Technical considerations for wideband powerline communication-a summary

The possible use of the power transmission and distribution system as a waveguiding structure for high data rate or wideband communications (e.g. internet connection) is examined in this paper. Generally, the higher the rate of information transfer (i.e. data rate measured in bits per second (B/sec)), the larger the signal bandwidth and the higher the range of frequencies used will be. Here systems that use frequencies up to 30 MHz are considered. The most significant advantage of wideband power line communication (WPLC) systems over their wired competition (e. g. xDSL and cable modem) is that they do not require an entirely new infrastructure. The most serious technical challenges to WPLC systems have been found to be: attenuation due to junctions such as taps, connected elements such as transformers and the lack of matched transmitter/receiver impedances; and legal limits on electromagnetic emissions from these unlicensed systems. The former causes the attenuation rate for high frequency signals to be quite high and (together with input power limitations due to the latter) results in possibly unacceptable limits on the range of the system. Reduction of the attenuation to more reasonable levels through system conditioning may require a financial investment that is incompatible with the requirement that the system be profitable.