Classification and Modelling of Power Line Communication Channel in the Narrowband Range

Narrowband power line communication (PLC) adequately ensures consumption control, management of indoor electrical appliances as well as communication between electric vehicles and recharging sockets. However, electrical cables are not designed to ensure reliable data transmission. Several disturbance phenomena can have an impact on communication over power lines. Thus, evaluating the performance of this technology requires good knowledge of channel behavior. The main contribution of this study consists on conducting enhanced analysis on the performance of the indoor PLC channel in the 9 kHz–500 kHz band. Results of a channel response measurements campaign in which more than 10,000 measurements, realized in 13 sites, are used in this evaluation. The measured channels were classified according to their channel capacity into five classes and modelled using Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters. The fitting algorithm and other modelling methods utilized are presented in this paper.