N-PE transmission system for Narrow-Band PLC and its channel properties

A new signal transmission system for Narrow-Band Power-Line Communications (NB-PLC) has been proposed as an alternative to the conventional system in order to solve the signal propagation loss problem. The conventional transmission system uses the Neutral and Live (N-L) conductors, while the N-PE system uses the Protective Earth (N-PE) conductor instead of L. The channel properties and Packet Reception success Rate (PRR) measured in a house, a laboratory, an office building, and a lecture building in Japan have been shown in this paper. These results showed that the propagation loss and the PRR performances of the proposed system were superior to those of the N-L system, except for the noise property.