Attenuation characteristics of high rate home-networking PLC signals

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the influence of the high-frequency (HF) signal attenuation on the load in residences and offices. A laboratory test and actual measurements were performed in a residence and an office. The experiments show that the attenuation characteristics are more dependent on the number of loads than the type of loads connected. In addition, the concentration of loads was found to determine where the maximum attenuation of the HF signals would occur. The types and the size of the loads, however, did not affect the attenuation characteristics of the HF signals. Therefore, for a successful high-rate power line carrier (PLC) home networking, the analysis on the placement of the loads may have to be considered for better understanding of signal attenuation for PLC modems and other PLC-to-media adapters.