Are Power Line Communications (PLC) a good candidate for Smart Grid applications? The objective of this paper is to address this important question. To do so, we provide an overview of what PLC can deliver today by surveying its history and describing the most recent technological advances in the area. We then address Smart Grid applications as instances of sensor networking and network control problems and discuss the main conclusions one can draw from the literature on these subjects. The application scenario of PLC within the Smart Grid is then analyzed in detail. Because a necessary ingredient of network planning is modeling, we also discuss two aspects of engineering modeling that relate to our question. The first aspect is modeling the PLC channel through fading models. The second aspect we review is the Smart Grid control and traffic modeling problem which allows us to achieve a better understanding of the communications requirements. Finally, this paper reports recent studies on the electrical and topological properties of a sample power distribution network. Power grid topological studies are very important for PLC networking as the power grid is not only the information source but also the information delivery system-a unique feature when PLC is used for the Smart Grid.

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For the Grid and Through the Grid: The Role of Power Line Communications in the Smart Grid

This article constitutes an overview of the research, application, and regulatory activities on power line communications. Transmission issues on the power line are investigated and modeling approaches illustrated. Contemporary communication techniques and reliability issues are treated. A description of regulatory activities worldwide is given. Finally, market perspectives and promising applications are covered to assess the viability of this communications environment.

Power line communications: state of the art and future trends

The development of power line communication systems requires detailed knowledge of the channel properties, such as transfer function, interference scenario, and channel capacity in order to choose suitable transmission methods. This article presents appropriate power line channel models, which form the basis for the design of a channel emulator. Such a device turns out to be extremely helpful for various tests and the comparison of performance of different communication systems. A basic estimation of the power line channel capacity clearly demonstrates their enormous potential for high-speed communication purposes. Eventually, an evaluation of different modulation schemes is carried to optimize PLC system design.

Power line channel characteristics and their effect on communication system design

Future smart grid systems will intelligently monitor and control energy flows to improve the efficiency and reliability of power delivery. This monitoring and control requires low-delay, highly reliable communication between customers, local utilities, and regional utilities. A vital part of future smart grids is the two way communication links between smart meters at the customer sites and a (decentralized) command and control center operated by the local utility. To enable these two-way communication links, narrowband power line communication (PLC) systems operating in the 3-500 kHz band are attractive because they can be deployed over existing outdoor power lines. Power lines, however, have traditionally been designed for one-directional power delivery and remain hostile environments for communication signal propagation. In this article, we review signal processing approaches to model channel impairments and impulsive noise and mitigate their effects in narrowband PLC systems. We examine ways to improve the communication performance based on current and emerging standards.

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Local Utility Power Line Communications in the 3–500 kHz Band: Channel Impairments, Noise, and Standards

Preface.1. Introduction.2. PLC in the Telecommunications Access Area.3. PLC Network Characteristics.4. Realization of PLC Access Systems.5. PLC MAC Layer.6. Performance Evaluation of Reservation MAC Protocols.Appendix A.References.Index.

Broadband powerline communications networks : network design

The development of powerline communication (PLC) systems for Internet, voice, and data services requires measurement-based models of the transfer characteristics of the mains network suitable for performance analysis by simulation. This paper presents an analytic model describing complex transfer functions of typical powerline networks using only a small set of parameters. The model is based on physical signal propagation effects in mains networks including numerous branches and impedance mismatching. Besides multipath propagation accompanied by frequency-selective fading, signal attenuation of typical power cables increasing with length and frequency is considered. A verification of the model at a test network, as well as its use for definition of attenuation profiles and reference channels, demonstrate the practical value of the proposed model.

M. Zimmermann

Papers

A multipath model for the powerline channel