10
BROADBAND POWER-LINE COMMUNICATIONS
10.1 INTRODUCTION
The idea of using power lines also for communication purposes was already around at the beginning of the last century [1, 2]. It is now broadly referred to as power line communications (PLC). The obvious advantage is the widespread availability of electrical infrastructure, so that theoretically deployment costs are confined to connecting modems to the existing electrical grid.
Today, applications include the provisioning of Internet to end customers, referred to as Access PLC, or broadband over power line (BPL) [3, 4]. Besides, PLC technology is successfully being used for the distribution of audio, video, voice, and data services within the users’ homes, also referred to as In-Home PLC. Furthermore, utility companies are becoming more and more interested in automatic meter reading infrastructure (AMI) and smart grid, allowing a more efficient electrical network management [5–7].
Early PLC systems made use of narrow bandwidths on high-voltage lines. The operating frequency range went up to a couple of hundred kilohertz, and data rates were on the order of hundreds of bits per second (bit/s) [1, 2]. Up to the present day, narrowband power-line systems are in operation mainly for control services that require data rates below 2 Mbit/s. Popular narrowband PLC systems are, for example, X10, KNX, INSTEON, BACnet, and LonWorks. However, they are not at the focus of this contribution. More on past and present narrowband ...
