Investigation of radiated emissions in power line communication networks

Experimental studies are carried out to investigate the effectiveness of solving the electromagnetic interference (EMI) problem in power line communication (PLC) networks. A test bed is designed to study the effectiveness of the method. Measurements are carried out in a semi-anechoic chamber using a clamp-on current probe, a rod antenna and a loop antenna to compare the conducted and radiated emissions for the various cases. It is well known that the dominant mode of radiation is common mode (CM). The experimental results show that both the conducted and radiated emissions can be reduced by 15 dB. This is achieved by increasing the impedance between the noise source and the power line network across the alternative noise path.