Multipath channel model of power lines

Petr Mlynek
1
, Martin Koutny
1
, Jiri Misurec
1

1
Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Department of Telecommunications
Email: {mlynek, koutnym, misurec}@feec.vutbr.cz



Abstrakt The paper is focused on realization of power line
model. The power lines are modelled from transfer function of
multipath signal environment. The paper describes the PLC
communication model too. This model is necessary for testing
and verifying the correct function of power line model in
communication string. The power line model was testing on
sample topology with one branch. Finally the resulting appli-
cation is describes.
1 Introduction
Systems for communication over power lines are referred to as
PLC (Power Line Communication). PLC systems do not re-
quire any specific cabling because the terminal equipment is
connected directly to the power network [1].
There are no difficulties of building up a new communica-
tions network because we use an already existing power net-
work. This brings mainly savings in financial costs and time,
which we would otherwise spend on building up a new com-
munications network. We can interconnect a PLC network
with existing communications networks, for example the LAN
computer network or directly with the Internet.
PLC systems fall into two areas: broadband PLC and nar-
rowband PLC. Broadband PLC achieves the characteristics of
broadband communication, enabling, for example, fast Inter-
net access or implementation of small LAN networks.
Narrowband PLC today seem to be a little in the back-
ground. This is, of course, given only by the area of applicabil-
ity. Power networks can also be used for other applications,
which would be hard to implement in practice through another
type of communication. Specific services include central man-
agement of power consumption, tariffing, remote meter read-
ing, commanding, etc.
Remote meter reading at customers on a large scale is
hampered exactly by the communication paths. It is the
switched PSTN telephone lines, GSM, and the Internet that are
mainly used today [2]. The possibility of using the power
network and systems of narrow-band PLC is a most recent
development [3]. Each of the systems has its specific pros and
cons and so it is appropriate to consider all the systems that are
potentially capable of providing sufficient transmission ca-
pacity al low costs.
A problematic area of PLC is interference. The interference
may affect service reliability. Also, there is considerable at-
tenuation on the path towards the terminal equipment. From
the viewpoint of data transmission, the power line is always
mismatched and thus there appear reflections on the line, and
the line properties and parameters vary with time and place.
Every electric line is characterized by considerable signal
attenuation and diverse interference and noise so that data
transmission exhibits a very high error rate when no error
check mechanism is employed. Therefore this article focuses
on the realizations of complex PLC communication system,
which contain error check mechanism and modelled power
line as multipath signal reflection environment.
For the purpose of modelling, PLC communication system
can be set up from follows components:
PLC communication model
Power line model
Noise model

2 OFDM model for PLC communication
Computer simulation of PLC systems will enable a better
understanding of the problematic of data transmission over
power lines, it will reveal the potentials of these systems, and
the area of PLC applicability will be better defined. Sufficient-
ly precise computer models of PLC systems will thus make the
process of selecting and deploying new telemetry and man-
agement technologies markedly more effective.
A model will be described with frequency division of spec-
trum using the OFDM technique, where particular carrier
frequencies are mapped with 256-state, 64-state or 32-state
QAM or QPSK and BPSK modulation [4] [5]. The resulting
model is shown in Fig. 1.
VOL. 1, NO. 2, JUNE 2010
48

In1
User
Unipolar to
Bipolar
Converter
Terminal
element
Power line channel
U Y
Shift
for FFT
Select
Rows
U Y
Remove
zero
Select
Rows
Remove
pilot signals
Random
Interleaver
Random
Deinterleaver
General
QAM
QAM
Modulator
Pad
Receiver
Transmitter
Integer to Bit
Converter
IFFT
IFFT
General
QAM
General QAM
Demodulator
To
Frame
Frame
Status
Conversion
sRef
sDel
delay
Find
Delay
FFT
FFT
Error Rate
Calculation
Tx
Rx
Error Rate
Calculation
Delay
U Y
Cyclic Prefix
Constellation diagram behind channel
Constellation diagram
before channel
1
Concatenate
Bit to Integer
Converter
Binary Output
RS Decoder
Binary-Output
RS Decoder
Bernoulli
Binary
Bernoulli
Binary
Generator
BER
U Y
Add Cyclic
Prefix
PN Sequence
Generator
complex(0,0)

Binary Input
RS Encoder

Pilot signals
Data signals

Figure 1: OFDM model.


Model description [6]:
A Bernoulli Binary Generator is used as the data source in
the proposed model. It is a generator which generates random
binary numbers according the Bernoulli distribution. In real
systems, Bit allocation (mapping) can be obtained from this
equation [7]:
|
|
|
|
|
.
|

\
|

|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =

n n
SNR
BER
Q
b
2
1
2
4
3
1 log
, (1)
where b
n
is number of bits at n-subchannel, SNR
n
average
signal to noise ratio in part subchannel n, where Q
-1
is defined
as:
}

=
x
y
dy e x Q
2
2
2
1
) (
t
(2)
Channel coding, realized by the Reed-Solomon code
(RS(15; 11)), was used to ensure data transfer in the commu-
nication channel.
From the channel coding block we obtain a serial flow of
data. This flow enters the mapping block. The bit sequences
are converted to a symbol sequence in the block mapping. The
distribution of symbols is the result of mapping. This symbols
distribution is dependent on the selected modulation.
The sub-band separation of the useful signal is realized in
the Select Rows block.
It is necessary to insert the pilot signals and implement an
estimate of transmission channel in the case of coherent sys-
tem detection. This is realized by the help of the PN Sequence
Generator.
Block Complex(0,0) is used to generate the middle carrier
frequency. Block Concatenate is used to add up all the carrier
frequencies, which enter this block. The size of the framework
is then adjusted for IFFT in the Pad block and the signal is
adjusted for IFFT in the Shift block. After that the signal un-
dergoes the Fast Fourier transform, where data are converted
from the frequency domain to the time domain.
To avoid intersymbol interference (ISI) the OFDM protec-
tive interval is used. It is realized by the Add Cyclic Prefix
block.
The blocks for calculating of the bit error are used too. The
blocks are connected inversely on the receiver side. The power
line channel block will be described in the next chapter.

VOL. 1, NO. 2, JUNE 2010
49

3 Transmission line model
In literature the methods used to simulate and to study the
transmission line behavior are different [8] [10]. Most of
them are obtained from the time dependent telegraphers equa-
tions which are for the elementary line transmission cell,
shown in Fig.2, the following:

Rdx Ldx
Gdx Cdx v(x,t)
i(x,t)
v(x+dx,t)
i(x+dx,t)
+
-
+
-
dx

Figure 2: Elementary cell of a transmission line.


0
) , (
) , (
) , (
=
c
c
+ +
c
c
t
t x i
L t x i R
x
t x v
(3)
0
) , (
) , (
) , (
=
c
c
+ +
c
c
t
t x v
C t x v G
x
t x i
(4)
In these equations x denotes the longitudinal direction of the
line and R, L, G and C are the per unit length resistance
(/m), inductance (H/m), conductance (S/m) and capacitance
(F/m) respectively.
The electric quantities are dependent by the geometric and
constitutive parameters.
The parameters to describe a transmission line are the cha-
racteristic impedance Z
c
and the propagation constant :




C j G
L j R
Z
C
e
e
+
+
=
(5)
) )( ( C j G L j R j e e | o + + = + = . (6)

The transfer function of a line with the length l can be ex-
pressed as:


l f j l f l
e e e
x V
l x V
f H
) ( ) (
) 0 (
) (
) (
| o
= =
=
=
=
. (7)

4 Modelling of the power line channel
The power line channel is required to simulate PLC com-
munications. There exist two possible methods for the model-
ling of power line channels. The first one applies the methods
used for the modelling of radio channels. The power line
channel is assumed to be a multipath propagation environ-
ment. The second alternative applies the methods used to
model electricity distribution networks. The chain parameter
matrices describing the relation between input and output
voltage and current of two-port network can be applied for the
modelling the transfer function of a communications channel.
The first method has been chosen, because the topology of the
pilot distribution network is known.
4.1 Transfer function for multipath propagation envi-
ronment
Multiple reflections at impedance discontinuities are typical
for power line channels, there are caused multipath propaga-
tion.
This behavior can be described by a model of the channel in
Fig. 3 [11]. Each transmitted signal arrives in the receiver via
N different paths. Each path i is defined by a certain delay
i

and a certain attenuation factor C
i
. The power line channel can
be described by means of a discrete-time impulse response
h(t). The impulse response of the channel h(t) can be written
as a sum of the delayed and attenuated Dirac pulses:


i
f j
N
i
i
N
i
i i
e C f H t C t h
t t
t o
2
1 1
) ( ) ( ) (

= =
= =

. (8)
The transfer function with multipath signal propagation can
be written:


i
f j
N
i
i i
e l f A g f H
t t 2
1
) , ( ) (

=
=

, (9)
where g
i
is a weighting factor representing the reflection
and transmission factors along the path and A(f,l
i
) is attenua-
tion factor derived from characteristics of PLC transmission
cable, it can be found in [12]. The transfer function including
the parameters of the attenuation, impedance fluctuations and
multipath effects. The noise model in Fig. 3 is added too.

i
C1
Ci
CN
Noise
s(t)
r(t)


Figure 3: Multipath signal propagation representing power line
channel model.

5 Model measurements
5.1 Sample network
The simple distribution network topology is shown in Fig.
4. The link has one branch and consists of the segments (1),
(2) and (3) with the lengths l
1
, l
2
a l
3
and the characteristic
impedance Z
C1
, Z
C2
a Z
C3
.
VOL. 1, NO. 2, JUNE 2010
50

A
D
C
B (1)
Receiver Transmitter
Branch
(3)
(2)

Figure 4: Topology of the sample network.

R, L, G, C, Z
c
and parameter were obtain analytic from
characteristic parameters of a cable NYM-J 3x2.5.
Table I shows the parameter of sample network.

Table I: Sample network parameter.
l
1
20 m
l
2
30 m
l
3
20 m

The transmitter and receiver are impedance matching,
which means Z
A
=Z
C1
, Z
C
=Z
C2
. The appliance on the branch
has different impedance than the cable, therefore the reflection
occur here.
The parameters of the channel are acquired based on the to-
pology of the distribution network and on the basis of these
parameters we can make a calculation of characteristic imped-
ance and propagation constant for each network segment.
Of known characteristic impedance of each segment we set
the reflection factors. The points for reflection are B and D
with the reflection factor [13] [14]:

1
3 2
3 2
1
3 2
3 2
1
C
C C
C C
C
C C
C C
B
Z
Z Z
Z Z
Z
Z Z
Z Z
r

(10)
1
1
3
C D
C D
D
Z Z
Z Z
r

(11)

3
1 2
1 2
3
1 2
1 2
3
C
C C
C C
C
C C
C C
B
Z
Z Z
Z Z
Z
Z Z
Z Z
r

. (12)

It is also necessary to calculate the transmission factor [13]
[14]:
B B
r t
1 1
1 (13)
B B
r t
3 3
1 . (14)

The possible propagation paths from transmitter to receiver
are shown in Table II.

Table II: Propagation paths.
Path
No.
Way of the path Weighting factor
g
i
Length of
path d
i

1 ABC t
1B
l
1
+l
2

2 ABDBC t
1B
r
3D
t
3D
l
1
+2l
3
+l
2


N AB (DB)
N-1

C
t
1B
r
3D

(r
3B
r
3D
)
(N-2)
t
3D

l
1
+2(N-
1)l
3
+l
2



Each path i has a weighting factor g
i
, representing the prod-
uct of the reflection and transmission factors along the path.
The delay
i
of a path can be calculated from the length d
i
, the
speed of light c
0
and the isolation relative permittivity
r
:
0
c
d
r i
i


. (15)

The signal components of the paths have to be added due to
superposition and the transfer function of sample network can
be expressed as:
i
f j
N
i
i i
e d f A g f H
2
1
) , ( ) (

. (16)

Due to the fact that longer paths have higher attenuation
they contribute less to the overall signal at the receiving point,
therefore was chosen six paths.
5.2 Simulation results
Fig. 5 shows the results of a simulation of the multipath
signal propagation model based on transfer function (16) with
six paths. The reflections at the open tap cause periodical
notches in the frequency response, which can easily be seen in
the Fig. 5. The parameter set is listed in Table III, this parame-
ters are derived from parameters of sample topology, equa-
tions (10) - (14) and characteristic parameters of a cable
NYM-J 3x2.5.

Table III: Parameters of the sample network model.
Path No. d
i
g
i

1 200 0,6664
2 238 0,2498
3 276 -0,0408
4 314 0,0067
5 352 -0,0011
6 390 0,0002
VOL. 1, NO. 2, JUNE 2010
51

0 0.5 1 1.5 2
x 10
7
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
Frequency response
|
H
(
f
)
|

[
d
B
]
f [Hz]

Figure 5: Simulation of the sample network.


5.3 Noise in power line channel
Background noise: it is every time present in the network. It
is caused by assembling of multiple sources of noise with low
power. It can be described by a PSD (Power Spectral Density)
that it declines with a growly frequency. The background
power noise density can be described with equation:
0
0
) (
f
f
e A A f A

(17)


where A

is power density for f ,and A

0
is a differences
between A() and A(0). This model enables modelling back-
ground noise as a white noise process, which gets a spectral
colouring by a filter.

Narrow-band noise: this noise primary originates from the
broadcasting stations that they transmit in a long, middle a
short wave range. The amplitude can be changed in depen-
dence on time and place. The narrow-band noise can be mod-
elled as a sum of multiple sine noise with different amplitude:

N
i
i i i
t f t A t n
1
) 2 sin( ) ( ) (

(18)

where N is a number of waves of differencing frequencies f
i
,
amplitude A
i
(t) and phase
i
. The amplitude A
i
(t) is a constant
in simplest case but it can be established from broadcast
transmission. The phase
i
is randomly established from inter-
val [0;2].

Asynchronous impulsive noise: this type of noise is cha-
racterized by high and short spikes of voltage with length 10
100 s. These spikes can reach up to 2kV level. This noise is
the cause of the switching equipments in the distribution net-
work. These kinds of noise are considered as a part of back-
ground noise.

Synchronous impulsive noise: is caused by thyristors in
light dimmers and copiers. They are bursts of interference
spikes with repeating of period. Synchronous impulse noise
can be modelled by a source of white noise with a spectral
colouring together with a periodical switching of rectangular
wrap (Fig. 6) [15].

5.4 PLC channel model
The final model has been created from OFDM model and
power lines model together with noises models in Mat-
lab/Simulink [16].
The coefficients of the filter were calculated from the trans-
fer function of the multi path signal environment (16).
The power line was modelled as filter together with the
sources of the interference. More detailed information about
the sources of interference can be found in [12]. Fig. 7 shows
the resulting PLC channel.
This PLC channel is used in OFDM model in Fig. 1 and
enables to simulate data communication over power lines.
1
Out1
Digital
Filter
PLC channel
DSP
Narrowband noise 50 Hz
Rician
Impulsive noise
Background noise
Gaussian
Additive white Gaussian noise
1
In1

Figure 7: PLC channel.

5.5 Resulting application

The resulting simulation application (Fig. 8) contains selec-

White
noise
filter
Spectral
colouring
Synchronous
impulsive
noise
Periodic rectangular signal


Figure 6: Synchronous impulsive noise.
VOL. 1, NO. 2, JUNE 2010
52

tion of modulation, channel model and noise model. Applica-
tion has the view of frequency response of the selection chan-
nel too.

Figure 8: Resulting application.

The simulation can shown the constellation diagram for dif-
ferent modulations, channel model and noise model. Through
the constellation diagram is possible to view the effect of
noise.

6 Conclusion
The progress in PLC technology has come about in the last
decade. Remote data acquisition is now necessary because it is
given by legal conditions. PLC technology is seemed as an
alternative data channel.
The article deals with design of the PLC communication
system model. The model is composed of the OFDM commu-
nication model, the model of power lines and noise model.
The model of power lines are modelled as an environment of
multipath signal propagation. For the sample network topolo-
gy was modelled power lines and the resulting channel model
was constructed consisting of a power lines model and the
sources of interference.
The work provides computer apparatus for creating models
and modelling of power lines for the simulation of data trans-
mission over power lines. The constructed power line model
offers possibility to carry out investigations in different net-
work topologies and study their effect on communication
system.
The complex PLC communication model can be used for
comparison of the performance of different modulation and
coding schemes and for future standardization. The results of
simulations based on the model will be compared with mea-
surements of a real system in the future work.
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