A novel high-speed PLC communication modem

An innovative design for power line carrier (PLC) communication using digitally modulated signals is presented. The major contribution is a new signal coupler to the power line that achieves a stable transmission bandwidth of 4 kHz on distribution lines over long distances. Preliminary field tests achieved half-duplex operation at 1.2 kbaud over a distribution power line on the 120 V network and back with a symbol error rate of about 2% using less than about 10 W of average transmitted power, which was considerably superior to the present state-of-the-art PLC modems. Full-duplex operation over 120/240 V intrabuilding wiring has also been field tested at 9.6 kbaud over distances of 3000 ft. using 1 W of average transmitted power