Power Line Data Transmission Capacity: Bigger Than DSL Or
Cable
University Park, Pa. -- Penn State engineers have
developed a new model for high-speed broadband transmissions over
U.S. overhead electric power lines and estimate that, at full data
rate handling capacity, the lines can provide bit rates that far
exceed DSL or cable over similar spans.
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Mohsen Kavehrad, the W. L. Weiss professor of electrical
engineering and director of the Center for Information and
Communications Technology Research, led the investigation. He says,
"Although broadband power line (BPL) service trials are now underway
on a limited basis in some locations in the U.S., these trials run
at DSL- comparable rates of 2 or 3 megabits per second.
"We've run a computer simulation with our new power line model
and found that, under ideal conditions, the maximum achievable bit
rate was close to a gigabit per second per kilometer on an overhead
medium voltage unshielded U.S. electric power line that has been
properly conditioned through impedance matching. The gigabit can be
shared by a half dozen homes in a neighborhood to provide rates in
the hundreds of megabits per second range, much higher than DSL and
even cable."
Kavehrad adds, "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."
The researchers say they are the first to evaluate data rate
handling capacity for overhead medium voltage unshielded U. S.
electric power lines and outlined their findings at the IEEE
Consumer Communications & Networking Conference in Las Vegas,
Nev., Jan. 5. Their paper is titled, "Transmission Channel Model and
Capacity of Overhead Multi-conductor Medium-Voltage Power-lines for
Broadband Communications." The authors are Pouyan Amirshahi, a
doctoral candidate in electrical engineering, and Kavehrad.
In their paper, the authors note that the junctions and branches
in the U.S. overhead electrical grid cause broadband signals to
reflect and produce multipath-like effects on these lines. This
causes degradation in power-line broadband transmission performance
and decreases transmission capacity.
Kavehrad explains, "The signal can bounce back and forth in the
lines if there is no proper impedance matching. The bouncing takes
energy away from the signal and the loss is reflected in the
ultimate capacity.
"In service, performance will depend on how close the power
company chooses to place the repeaters," he adds.
The researchers are continuing their studies. Kavehrad predicts
that the engineering issues to make BPL a technical alternative to
DSL and cable will be solved. Whether it will be an economical
alternative remains to be seen since there are interference issues
that have to be overcome.
The study was supported by a grant from AT&T Corporation.
Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
Penn State.
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