Experimental Measurements of Noise Influence on Narrowband Power Line Communication

The key to the Smart Grid vision are the communication networks, which serve as the fundamental information infrastructure to provide bidirectional end-to-end data communication in the Smart Grid. To enable this bidirectional end-to-end data communication, narrowband power line communication (PLC) systems are attractive because they can be deployed over existing outdoor power lines. The paper describes PLC technologies, especially narrowband PLC technology. The recent advances in power line noise characterization, measurements and modelling were analysed. Based on this analysis, the experimental measurements of power line noise influence in 3-500 kHz range were identified as a challenging problem and yet seldom reported. Therefore, the paper describes the experimental measurements and the influence of particular noises on the narrowband PLC communication. Based on noise analysis and measurement results, adaptive communication approaches was discussed and a method for managing the power line topology and noise analysis is proposed.