Narrowband power-line communication (PLC) over distribution networks is gaining the attention of researchers, as a communication medium in future power grids. This paper investigates the application of narrowband PLC in smart distribution grids, starting from a historical overview on the accomplished technological progress and continuing with a comparison of the advantages and drawbacks of PLC technology to other smart-grid communication solutions. The analysis shows that narrowband PLC applications are best suitable for medium-voltage (MV) networks, due to the vast and complex geographical extent. The channel and topological characteristics of MV distribution networks are examined for different operational states and configurations, since they are important for the optimal design and implementation of the PLC infrastructure. The analysis is also extended to an existing overhead MV distribution network with distributed-generation units. The obtained results and the proposed methodology are useful and comprehensive tools for the efficient implementation of PLC technology in future smart grids.

Application of Narrowband Power-Line Communication in Medium-Voltage Smart Distribution Grids

This paper describes an innovative method of the power analysis which presents the typical example of successful attacks against trusted cryptographic devices such as RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) and contact smart cards. The proposed method analyzes power consumption of the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithm with a neural network, which successively classifies the first byte of the secret key. This way of the power analysis is an entirely new approach and it is designed to combine the advantages of simple and differential power analysis. In the extreme case, this feature allows to determine the whole secret key of a cryptographic module only from one measured power trace. This attribute makes the proposed method very attractive for potential attackers. Besides theoretical design of the method, we also provide the first implementation results. We assume that the method will be certainly optimized to obtain more accurate classification results in the future.

Innovative Method of the Power Analysis

Networking became the key economical factor in bridging countries and cultures, speeding the economy, and synchronizing the research topics across multi-national groups and universities. The International Conference on Networking (ICN) held in Mauritius, April 23-28, 2006 became now a reference in the networking community and provided an international forum for discussions between researchers, practitioners and students interested in new developments targeting all areas of networking. ICN 2006 was the 5th conference of this successful series and was organized and technically co-sponsored by the IEEE, IEE and IARIA organizations with proceedings published by the IEEE Computer Society Press. As with the previous editions, this event continued to be very competitive in its selection process and very well perceived by the international networking community. As such, it is attracting excellent contributions and active participation from all over the world. This year more than 390 submissions were reviewed by the members of the technical program committee and about 40% were finally accepted for presentation at the conference. We were very pleased to receive a large amount of top quality contributions. The accepted papers cover a wide range of networking related topics spanning from VoIP, NAT and SIP to OLSR, DDoS, H.264, QoS, policy traffic management and routing. We believe that the ICN-2006 papers offered a large panel of solutions to key problems in all areas of networking and set challenging directions for industrial research and development.

Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Networking

This paper presents the design of a power line communication model. Primarily, it is focused on a realization of a communication model with a power line channel. The model is composed of a PLC communication model, a model of power lines and a noise model. Power lines are modelled through a chain parameter describing the relation between the input and output voltage and current of the two-port network. K e y w o r d s: power line, noise, modelling, simulation, transfer function, two-port network

/pdf/power-line-cable-transfer-function-for-modelling-of-power-23mgxwi9pm.pdf

Power line cable transfer function for modelling of power line communication system

The electricity network is a complex communication medium with properties that depend on both the topology of the grid and the usage pattern of the connected devices. These devices generate channel disturbances during normal operation, which need to be overcome by power line communications (PLC) transmission technologies for ensuring communication. This paper analyzes the influence of the channel disturbances on the performance of the physical layer of the main narrowband PLC technologies approved by international communication organisms and currently deployed in Europe: PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution (PRIME) 1.3.6, PRIME 1.4 and G3-PLC. The methodology of this paper applies a standardized test method, metrics and a set of representative channel disturbances defined by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Moreover, noise recordings from field measurements in an environment equipped with distributed energy resources (DER) complete the subset of the types of noise used in the study. This paper develops a replicable, fully automated, and cost optimized test scenario, based on an innovative Virtual PLC Laboratory, which provides a replicable and automated test process, where a wide range of channel disturbances can be accurately replicated, and the performance of the PLC technologies can be compared under the same conditions. The results of this paper provide important conclusions to be applied in the development of future PLC technologies.

/pdf/impact-of-channel-disturbances-on-current-narrowband-power-33fbrrzsvv.pdf

Impact of Channel Disturbances on Current Narrowband Power Line Communications and Lessons to Be Learnt for the Future Technologies

The paper describes a unified methodology which takes into account the advantages and disadvantages of different Power Line Communication (PLC) technologies suitable for Smart Metering deployment. The methodology should provide a detailed evaluation of PLC technologies based on a clear definition of the different parameters and their measurement. Based on this methodology, we should be able to provide a comparison of the selected technologies and the methodology should also provide data for the design of a telecommunication infrastructure for Smart Metering/Smart Grids. In this paper and based on this methodology, we also present the performance tests carried out in laboratory environment on low voltage and in on-field conditions on medium voltage.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eie.24.3.20983

/pdf/performance-testing-and-methodology-for-evaluation-of-power-3igjwh9ohz.pdf

Performance Testing and Methodology for Evaluation of Power Line Communication

Building real Smart Metering and Smart Grid networks is very expensive and time-consuming and also it is impossible to install different technologies in the same environment only for comparison. Therefore, simulation and experimental pilot measurements are an easy, economical, and time-affordable solution for a first comparison and evaluation of different technologies and solutions. The local area networks (LAN) are the core of Smart Metering and Smart Grid networks. The two predominant technologies are mostly sufficient for LAN networks, Power Line Communication (PLC), and radio frequency (RF) solutions. For PLC it is hard to allow prediction of the behaviour. Performance assessment for point-to-point connection is easy, but for complex PLC networks with repeaters it is quite expensive. Therefore, a simulation is an easy, fast, and cheap solution for understanding the grid configuration, influence of particular topological components, and performance possibilities. Simulation results can, thus, provide material for the design of a telecommunication infrastructure for Smart Metering. This paper presents results of such a simulation study. It is based on realistic PLC channel model implementation in Network Simulator 3, our modification and extension of this implementation for our use case scenario. It uses Shannon’s formula to calculate theoretical maximum channel capacity. In particular, it provides channel capacity and achievable distances of broadband PLC (BB-PLC). In this article we also exploit our novel idea of simple performance assessment of broadband PLC communication via simulation. It is supposed to be used to understand, evaluate, and test the grid configuration before deployment.

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/8/1527/pdf

Simulation of Achievable Data Rates of Broadband Power Line Communication for Smart Metering

In this contribution an analysis of MultiCarrier Modulation (MCM) is realized. The features of Discrete MultiTone modulation (DMT), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and alternative modulation based on filter bank - Filtered MultiTone (FMT) will be mentioned. Based on this study the half sub-channel overlapped Filtered MultiTone Modulation will be introduced.

Half-Overlap Subchannel Filtered MultiTone Modulation with the Small Delay

The article deals with the implementation of the design algorithm of time-domain equalizer (TEQ) coefficients. This equalization principle is used in several modern transmission systems based on discrete multitone modulation (e.g. ADSL, VDSL, WLAN base on 802.11 g, PLC, etc.).

Time Domain Equalization in Modern Communication Systems Based on Discrete Multitone Modulation

The article describes the optimization of differential side channel analysis which is often used in differential power analysis. The introductory chapters discusses in great detail the theoretical background of method. The new improvement is proposed, which allow reduction of the required calculations by 73% and it is in the worst case. The method is based on knowledge of the Hamming weight of secret key. Hamming weight of secret key can be determined by adding only one reference measurement of power consumption. The testbed focused on measuring direct emissions was built to verify proposal optimization and experimental verification was carried out.

Pavel Silhavy

Papers

Performance Testing and Methodology for Evaluation of Power Line Communication

Simulation of Achievable Data Rates of Broadband Power Line Communication for Smart Metering

Half-Overlap Subchannel Filtered MultiTone Modulation with the Small Delay

Time Domain Equalization in Modern Communication Systems Based on Discrete Multitone Modulation

Optimization of differential power analysis