A Novel Precoding and Impulsive Noise Mitigation Scheme for MIMO Power Line Communication Systems

Power line communications (PLCs) enable new and flexible networking functions in smart grids. However, due to the high attenuation and interference, it is a great challenge for PLC to achieve reliable and high data rate transmissions. Thus, we propose a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) architecture to improve the reliability and data rate for PLC networks. In viewing the data rate requirements of in-home PLC network systems, we develop a precoding scheme to maximize the system throughput. In harmonizing to the proposed precoding scheme, the closed-form of the sum data rate of the PLC-MIMO channel is derived. To improve the communication reliability, we propose a partial transmission sequence (PTS) based algorithm to mitigate the noise in PLC channels. The closed-form of the symbol error rate (SER) is derived according to the probability density function of the impulsive noise in PLC channels. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed precoding scheme achieves a better throughput when compared to the conventional precoding schemes. Furthermore, the PTS-based noise mitigation algorithm significantly improves the SER performance of PLC links.