Publication
The power system has been used for communication purposes for many decades, although it was mainly the power utility companies that used low bit rates for control and monitoring purposes. In the last ten years, however, the deregulation of the power and telecommunication markets has spurred the idea of using and commercializing the power networks for a range of new communication applications and services. The idea has been developed and implemented into both, narrowband and broadband systems, which are defined in terms of the operation frequency band. Depending on the frequency band, the systems over powerlines can be: Narrow-band. They use frequencies ranging from 3-148.5 kHz in Europe, with the upper frequency extending up to 500 kHz in the United States and Japan. In Europe, this frequency range is standardized by CENELEC Standard EN 50065. Broadband. The used frequency range is 1-30MHz; 1-15MHz for outdoor systems and 15-30MHz for indoor systems. In this frequency range, the standardization situation is still unclear and there exist no regulations. The developed applications and systems use different parts of the power network: medium voltage (MV) and low voltage (LV) cabling for outdoor applications and building cabling for indoor applications. These cables are designed and optimized for power transmission at frequencies of 50/60Hz and represent a hostile medium for transmissions at higher frequencies. This thesis concentrates on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) aspects and some optimization issues of the broadband systems, currently known as Powerline Communications (PLC) or Broadband Power Line (BPL). The work presented here was preformed in the framework of the European project OPERA (http://www.ist-opera.org/). A short description of the project is given in Chapter 1. The second chapter presents the basis, introduction, description and state of the art of the topics of interest for this thesis. That chapter is divided into three parts. Each of these parts starts with a short introduction to the topic to be addressed. The introductions are intended for those not familiar with the topic at hand and they can be skipped by those already knowledgeable of it. The first part of Chapter 2 gives an overview and introduction to telecommunication issues relevant to the thesis, as well as the general technical specifications of the OPERA system. The second part deals with the transmission medium which, for the case of PLC, is the power system. The fundamentals and the different components of the PLC system are given there and the state of the art regarding the transmission channel is presented. The third part deals with the EMC and standardization issues related to the technology. The main contributions of the thesis are presented in chapters 3 to 7. The PLC technology distinguishes itself from other technologies in that it uses already existing, ubiquitous wiring, so that no new infrastructure is needed. On the other hand, using a channel desi