Analysis of Power Line Networks for Broadband Transmission

The possibility of DSL over power lines has received considerable attention recently to cater to broadband distribution within the premises of a home and in the local area served by a substation. The power line has a very different gauge and topology compared to traditional twisted pair copper used for telephone lines. This paper addresses the dual issues of modelling typical power line channels and analyzes the resultant channel for Multicarrier Transmission. The basic approach to analyze the channel employs ABCD parameters for the individual sections. A bit loading analysis for power line channels over the considered DSL bandwidth of 30 MHz has been presented assuming the Transmit power spectral densities as for ADSL and VDSL2 used in telephone lines. An analysis points to the fact that lower Transmit PSDs would suffice to match the traditional rates achievable over traditional twisted pair copper.