Power Line Communication Solutions

for Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)

and Home Automation

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With Power Line Communication, data can be exchanged
among powered devices without adding new wires!

Automatic Home & Building

Meter Automation
Reading

Street
Lighting
Control

Audio/Video
Distribution
Multimedia

Home Gateway

Narrowband Network
Broadband Network (ST Power Line Transceivers)

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 ST Makes the History in
Power Line Communication

1989: ST7536 is the first monolithic Power Line Modem for the
Automated Meter Reading

1995: ST releases the ST7537, second generation Power Line
Modem for home connectivity

2002: ST introduces the ST7538, third generation Power Line
Transceiver with integrated Power Line Interface (PLI)

2004: ENEL selects ST7538 as the communication heart for its
breaking-through Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) project

2005: The LEGRAND Home & Building Automation system based on
ST7538 is selected to equip the tenth tallest building in the world
located in Singapore

2006: ST introduces the ST7540 Transceiver, the most compact and
cost effective solution for narrowband power line communication

Several million Power Line Transceivers sold to-date!

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 ST Power Line Transceivers:
a Continuous Evolution…
Evolution…
3rd Generation B-FSK Transceiver
- Multi frequency/multi baud up to 4800bps NEW
- Integrated differential Power Line Interface
- TQFP44 10x10x1.4 mm

1st Generation B-FSK Modem

- Up to 1200bps baud rate
- PLCC28 11.6x11.6x4.5mm 4th Generation B-FSK
“Stripped Down” Transceiver
- Multi frequency/multi baud up to 4800bps
- Integrated single ended Power Line Interface

ST - HTSSOP28 4.4x9.7x1mm
75
36

2nd Generation B-FSK Modem

ST - Up to 2400bps baud rate
753
7 - PLCC28 11.6x11.6x4.5mm

1989 1995 2002 2006

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 Power Line Communication Node
based on ST7538/40 Transceivers partitioning

Peripherals
Peripherals
Node
Microcontroller
Application
FLASH
FLASH
MEMORY
MEMORY
Communication protocol

Application
Application
uC
uC Core
Core SMPS
SMPS
Network
Network
LLC
LLC
MAC

PHY
PHY
Modem
Modem

Voltage
Voltage
Analog
Analog front
front End
End Reg. ST7538/40
Reg.
Power Line
Power
Power Amplifier
Amplifier I/Os
I/Os Transceivers

Modular and flexible

Protocol “agnostic” Coupling
Network

Minimum bill of material
Power Line

Cost effective
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 ST7538Q Key Features (1)
MODEM SECTION

Half duplex Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) Modem

8 programmable channels: nication
om mu
 60, 66, 72, 76, 82, 86 kHz (band A) nal c tion
c tio lic a
 110 kHz (CENELEC band B) st bidire ver app
u te
Rob for wha
 132.5 kHz (CENELEC band C)

4 programmable BAUD rates:
 600, 1200, 2400, 4800 bps

RECEIVER SECTION r m a nces

Programmable receiver sensitivity g perfo
recei vin
to n oise
able
 low: equal to band in use adapt onment
 medium: 0.5mVrms envir
 high: 0.25mVrms

TRANSMITTER SECTION

Integrated Differential Power Line Interface
m bedded

Programmable current and voltage control key e
Turn- t amplifier

14Vpp, 370mArms output levels capability smar

Freezable power amplifier output level

EN50065 CENELEC and FCC part 15 compliant
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 ST7538Q Key Features (2)
AUXILIARY FUNCTIONS

5V, 50mA linear voltage regulator output t e rial
fm a

3.3V, 50mA linear voltage regulator output Bill o ction

Programmable output clock redu
 16MHz, 8MHz, 4MHz, off

Uncommitted OpAmp (7MHz gain bandwidth)

Watchdog timer

COMMUNICATION FEATURES
mentation

Carrier and preamble detection imple
Easier

Band in use detection

Programmable transmission time out

Programmable header and frame length recognition

Mains zero crossing detection and synchronization

OTHER FEATURES low p

o wer
p ply ,

Single power supply (from 7.5V to 12.5V) Sim ple su

Low quiescent current (5mA)
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 ST7540 “stripped down”
Power Line Transceiver

Same ST7538Q FSK modem core

Removed some “auxiliary” functionalities

Reduced size

New enhanced single ended Power Line Interface

Particularly suitable for simple, compact and cost effective applications 8
 ST7540 vs. ST7538Q Comparison

FEATURES ST7538Q ST7540 Comments

Package TQFP44 HTSSOP28 Smaller size for space
(10X10X1.4mm) (4.4X9.7X1mm) constrained applications
Power Line Interface Double Ended Single Ended All terminals accessible in
(370mA rms) (500mA rms) ST7540
Transmission Time-out  [] Function available on ST7540
but not notified to the host
controller
Register Protection  [] Function available on ST7540
but not notified to the host
controller
Mains Zero Crossing Detection 
Uncommitted on chip OpAmp 
Received signal output (RxFo pin) 

ST7538 and ST7540 are interoperable

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 ST7540 vs. ST7538 Filtering

ST7538- PLI
Power
Component
Power AMP s
Mains
PLI
Pre
AMP Passive filtering

Easy coupling interface

Filter transfer function not PLI
affected by load impedance

Signal components required
Pre ST7540
AMP PLI
Signal
Components

Mains

Power AMP
Active filtering
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 …here’s a true ST7540 based PLC Node !
Few signal passives for Tx Few signal passives for Rx
Active Low Band Pass Filtering Passive Filtering
5V or 3.3V
Supply
SMPS

ST7540 Selective
Transceiver Output Filter
Microcontroller
External

Isolation
Transformer

3 resistors for control

loops threshold set up
r y l ow
ve M!
B. O .
Clock provided to the Crystal
microcontroller

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 ST7540 Reference Design
No easier or faster way to realize a compact and
cost effective PLC system !

SMPS

ST7540
Tx & Rx IC
Filters

Crystal
Isolated Coupling
Oscillator
Transformer

Surge and Burst Protections

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 ST Power Line Transceivers
Demonstration boards evolution

Non-isolated 132.5kHz
Isolated
132.5kHz
NEW
NEW
Isolated
Dual Channel
Isolated

8-2
Single Channel

…
3

L
75

UA

0-1
ST

8D

4
AL

75
3
75
EV

ST
ST

AL
AL

EV
Performance/Features EV

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Our new evaluation environment lets you put
your fingers onto PLC!
Control Board Based on ST72F651
(EVALCOMM BOARD) USB1.1 Full Speed I/F 12Mbps
Application FW USB download
8bit A/D 8 Inputs and 12 bit D/A 4 outputs
No external supply voltage needed
USB SPI,I2C I/F available
32k Flash, 5k RAM memories

New ST7538/40 PLT Boards

(EVALST7538DUAL,
New!
New! EVALST7540-1)

Isolated PLT board

Software Interface Small size
Easy application management Flexible and modular architecture
Windows compatible Plug and play approach

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 More Resources

• Power Line Communication products web page:

www.st.com/powerline

• On-line web seminar:

http://www.st.com/stonline/company/seminar/overview8.htm

• For support contact us at:

www.st.com/powerlinesupport

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