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Powerline Communication: Dept. of AE&I Sjcet
Powerline Communication: Dept. of AE&I Sjcet
1. INTRODUCTION
Connecting to the Internet is a fact of life for business, government, and most
households. The lure of e-commerce, video on demand, and e-mail has brought 60
million people to the Internet. Once they get to the Internet, they find out what it’s really
like. That includes long waits for popular sites, substantial waits for secure sites, and
horrible video quality over the web.
Telephone companies have offered high bandwidth lines for many years. For the
most part, the cost of these lines and the equipment needed to access them has limited
their usefulness to large businesses. The lone exception has been ISDN (Integrated
Services Digital Network) which has won over some residential customers. ISDN offers
fast Internet access (128k) at a relatively low cost.
Here the solution is Powerline communications (or PLC). Powerline
communications is a rapidly evolving market that utilizes electricity power lines for the
high-speed transmission of data and voice services.
None of the available Internet access services offer the right balance of
cost, convenience, and speed. Digital Powerline technology could change all that. It
gives customers high speed Internet access through electrical networks. Lower costs are
achieved because the service is implemented on standard electrical lines. The service is
also convenient
because it’s already in your home. Internet access through Digital Powerline would be
at (at least) 1Mbps, 20 times faster than a standard phone/modem connection.
2. HISTORY OF PLC
The technology has roots going back to the 1940s.It has been used by
power utilities for simple telemetering and control of electrical equipment in their
networks.
What is new is the integration of activities outside the building with those inside
the building at a much higher bandwidth, 2.5 mbps or higher.
3. OVERVIEW OF TECHNOLOGY
PLC works by transmitting high frequency data signals through the same power
cable network used for carrying electricity power to household users. Such signal
cannot pass through a transformer. This requires devices that combine the voice and
data signals with the low-voltage supply current in the local transformer stations. The
signal makes its way to neighborhoods and customers who could access either it
wirelessly, through utility poles.
The Digital Powerline base station is a standard rack mountable system designed
specifically for current street electricity cabinets. Typically, one street cabinet contains
twelve base station units, each capable of communicating over 1 of 40 possible radio
channels. These units connect to the public telecommunications network at E1 or T1
(*see appendix D) speeds over some broadband service.
Several options, with different costs, can provide broadband Internet service to
each base station. The simplest solution is connecting leased lines to each substation.
This solution is potentially quite costly because of the number of lines involved. A
wireless system has also been suggested to connect base stations to the Internet. This
option reduces local loop fees, but increases hardware costs. Another alternative
involves running high bandwidth lines, along side electric lines, to substations. These
lines could be fiber (*See appendix C), ATM, or broadband coaxial cable. This option
avoids local loop fees, but is beset by equipment fees. The actual deployment of Digital
Powerline will probably involve a mix of these alternatives, optimized for cost
efficiency in different areas and with different service providers.
The conditioning Unit (CU) for the Digital Powerline Network is placed near the
electric meter at each customer’s home. The CU uses band pass filters to segregate the
electricity and data signals, which facilitate the link between a customer’s premise and
an electricity substation.
The CU contains three coupling ports. The device receives aggregate input from
its Network Port (NP). This aggregate input passes through a high pass filter. Filtering
allows data signals to pass to a Communications Distribution Port (CDP) and a low pass
filter sends electric signals to the Electricity Distribution Port (EDP).
The 50 Hz signal flows from the low pass filter, out of the EDP and to
the electricity meter. The low pass filter also serves to attenuate extraneous noise
generated by electrical appliances at the customer premises. Left unconditioned, the
aggregation of this extraneous noise from multiple homes would cause significant
distortion in the network.
The high pass filter facilitates two way data traffic to and from the customer
premise. Data signals flow through the CDP to the customer’s service unit via standard
coaxial cable.
Fig:2-Service Unit
The service unit provides its own line power for ringing and contains a
battery backup in case of power outage. Alternative Differential Pulse Code Modulation
(ADPCM) is used for speech sampling. Because Digital Powerline allows for the
termination of multiple radio signals at the customer premises, the service unit can
facilitate various Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) simultaneously. In a manner
similar to ISDN, data (computers) and voice (telephones) devices can coexist without
interfering with each other.
4. CASE STUDY
Digital Powerline technology was first tested in a public setting at the Seymour Park
Primary School in Manchester, UK. Twelve PCs were connected to a single Digital
Powerline outlet. Dedicated high-speed access to the Internet turned out to be a great
success in the eyes of students and teachers. Nortel’s Digital Powerline web site quotes
Seymour Head teacher, Jenny Dunn; "The high speed connection really lets us take
advantage of the educational potential of the Internet. With a normal connection the
children could lose interest waiting for pages to download. The new system means
information arrives virtually instantaneously, thereby maximizing teaching time and
keeping children on task. This set is amazingly flexible in educational terms, and not
only gives us the additional medium with which to improve standards, but prepares us
for the National Grid for Learning."
The Stanley Road substation was set up to use two distributors to serve two
distinct neighborhoods. Northumberland Close is located 350 meters from the
substation and Seymour Close is located 600 meters from the substation. Fifteen users
were chosen between the two neighborhoods to participate in the pilot program. They
received various data and telephone services as well as remote metering/information
services.
Unfortunately, the results of the trial are unobtainable. Nortel and Nor.Web
claim that the results of this trial and similar trials in the United States are being
protected for competitive reasons. The only indication of the trial’s success is a
subjective quote from Nor.Web. The quote states that "results produced over this period
have now proved conclusively that Nor.Web’s technology provides a commercially
viable alternative to established means of telecommunications delivery to customer
premises."
the household power grid, PCs could easily be programmed to turn off lights and
control security devices.
• The power grid supports information based services with strong growth
potential.
Near energy services are defined as energy services with in the confines of
current business which ads new forms, features and scales. Examples are remote billing,
remote metering, demand side e management distribution automation and remote
control of supply. Advantages of such system for utilities lie in their potential for cost
cutting and improving customer loyalty.
In the Digital Powerline model, small LANs are created; they terminate
at each local electricity substation. These LANs will share a T1/E1 connection to the
environment by running IP, people could theoretically control all of the appliances in
their home from their PC or a remote device. Each home on the neighborhood LAN
would operate as a sub-network of the LAN and each electrical outlet could be treated
as a node on that sub-network.
The Nortel web site predicts, "It could also be feasible to have an Internet
address for every plug in the house, through which you could e-mail, for example:
‘fridge@home’ and study the picture relayed by the video camera to see what shopping
you require; or you could remotely turn the lights off and the burglar alarm on using
your own password."
Remote services such as remote metering have already been tested under
this model and many more services are possible. Because the service provider can keep
track of electricity and bandwidth usage via the network, customers will also be able to
monitor their usage, reliably predict billing and keep an eye on household usage (i.e. the
teenager’s phone usage).
decrease in transmitted power spectral density. The OFDM modulation spreads the
signal over a very wide bandwidth, thus reducing the amount on power injected at a
single frequency. Field trials of PLC technologies carried out during the last 2 years in
Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany), North America, South America (Chile, Brazil) and
Asia (Singapore) have shown that interference with radio users is no longer a problem
for PLC. The same technique explains why current PLC technology does not affect
other appliances in the home.
8.3 Security:
The transmission of data over a network that anybody has access to could
also pose a data security problem, however. Tapping the signal could allow somebody
to eavesdrop on communications. Only data encryption eliminates that problem.
Soon after the first trials of Digital Powerline in the UK, some
unanticipated problems arose. Certain radio frequencies were suddenly deluged with
traffic, making it impossible to transmit on those frequencies. BBC, amateur radio, and
the UK’s emergency broadcasting service were affected. The apparent culprits were
standard light poles. Then it became clear that by pure chance British light poles were
the perfect size and shape to broadcast Digital Powerline signals. This situation posed
problems not just because of the frequencies involved but also because anyone could
listen in on the traffic. Nor.Web is addressing the problem by proposing to lease the
frequencies involved from their owners and offering amateur radio operators a new
frequency. Negotiations on this topic are currently taking place in London. The privacy
issue has not been fully addressed at this point, besides suggestions that all sensitive
information should be encrypted.
Customers want cheaper, faster, and more reliable access to the Internet right
now. Not only can Digital Powerline provide that type of service, but it will be available
before other broadband access technologies. Therefore Digital Powerline has both a
time to market and cost advantage.
The utility industry is facing deregulation in North America, Europe, and some
parts of Asia. Deregulation means increased competition in the slow growing electricity
market with little protection for utilities. An unenviable position indeed. Consequently,
many utilities are actively seeking to diversify into other, more profitable, industries.
For many utilities telecommunications and Internet services have been a sensible
choice. That option can only become more popular as Digital Powerline matures.
Digital Powerline offers a deregulated utility several options and advantages. The
utility can either lease the rights to implement Digital Powerline on its electrical grid or
develop the technology itself. The advantages include the low cost of the local loop,
differentiating the utility from other utilities, and bundling a variety of services.
The most recent telecommunications act has tried to make it easier for all types
of telecommunications firms to sell local services and long distance services. However,
Regional Bells actually have control over local lines and charge other companies who
place calls on their lines. Many of the larger phone companies have sought to get around
these charges by building or leasing their own networks to connect to local points.
Digital Powerline is an existing network that fits those needs. Expect to see smaller
telecommunications companies partnering with electrical utilities to provide alternative
local phone service.
PLC abroad:
Proof that the PLC concept works in practice was furnished by a series of
field trials by Main.net of Israel, ASCOM of Switzerland and some other companies in
16 European countries from Portugal to Scandinavia, as well as in Hong Kong, Korea,
India, Singapore and the Americas. These trials fulfilled all expectations of reliability,
functionality and the practical applications of Powerline communications. The first
installations are now already up and running or about to go live.
PLC in USA:
New York-based Ambient - which will partner with Cisco, perhaps the
technology's largest supporter, and Bechtel on future projects - is working with the
utility Consolidated Edison of New York and Southern Telecom of Atlanta, a subsidiary
of Southern Co., a leading energy company to expand its testing to several hundred
homes. Results indicated that high frequency data transmissions could be transmitted
and received over distances of more than half a mile, with minimal signal loss. In recent
months, Ambient has achieved throughput speeds in excess of 20 mbps, and
connectivity over distances of 1.5 miles. Up to 200 users can be supported on a single
distribution circuit. Pricing for the systems is not yet available. Ambient expects to go
fully commercial with its systems by first quarter 2003.
Powerline Technologies in Reston, Virginia, is trying out its system with
two utilities in the East and one in the Midwest. Earlier last year, the company finished
initial PLT tests in suburban Atlanta, where a handful of households accessed the Net
through a specially designed modem that can hit speeds greater than 1.5 mbps.
Owing to recent advances for PLC in Europe, and the efforts of a handful
of U.S. PLC vendors – including one backed by American Electric Power (AEP), PLC
is closer to being a commercial reality in the U.S. than ever before. Beta tests scheduled
by each of these firms over the next 12 months will be crucial to resolving outstanding
technical hurdles, standardizing equipment and deployment techniques, and building
interest and partnerships with utilities.
10. CONCLUSION
11. REFERENCES
1.www.powerlineworld.com/powerlineintro.html
2. www.powerlinecommunications.net/
3. www.powerline-plc.com
4. www.powerline.com
5. O’Neal Jr., J.B. (1986) "The residential power circuit as a
communication medium," IEEE
Trans. on Consumer Electronics, vol. CE-32, No. 3, pp.
567-577.
6. Malek, J.A. & Engstorm, J.R. (1976)
"R.F. impedance of United States and
European power lines," IEEE Trans. on Elec. Comp.,
vol. EMC- 18, pp. 36-38.
7. www.google.com
8. www.wikipedia.com