Helsinki University of Technology

Department of Electrical and Communication Engineering

‘’Using Powerline Communications in Control and Data Networking’’

bySamdani M. Golam

Supervisor & Instructor: Prof. Timo O. Korhonen

Master’s Thesis Presentation16th February, 2006, Espoo.

Acknowledgements

Prof. Timo O. Korhonen Liu Er Omar Mukhter Other Colleagues and Friends.

This thesis work has been done in the project ’LED-PLC General LightingSystem’ at Communication Laboratory, HUT, sponsored by TEKES andSeveral Companies.

Agenda

Introduction PLC Technology PLC Applications Technical Issues for PLC System Regulation & Standards Test Setup 1: PLC-LED General Lighting System Test Setup 2: Comparison of PLC & Ethernet Channel Test Setup 3: Bluetooth Extension to PLC

Introduction Powerline Communication (PLC),

also known as Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) is a technique for sending high speed data through existing powerline as transmission medium.

PLC creates a high speed data communications network using the medium and low voltage electric distribution grids which connects consumers to the Internet through any electric socket in the consumers home.

Powerline is the worlds largest existing wired infrastructure.

Introduction…

The idea of sending data through the power distribution network is not new

- First technique to make use of PLC for control message by the methods ‘Ripple Control’ in the early 1950s.

- Earlier technology used low frequency and data rate was very low.

- Recent development has been achieved bit rate of several Mbps.

PLC Technology

PLC System

In-House Access

•Uses the Building's electrical wiring to network computers and devices within a building.

•This technology employs the outside distribution powerlines (i.e. medium-voltage or low-voltage) overhead or underground. One system uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to distribute the PLC/BPL signal over a width bandwidth using many narrow-band sub-carriers. At the injector side, data from the backbone network is converted into the OFDM signal format and then coupled onto one phase of the MV powerline.

PLC Applications

Broadband Services 

High Speed Internet Access Voice Over IP Video Streaming Home Networking Home Automation Home Security Systems Telemedicine Applications  

Utility Applications 

Automatic Meter Reading Internal Communications Demand Side Management Load monitoring Security Monitoring

Technical issues for PLC system

Impedance mismatch in receiver side Channel attenuation Noise ( Background noise, Impulsive noise) Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues - Potential radio interference

- Outdoor powerlines are excellent radiators of frequencies used in BPL systems, so they behave as transmitting ( and receiving) antennas.

- Complex work to be done in order to establish accepted rules by which BPL can be operated In a safety way and without

interference.

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General powerline communication

system

Regulation & StandardsUSA FCC part 15: Primary forum for

resolving radio interference claims. Throughout 2004, FCC adopted rules to facilitate the deployment of BPL.

Europe: ECC: Report 24(May 2003) MPT 1570: UK standard NB30: German standard

Standards HomePlug 1.0: from HomePlug power

alliances. IEEE P1901: Standards for BPL

network (still working)

Test setup 1: PLC-LED General Lighting System

Ethernet i/f

Ethernet i/f Serial i/f

PLC Channel

Embedded Application

Test setup 1: Equipments and working principle. PLC modem

ITRAN PLNET13 Development Kit/ Phonex Neverwire 14 Data rate up to 2.5/ 14 Mbps

Microcontroller Board Wiznet EVB8051 Embedded TCP/IP Ethernet Interface( WI3100)

Embedded Application Receiving Control Information in Client Mode, Connected to Server Through

Ethernet Interface. Controlling the LED matrix Through Serial Interface

GUI Application Running in Server Mode Sending LED Control Information as per Operator Input.

LED Matrix

Test Setup 2: Comparison of PLC and Ethernet Channel PLC and Ethernet Channels Comparison

Custom-developed SW designed for PLC

channel performance measurements

measurement between 2 nodes : client

server architecture

Accuracy up to order of nanosecond

Sends & receives data packets in a loop,

and calculates average Round Trip Time

(RTT)

Dump the results into files automatically

Data can be further analyzed using Matlab

etc.

Window size indicates nr. of times same

packet is sent to calculate an avg. value of

RTT

Test Setup 2: Results

Ethernet channel

Test Setup 2: Results

PLC Channel

BT Interface

PLCInter-face

Ethernet Interface

ParallelInterface

SerialInterface

Test Setup 3: Bluetooth Extension to PLC network. PLC modems 2 Laptop

TCP/IP Com Embedded Application

running on Laptop Internetworking BT device and

PLC modem Nokia mobile

Symbian-based GUI to control the matrix

LED-control Application Running on Laptop to control

LED matrix via serial interface Blueottoth serial module LED Matrix

Publications

Recent Development of EMC Regulation in Power-Line Communications. WPMC'04, Abano Therme, Italy 13.-15. Sept., 2004. pp. 202-206.

Development of High-rate Control System for LED-based General Lighting Application. ISPLC'05, Vancouver Canada, April 6-8, 2005.

Any Question?

Thank You!