8-PSK power line communication analysis and modeling for renewable smart grids

After more than two decades since intensive research began on power line communications (PLC) technology, this interesting field of telecommunication engineering is still progressing towards maturity. Despite some factors that delay its worldwide acceptance, its implementation is starting to take off. Research in PLC is motivated (i) by many factors such as the crowded radio frequency spectrum that requires to be sustained by alternative technologies and (ii) by the emanation of other new technologies that may help PLC to extend its practical implementation such as visible light communications or other wireless communication technologies like near‐field communications. PLC technology is used in applications requiring both low and high data rate but traditionally exploited in applications in which the node does not move. Nowadays, PLC has become widely accepted; hence, a review of the technology may be useful to keep the readers aware of new updates. In this paper, we provide an overview of the evolution of PLC technology over the last few decades.

The paper presents a methodology proposal for testing and evaluation of communication systems in Smart Grids, especially for Power Line Communication (PLC) systems. The PLC technology is widely used in power grid as a part of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) allowing mainly data transfers between a management system at utility and customer-premises smart meters. However, the PLC technology on medium voltage (MV) lines is often used for remote control and monitoring of distribution transformers as well. Since power grid and consequently power lines have different transmission parameters affected by their placement and potentially burdened by interferences, the PLC systems have to be evaluated on site before placed to production. In this paper, authors propose a methodology for long-term benchmarking of the PLC systems using newly developed testing tools. The methodology is subsequently tested on real power grid and a selection of results is presented.

Power line communication (PLC) technology has proved itself in the last decade as an interesting solution for data transmission and communication in domestic application. Lately, this technology has been considered as a potential solution for monitoring and diagnosis of a motor-fed inverter setup. Information issued from sensors would be sent via power cables back to the controller despite the harsh environment and the switching of the inverter. This paper discusses the use of PLC technology over a pulsewidth modulation network by underlining the effect of the power cable length and the inverter switching on communication. A new approach based on the measurement of scattering parameters is used for this purpose, and the effect of the cable length is analyzed. It is shown that, for long distances, the PLC technology may not be effective, and hence, it is not possible to use power cables for communication.

Security of Power Line Communication systems: Issues, limitations and existing solutions

PLC (power line communication) technology is widely used in smart grid, this article details the power line channel characteristics of the environment, and its noise model can be divided into five categories. With analyzing their causes, bandwidth and respective property, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of the broadband and narrowband PLC technology in terms of the communication performance. And the major application scenarios in smart grid were divided into three different types: power information collection and the monitoring of electrical equipment, indoor devices interconnecting for smart home and broadband access. We are focusing on the topology and technical characteristics in the electric energy data acquisition system. Finally, the paper investigated the requirement of electric energy data acquisition system in China for smart grid.

Smart grid (SG) network is one of the recently improved networks of tangled entities, objects, and smart metering infrastructure (SMI). It plays a vital part in sensing, acquiring, observing, aggregating, controlling, and dealing with various kinds of fields in SG. The SMI or advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is proposed to make available a real-time transmissions connection among users and services are Time of use (TOU), Real time pricing (RTP), Critical Peak Pricing (CPP). In adding to, additional benefit of SMs is which are capable to report back to the service control center in near real time nontechnical losses (for instance, tampering with meters, bypassing meters, and illicit tapping into distribution systems). SMI supports two-way transmission meters reading electrical utilization at superior frequency. This data is treated in real time and signals send to manage demand. This paper expresses a transitory impression of cyberattack instances in customary energy networks and SMI. This paper presents cyber security attacks and countermeasures in Smart Grid Metering Network (SGMN). Based on the existing survey threat models, a number of proposed ways have been planned to deal with all threats in the formulation of the secrecy and privacy necessities of SG measurement network.

This paper proposes smart grid configurations that incorporate renewable resources, such as solar and wind power, using Power Line Communication (PLC). PLC and renewable energy connected to the grid are two promising applications for power system. Smart grid combines modern information communication technologies with existing power grid to enable power flow and information in all directions. The implementation of smart grid technology to a rural area promotes the utilization of renewable resources such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbines. In this paper, a grid-connected smart grid was implemented for a small community in Sitakunda, Bangladesh. The developed model is simulated using the Matlab/Simulink program. Finally, the energy flows between the renewable energy system and local supplying network are analyzed and optimized.

The inclusion of renewable energy in the conventional grid system and the digitalization of the various aspects of the power system have precipitated the transformation of the traditional grid system to a smart grid. Key to the implementation of the smart grid is various communication technologies. The emerging dominance of communication technologies in power systems applications is pivotal to modernizing the conventional grid system. This research presented an overview of the application of communication technologies in the digitalization of the power systems network. It reviews smart grid communication technologies, their features, relevance, and various roles being played toward delivering an effective electrical service to stakeholders. Hence, this study focused on wireless and wired communication technologies applicable to smart grid applications. Based on the review, each communication technology has its strengths and weaknesses; hence in selecting the most appropriate technology for application in a smart grid, a compromise must be made. Therefore, for choosing the most preferred communication technology in any smart grid application, it is important to deploy the efficacy of multi-criteria methods. To serve as a case study, a framework for selecting a communication technology for advanced metering infrastructure is proposed and applied. Based on the spectrum, data rate, and coverage range, the study revealed that WiMAX communication technology is the most preferred, followed by Zigbee; the least preferred communication technology for smart grid communication is Power Line Communication (PLC).

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is the foundation of the Smart Grid system. One of the most important parts of AMI is smart meter communication. Power Line Communication (PLC) technology utilizes the existing power line network for communication media between smart meters and Data Collector Units (DCU). One of the biggest challenges of communication using PLC is the noise level due to residential loads. In this study, laboratory test set up to measure noise caused by PV rooftop and residential loads are observed. Each PLC frequency band was measured and observed to determine the suitable frequency for PLC communication which was the low noise level. Some experiments in the field were conducted to determine the performance of the PLC. Laboratory test measurement result shows the FCC band (150-490 kHz) was outside the range of PV rooftop and residential load noise. On the other hand, the Cenelec A (35-90 kHz) frequency range was in the range of noise signal. Therefore, NB-PLC G3 using FCC frequency band was proposed to achieve robust data communication and lower noise level. G3 PLC FCC band was tested in the real field residential area, the experimental results showed 97.62% successful rate within one-week data collection.

Based on the techno-economic pedagogical (TEP) method proposed in [1] that is suitable for designing Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) networks in transmission and distribution power grids, this paper examines the broadband potential of overhead low-voltage/broadband over power lines (LV/BPL) and medium-voltage/broadband over power lines (MV/BPL) networks. In this paper, on the basis of the set of linear simplifications and techno-economic metrics already presented in [1], TEP method demonstrates to undergraduate electrical and computer engineering (ECE) students the behavior of overhead LV/BPL and MV/BPL networks in terms of their modal transmission characteristics when different overhead LV/BPL and MV/BPL topologies occur. The contribution of this paper is four-fold. First, the factors influencing modal transmission characteristics of overhead LV/BPL and MV/BPL networks are investigated with regard to their spectral behavior and end-to-end channel attenuation. Second, the impact of the multiplicity of branches at the same junction is first examined. In the light of cascaded two-way power dividers, TEP method is extended so as to cope with more complex BPL topologies offering a new simplified and accurate circuital approximation. Third, apart from the broadband transmission characteristics of the entire overhead distribution power grid, a consequence of the application of TEP method is that it helps towards the intraoperability/interoperability of overhead LV/BPL and MV/BPL systems under a common PHY framework in the concept of a unified distribution smart grid (SG) power network. Fourth, TEP method can be demonstrated to undergraduate ECE students as case study in order to stimulate their interest for Microwave Engineering and Circuit/System Engineering courses. Citation: Lazaropoulos, A. (2015). Designing Broadband over Power Lines Networks Using the Techno-Economic Pedagogical (TEP) Method – Part II: Overhead Low-Voltage and Medium-Voltage Channels and Their Modal Transmission Characteristics. Trends In Renewable Energy, 1 (2), 59-86. doi: 10.17737/tre.2015.1.2.006

The hybrid wireless and power line communication (PLC) technology greatly improves the reliability of Power Internet of Things network (IoT) and the access ability of the terminals. However, with the development of Power IoT, the topology structure of the network becomes exceedingly complex, and the difficulty of networking is also gradually increasing. To address this issue, this paper proposes a multi-ant colony (MACS) based QoS networking algorithm for hybrid PLC and wireless communication networks. Considering the network QoS parameters and service demands, the networking algorithm constructs the fitness function to evaluate the quality of communication transmission paths, and the MACS algorithm is employed to establish the optimal relay route to complete networking. Numerical results prove that the MACS algorithm has a superior ability to jump out of local optimum than the traditional improved ant colony system (IACS) algorithm. Moreover, our proposed algorithm can construct the optimal relay route under corresponding constraints and demands according to different types of services.

Smart Grids are composed of many features and new technologies which are gradually incorporated to traditional electrical networks. Smart Metering is one of these new features, it remotely manages consumers, enables fraud prevention, identifies faults and shutdowns, and manages distribution transformers, among others. In this context, this paper presents the development of a complete Smart Metering System which utilizes Power Line Communication (PLC) technology considering the standard PRIME (PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution) applied in a typical Brazilian urban electrical network. The results analysis shows that the standard PRIME, although quite widespread in the European community, presents several operational constraints in the Brazilian electrical network affecting its performance in terms of communication, but not preventing its use. Therefore, it is urgent to apply new technical standards and that inspection agencies work to ensure that such standards will be applied, under the penalty of making unfeasible the use of the new communication technologies for the environment of the Smart Grids in the Brazilian scenario.

Structural Health Monitoring of distributed systems is closely connected with data transmission from measurement points to the main server, where measurement data is processed and subjected to expert assessment. Power Line Communication (PLC) technology allows data transmission through existing power network. The greatest advantage of the PLC technology is the possibility of using ubiquitous, electric infrastructure, wherever there is no access to dedicated wired transmission links. However, it should be stressed that the main application of power lines is transmission of electricity while data transmission is a secondary issue. In monitoring systems and distributed measurement systems it is of vital importance that information from measurement points reaches the receiver in the unchanged form. Hash functions rise possibility of proper recognition if transmitted data is an exact mapping of information sent from measurement point. The paper concerns the method of polynomial hash function implementation for PLC systems in the LabVIEW environment.

Developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) achieved new trends such as smart grid (SG). Innovations in ICT bring challenges to our security and expectations of privacy. ICT has such a big attack surface that possess increased risks from cyber-attacks in smart grid. Actually, as a critical infrastructure, the smart grid is more sensitive to cyber-attacks, as monitoring and control of smart grid can be realized over standard internet-based protocols. Therefore, an attacker may achieve financial cost to the service and create loss of electric resources, through breaching the real-time balance between energy production and consumption, by controlling data produced by the smart entities. Therefore, in this study, bagging ensemble classifier is evaluated for intrusion detection in a smart grid with a benchmark data. Experimental results have revealed the practicality of Bagging ensemble classifier by realizing a better performance for the cyber security threats in a smart grid environment. The results indicated that the suggested Bagging ensemble classifier with REP Tree achieved a total classification accuracy of 99.94%.

The knowledge of the Power Line (PL) network impedance is relevant to improve the performance of the communication system and enable smart grid monitoring and diagnostics. This paper introduces a new method to estimate the PL grid impedance exploiting only voltage measurements and changes of the load at the receiver side of the Power Line Communication Modem (PLM). The proposed estimation technique is called Non Intrusive (NI) because does not require signals to be injected at the measurement port. But signals originated from a remote node are exploited for the impedance estimation. The exploitation of PLMs not only as communication devices but also to sense the Power Line Network (PLN) parameters, will promote new applications in the domain of PL diagnostics and allow better PL grid monitoring. The method was evaluated through simulations and real measurements. The proposed approach applies to both single and multi-conductor technologies at different frequency bands.