Next generation Narrowband (under 500 kHz) Power Line Communications (PLC) standards

In the past decade, several efforts around the world were started with the goal of introducing “smart metering” capabilities into the power grid. These efforts have spurred renewed interest in the design of next generation Narrowband Power Line Communications (NB-PLC) transceivers. In the past few years, ITU-T and IEEE have standardized a family of next generation OFDM-based NB-PLC transceivers some of which are today being considered for massive deployments in Europe and Asia. This paper addresses the important role that PLC has not only for smart metering but also for many other Smart Grid applications, and also gives an overview of the main differences between these next generation NB-PLC standards.