Markov Characterization of Channels and Its Applications in Powerline Communications Systems

Based on the nature of impulse noises, low-voltage power line communications (LV PLC) channels are supposed to be memory channels. In the paper, the characteristics of LV PLC channels are analyzed in detail and a partitioned Markov chain is proposed to model the channels. According to the LV PLC channels, some hypothesis are suggested, which lead to the derivation of the error-free distribution. By employing the Hamilton theorem, the elements in the basic transition matrix P could be solved with the nonlinear fitting method and the conditions for the general solution are given too. With the proposed model, channel properties with signal modulated by FSK, DPSK, QPSK and 8PSK are investigated. At the same time, the basic transition matrix is determined by the proposed method. After the transition matrix is analyzed, the conclusion that 8PSK is the best modulation scheme can be arrived, which is of good agreement with the published paper. This conclusion can verify that the proposed Markov model and the solution of the Markov parameters are correct