World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 80 2011

Power Line Carrier for Power Telemetering

Tosaphol Ratniyomchai, Uthai Jaithong, and Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong

cities is equipped with power lines and connect to a local

Abstract—This paper presents an application of power line power grid. The PLC communication uses existing local AC
carrier (PLC) for electrical power telemetering. This system has a power lines as the data transmission medium to provide data
special capability of transmitting the measured values to a centralized accessibility everywhere there is an AC outlet. This method of
computer via power lines. The PLC modem as a passive high-pass
data transfer is inexpensive and easier than running new signal
filter is designed for transmitting and receiving information. Its
function is to send the information carrier together with transmitted wires for this communication purpose. With this technology,
data by superimposing it on the 50 Hz power frequency signal. A broadband over power line carrier [3-4] or remotely power
microcontroller is employed to function as the main processing of the telemetering through PLC [5] in power systems is enabled.
modem. It is programmed for PLC control and interfacing with other In this paper, exploitation of power line carrier technology
devices. Each power meter, connected via a PLC modem, is assigned is described. The application of online power telemetering is
with a unique identification number (address) for distinguishing each
emphasized by transmitting measured data through electrical
device from one another.
power circuits between a transmitter and receiver located in
Keywords—Power telemetering, Power line carrier, High-pass the same electrical circuit. A design for a PLC modem is
filter, Digital data transmission illustrated. In the next section, Section 2, a brief review of
online power telemetering is addressed. Section 3 describes a
I. INTRODUCTION design of power line carrier modems. A coupler circuit of

P OWER line communications basically mean any

technology that enables data transfer through power lines.
band-pass filters is detailed.

Power line carrier communication is mainly used in electric

power applications for telecommunication, tele-protection,
tele-metering or some other purposes between electric
substations. It is normally applied in high-voltage power
transmission systems, e.g. 115 kV, 230 kV, 500 kV, etc [1].
The principle of PLC consists in superimposing a high
frequency signal at low energy levels over the 50 Hz electrical
signal. This second signal is transmitted via the power
infrastructure and can be received and decoded remotely.
Therefore, the PLC signal is received by any PLC receiver
located on the same electrical network. An integrated coupler Fig. 1 Online power metering
at the PLC receiver entry points eliminates low frequency
components before the signal is treated.
The communication over a power network is rather old. It II. ONLINE POWER METERING
was introduced in the 1920s by the energy providers, to An online metering is an online energy monitoring system
establish cheap communication between their plants. The to collect meter data via some communication channels and to
basic idea was to use an existing network for communication process this information and then deliver to display devices
and not introduce or establish a new one. Later on this concept [5]. It offers a systematic and automated online approach to
was adapted to the control of street lightening [2]. So all street managing electrical energy consumption, both at supply points
lights could be turned on and off by a central “switch” and the to manage actual costs as well as within the industrial plant
lights only needed a small decoder chip. By using this itself, particularly where costs and efficiencies need to be
technique no additional wires were needed to control the monitored for large-scale production lines with a great number
lights. In the 1980s the technique was introduced on home of manufacturing procedures and steps are involved or
products, like Baby phones. divisions within the organization with separate cost centers
The major advantage of using power line carrier as data must be separately accounted for. The online power metering
transmission medium is that every building or house in most can be summarized as shown in Fig. 1. The power metering
system through power line carrier communication as shown in
Fig. 1 illustrates the structure and operation of the data
This article is funded by National Research Council of Thailand and
Suranaree University of Technology under contract no. SUT7-711-53-12-09 transfer system. Each client power meter sends measured data
Tosaphol Ratniyomchai, Uthai Jaithong, and Thanatchai via a serial communication channel to be stored in a memory
Kulworawanichpong were with School of Electrical Engineering, Institue of of a client PLC modem. The server PLC modem has a
Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima,
THAILAND 30000. (e-mail: [email protected]). function to control the data transmission sequence classified

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by each modem identification number and therefore stores

those data in its memory. A user can access to data stored in C3
Transmitted T1 L2 C2
the server PLC modem’s memory by using the host computer.
L
III. DESIGN OF A POWER LINE CARRIER MODEM
Conect to
Power line communication (PLC) leverages the existing Recieved Power Line
power line infrastructure and provides cost-effective approach R
for introducing intelligent monitoring and control to many N
L1 C1
industrial applications. It makes PLC one of the leading
enabling technologies for Smart Grid applications ranging
from smart metering, lighting control, solar, plug-in electrical
Fig. 3 Coupler circuit of a power line carrier modem
vehicle home and building automation of heat and air
conditioning, and security. For these applications,
implementing a low frequency narrow-band PLC technology The circuit as shown in Fig. 3 consists of a band-pass filter
provides an optimal fit in terms of bandwidth, power, and cost for transmitting and receiving data between the PLC modem
requirements. Operating in the narrowband domain ensures and the AC power line. The band-pass filter is to prevent low
data integrity while minimizing system cost. Developing an frequency components for passing through the PLC side
efficient PLC implementation is not without its challenges. circuit while allowing high-frequency modulated signal
Power lines are inherently noisy and require a robust transfer between both sides. The design of the band-pass filter
architecture to ensure data reliability. In addition, each requires knowledge of series and parallel resonant circuits [4].
In such circuits, the frequency that causes the sharp peak
application and operating environment is different, requiring
(resonant peak) is called the resonant frequency (f0). Briefly,
developers to optimize designs across a variety of factors.
some key characteristics of the proposed resonant circuit are
With the many protocol standards and modulation schemes
expressed as follows.
available, developers need a flexible development platform
which simplifies design, allows for optimization to 1
f0 = (1)
environmental conditions, supports local regulations, and can
2π LC
be easily adjusted to conform to evolving standards.
f0 L
Structure of power line carrier communication is shown in
Fig. 2. It consists of i) an interfacing part to external devices
BW = (2)
R C
,e.g. power meter, ii) a modulating part to modulate data with
f0
a carrier, and iii) a coupler circuit to allow modulated Q = (3)
information through the AC power line. BW
f0 = fC1× fC2 (4)

BW2 2 ⎛ BW ⎞
fC1 = + f0 − ⎜ ⎟ (5)
4 ⎝ 2 ⎠
fC2 = fC1 − BW (6)
Where
Q is the quality factor
BW is the bandwidth

Fig. 2 Simplified diagram of a power line carrier modem fc1 is the lower corner frequency
fc2 is the upper corner frequency
A Power Line Communication Modem system begins with By using (1) – (6), as long as some characteristics of the
a modulated signal entering the receiver stage, or active band resonant circuit are specified (e.g. resonant frequency,
pass filter. It needs to connect to the input of an Analog to bandwidth, etc), the coupler circuit components (R, L and C)
Digital Converter fast and accurate enough to properly convert are calculated.
to a digital form for processing. Processed signals are injected
back into the power grid by the PLC transmitter stage that
IV. DIGITAL PULSE FREQUENCY MODULATION
drives a high output current. The transmitter stage must be
carefully designed to take digital signals from the Pulse-frequency modulation (PFM) is a modulation in
microcontroller unit, filter them to eliminate out of band which the pulse repetition rate is varied in accordance with
emissions and drive the low impedance of the AC power line. some characteristic of the modulating signal. Pulse-frequency
modulation is analogous to frequency modulation of a carrier

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wave, in which the instantaneous frequency is a continuous V.PROTOCOL FOR PLC COMMUNICATION
function of the modulating signal. In pulse frequency Protocol is a procedure of communication management that
modulation, the frequency of the pulse train is varied from its is used as a tool to manage the transmission format between
default value in accordance with the instantaneous amplitude
the server and its clients attached with power meters as
of the modulating signal at sampling intervals. The amplitude
described in Fig. 7. To avoid overlap of data signals, each
and width of the pulses is kept constant. Fig. 4 gives a
client modem is assigned with a unique identification number.
description of digital pulse frequency modulation. Also,
summary of the DPFM can be depicted as shown in Fig. 5. Communication starts from the server by sending a request to
the targeted client in forms of information packet. The data
packet contains data type, client ID and CRC (cyclic
redundancy check) as shown in Fig. 8. When each client
receives the request, the client proceeds checking for
matching of the client ID. If the client ID is matched, the
client will respond by sending measured data in the specified
data type back to the server.

Server

Fig. 4 Digital pulse frequency modulation

Client 1 Client 2 Client 3

Fig. 7 Procedure of the digital pulse-frequency demodulation

Fig. 5 Procedure of the digital pulse-frequency modulation

Fig. 8 Data packet

Conversely, digital pulse-frequency demodulation is the act
of extracting a modulated pulse frequency signal to be VI. EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS
converted back to original digital data. The procedure of In this paper, a power line carrier test system is set for
demodulating the received signal can be shortly summarized evaluation. The test system consists of a PLC transmitter
as shown in Fig. 6. modem, a PLC receiver modem and power lines. The length
of the power line used is 100 m. The test was repeated with a
large number of trials, say 10000. The signal to noise ratio and
the signal attenuation were evaluated and discussed.
Test of signal quality which is transmitted through power
lines is based on evaluation of a ratio between the signal and
noises as signal to noise ratio (SNR) and signal attenuation
caused by power losses due to power line media. The value of
SNR is derived from demodulation of the receiver. This can
be achieved by using the calculation as given in the following
formula.

Fig. 6 Procedure of the digital pulse-frequency demodulation ⎛A ⎞

SNRdB = 20log⎜ signal ⎟ dB (7)
⎝ Anoise ⎠

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Where From Table II, the data transfer error was increased by the
increased line length. This matched with the SNR as reduced
Asignal is the amplitude of data signal (RMS)
by transmission distance. By using the CRC, the data transfer
Anoise is the amplitude of noises (RMS) error can be determined.

VII. CONCLUSION
In addition, the signal attenuation (SA) can be calculated by
In this paper, a power line carrier communication for power
using (8).
telemetering is presented. The test of signal transmission
⎛ P⎞ quality was carried out by a measure of SNR (signal to noise
SA = 10log⎜ i ⎟ dB (8) ratio) and SA (signal attenuation) in which the line length of
⎝ Po ⎠ power lines was varied, up to 100 m. The maximum SA and
Where the minimum SNR are 3.51 dB and 19.2 dB, respectively. The
test also showed that CRC (cyclic redundancy checking) can
Pi is the signal power at the transmitter be used for evaluation of data transfer error.
Po is the signal power at the receiver
REFERENCES
[1] T. Tran-Anh, P. Auriol and T. Tran-Quoc , “Distribution network
The test of signal quality was performed by varying the modeling for Power Line Communication applications”, IEEE Trans.
power line length from 0 – 100 m. At each particular length, On Power Delivery, pp. 361 – 365, 2005
[2] G.B. Maizonave, D. Reis and F.S. Lima, “Integrated System for
10000 trials of signal transfer were carried out. The SA and Intelligent Street Lighting”, in Proc. Inst. Elect., IEEE Int. Sym. Power-
SNR were therefore calculated as shown in Table I. line Comm., vol. 2, pp. 721 – 726, Montreal, Que. 9 -13 July 2006.
[3] R. Tongia, “Can broadband over powerline carrier (PLC) compete? A
techno-economic analysis”, Telecommunication Policy, Vol. 28, pp.
TABLE I 559 – 578, 2004
TEST OF SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO [4] W. Liu, H. Widmer and P. Raffin “Broadband PLC Access Systems and
Line length (m) SA (dB) SNR (dB) Field Deployment in European Power Line Networks”, IEEE
5 0.44 23.2 Communications Magazine, pp. 114-118, May. 2003.
20 0.64 22.5 [5] J.V. Wijayakulasooriya, “Remotely Accessible Single Phase Energy
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60 1.16 20.1 pp.304-309, Peradeniya, 8-11 Aug. 2006.
80 2.68 19.5 [6] F. Pacheco, M. Lobashov, M. Pinho and G. Pratl, “A power line
100 3.51 19.2 communication stack for metering, SCADA and large-scale domotic
applications”, Int. Symp. Power Line Communications and Its
Applications, 6-8 April 2005, pp. 61 – 65
The results of the signal quality test by assessing the SNR
and SA of the signal at some distances as described in Table 1
revealed that when the line length is increased, the SNR is
reduced. The higher the SNR is, the better, as there is less
background noise. Longer lines are more sensitive to noise
and therefore the quality of the data signal is down.
In addition, data transfer error of the PLC test system is
determined. From a data packet, the last portion is CRC which
is used for checking the data transfer error. The value of CRC
is governed by a polynomial of x + x + x+ 1. The value of
8 2
CRC was randomly created and then was included to a data
packet to be transferred.
TABLE II
TEST OF CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK
Line length Number of data transfer error
(m) Data comparison Examining by CRC
5 0 0
20 1 1
40 1 1
60 3 3
80 5 5
100 6 6

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