Penn State Researchers Claim Speed-enhancing BPL
Techniques
Penn State University says that it has developed a model for
electric power providers to deliver data on broadband over power
line (BPL) systems at speeds that far exceed current cable modem and
DSL services. “If you condition those power lines properly,
they’re an omni-present national treasure waiting to be tapped for
broadband Internet service delivery, especially in rural areas where
cable or DSL are unavailable,” said Professor Mohsen Kavehrad,
leader of the Penn State BPL studies, in a press statement today.
Penn State shared its findings this week at the IEEE
Consumer Communications & Networking Conference in Las
Vegas. Kavehrad said his team has identified areas in the
current U.S. overhead electrical grid design that create an effect
similar to “multipath ” interference in radio signals.
Multipath causes static and ghosting to analog broadcast TV signals
and causes bit-rate errors in digital transmissions.
Eliminating this form of signal degradation could reduce the number
of signal repeaters needed to deliver a broadband signal to the
home.
Last year, NRTC, NRECA and the Cooperative Research Network,
co-published a report outlining the technical and economic barriers
to rapid BPL service launches in rural America (“CRN/NRTC Report Provides Comprehensive Look at BPL
,” NRTC Update, Sept. 22, 2004). The need to deploy
signal repeaters every few miles in sparsely populated areas is
among the chief cost-related barriers, the report found.
For expanded coverage of rural telecommunications
developments, read NRTC
Update |