Power Line Communication: The Effects of. Interference on Data Throughput Rates. Andrew Mckeown MIET. Supervisors: Dr A. Wilcox, Dr D. Gibson, D. While,.
Power Line Communication: The Effects of Interference on Data Throughput Rates
RESCON 2014
Andrew Mckeown MIET Supervisors: Dr A. Wilcox, Dr D. Gibson, D. While,
Introduction:
Spectral Power Measurements:
More home devices such as lights and appliances are becoming smart and if they are to be connected without extra cabling there is a need for research into more efficient transmission within current Power-Line Communication (PLC) media. Currently PLC is limited by usable bandwidth and noise. Future network speeds will increase exponentially in the next ten years. If broadband PLC is to keep up with the growing external networks capacity then the network must work round the issues of multi-path, carrier interferers and the external emissions of RF.
200 Mbs Regular Mains Ring Circuit
Plug adapter, shielded
Plug adapter, unshielded
Antenna, shielded
Shield skin , shielded
Test Setup:
200 Mbs Clean Mains Ring Circuit
Additional measurements were conducted using a wideband antenna and shielding. Both AV and AV2 adapters were tested. Different configurations were used including ring, T-junction and serial. Clean AC power was supplied from an uninterruptable power supply, and Noisy AC power from the regular mains supply.
Theoretical Noise vs. Capacity:
Plug adapter, shielded
Plug adapter, unshielded
Antenna, shielded
Shield skin , shielded
Speed Test Results: UDP Maximum Download Speed (Mb/s) Adapter
Configuration 200Ring
Clean Regular
T Junction
Serial
94.79 90.42
91.04 89.91
92.79 90.28
94.42 93.8
94.89 94.84
94.75 94.35
196.93 198.28
198.27 197.45
196.56 197.42
500 Clean Regular 1000 Clean Regular Shielded 200Ring
Conclusions:
• Noisy AC mains supply is an issue • AV adapter only has 100Mbs Fast Ethernet port
Clean Regular
T Junction 91.08 95.6
90.73 91.97
93.89 74.94
94.47 95.6
95.56 94.84
95.52 94.51
198.52 199.44
198.71 202.55
198.73 202.68
500 Clean Regular 1000 Clean Regular
• Different configurations only show 1-2 Mbs difference
References:
• Best results are consistently from shielded regular ring mains
[1] HomePlug, "HomePlug™ AV2 Technology White Paper," 2013.
• Results suggest interference mostly comes from external sources
[3] HomePlug, "HomePlug AV White Paper," 2005.
• Further work should be carried out into adaptive filters
Serial
[2] ITU, "ITU-T G.9963," ed, 2012.
[4] D. Hirata, N. Kuwabara, Y. Akiyama, and H. Yamane, "Influence of appliance state on transmission characteristics of indoor AC mains lines in frequency range used power line communication, “in Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2005. EMC 2005. 2005 International Symposium on, 2005, pp. 715-720 Vol. 3.
[5] C.E Shannon, "Communication in the presence of noise," IEEE Classic Paper, Proceedings of the IEEE 1998, p 447 Vol. 86 issue 2. [6] R.V.L Hartley, “Transmission of information”, 1928, www.dotrose.com Available: http://www.dotrose.com/etext/90_Miscellaneous/transmission_of_information_1928b.pdf
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