum and carrier-detect narrowband communication are compared. Impulse noise is also discussed as are frequency hopping and the CEBus approach
Keywords :
building management systems; building wiring; carrier transmission on power lines; computer interfaces; data communication; distributed control; frequency hop communication; home automation; peripheral interfaces; spread spectrum communication; AC power wiring; CEBus; Electronic Industries Association´s Consumer Electronics Bus; building automation; carrier-detect narrowband communication; communication reliability; distributed control systems; frequency hopping; home automation; impulse noise; power-line carrier communications; Communication industry; Communication networks; Communication standards; Electronics industry; Home automation; Impedance; Programmable control; Spread spectrum communication; Telecommunication network reliability; Wiring;
