1. Power Line Communications

2. Outline Power Line Characteristics Power Line Applications:
Broadband
Narrowband
Bridging PLC and Wireless
Adaptive Backoff Algorithm

3. Power Line characteristics
Wired communications, but:
Frequently changing environment
Narrow band noise (Jamming)
Burst noise
Various attenuation (loads on power outlets)
Random access
Multihop (hidden nodes)
Very similar to wireless environment 3

4. FCC and CENELEC Band Allocations
North American Band Regulations
Prohibited
General use
100 kHz
200 kHz
300 kHz
400 kHz
500 kHz
600 kHz
700 kHz
800 kHz
CENELEC Band Regulations
“A”
“B”
“C”
“D”
Prohibited
Consumer Use with Protocol
Consumer Use with No Protocol
Electricity Suppliers
Electricity Suppliers
And Their Licensees
Consumer Use
No Protocol
20 kHz
40 kHz
60 kHz
80 kHz
100 kHz
120 kHz
140 kHz
160 kHz
US (FCC: kHz)
Japan (ARIB, MPT: 20-80kHz)
European Outdoor (CENELEC A, 18-90kHz)
European Outdoor (CENELEC A+, 70-95kHz)
European Indoor (CENELEC B, kHz)

5. Principles of DCSK Modulator Operation
Spread spectrum technology - provides maximal spectral diversity, handles notches and narrow band noise.
Phase Shift
DCSK Modulator
0010
Encoded Bits
Basic Symbol

6. Broadband market

7. Internet Distribution
PLC – Wireless adapter

8. Command & Control Market

9. “Smart Grid” AMR/AMM/AMI

10. Utilities and PLC ?
The increase in public demand for energy creates the need for Energy Saving and Energy Management procedures.
Utilities can lower cost by reading meters remotely, charging according to time of use or according to level of power used, automating power failure recovery and lowering the investments in new power stations.
Utilities can increase revenue by offering more services to the customers (besides just offering power).
In some areas of the world, 30% and more of the electricity is stolen. AMR/AMM is used to detect electricity looting.
The worldwide potential market for Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) is more than 1B meters. Almost EVERY power utility in the world is under pilots or trials to use AMR.

11. What is AMR? (Automatic Meter Reading)
Definition:
The technology of automatically collecting data from Water, Electricity or Gas metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing and/or analyzing.
Billing is based on actual consumption rather than an estimate based on previous consumption, giving customers better control of their use of electric energy, gas usage, or water consumption.
AMR technologies include handheld, mobile and network technologies based on telephony platforms (wired and wireless), radio frequency, or Powerline Communication (PLC) 11

12. What are AMM & AMI? (Automatic Meter Infrastructure, Automatic Meter Management)
Definition:
These are an improvement on AMR and therefore include more options. The main different is that AMM/AMI systems allow two-way communication, which means it is not only meters reading but also meters control, sending pricing information to the meter as well as disconnection command etc.
It Refers to systems that measure, collect and analyze energy usage from advanced devices such as Electricity meters, Gas meters, and/or Water meters, through various communication media on request or on a pre-defined schedule. This infrastructure includes hardware, software, communications, customer associated systems and meter data management software.

13. Applications: AMM/AMR/AMI
A network between measurement devices (meters) and business systems to allow collection and distribution of information to customers, suppliers, utility companies and service providers.
Customer Smart meter Utility Company
AMM/AMR/AMI enables Homes and Businesses to participate in, or provide, demand response solutions, products and services. A two way communication system for meter reading and command/control – with the ability to signal increase of price as a result of high power demand, disconnect if there is fraud or non-payment and allows for Energy Management in the home and use the meter as a gateway to the home.
By providing information to customers, the system assists a change in energy usage from their normal consumption patterns.

14. Demand Response:
Existing power lines are used for two-way communication between different parts of the system
Higher price indication, encourages consumers to reduce demand, thereby reduce the peak demand for electricity.

15. Benefits AMR/AMM/AMI Revenue Operation & Distribution
More accurate billing with shorter cycles
Tamper warnings and identification
Load limits, remote disconnect
Customer Service
More informed usage
Reduce volume of calls
Operation & Distribution
Detects and responds to power outages
Asset loading & optimization
Emergency load shedding
Demand Management
Pricing based on time of day
Energy profiling and analysis (online)
Load control tools
By 2013, 28% of electric meters worldwide are expected to be “smart.” (ABIresearch study)

16. Street Light Control
Saving 40% in electricity bill by replacing the Analog Ballast into an electronic Ballast with PLC
Lower power consumption
Dimming
Maintenance

17. Smart Home Basics Remote security, fire and health monitoring
Appliances Remote Diagnostic
Turn on/off lights and appliances remotely
Message sent to raise/lower AC via PLC
Lower thermostat remotely during high tariff periods
Remote Meter Reading
And Peak Demand Response

18. Smart Home – cont’
Main stopper for Smart Home deployment – interoperability issues
Approach: Defining the common “language” between all home appliances
Known protocols:
ZigBee
UPnP (Universal Plug & Play)
SCP (Simple Control Protocol)
HomePlug

19. Bridging PLC and Wireless

20. Adaptive Backoff Algorithm
The overhead of a backoff algorithm is a combination of the silence period and of the corrupted transmissions due to collisions
Conventional CSMA/CA adapts to the load by increasing the contention window AFTER the collisions (exponential backoff)
The IT800 backoff algorithm changes the contention window size to match the estimated current load BEFORE the collisions.

21. Adaptive Backoff Algorithm - cont
Each node estimates the load ON RECEIVENG of the data frame
Each data frame header contains the information of the CW size, and the randomized backoff value
Backoff value/CW ratio provides an indicator of the load – the smaller the result is, the load is higher
The next CW is increased if the load grows