Broadband over Power lines by Jayesh Chi Bun

Broadband over Power lines by Jayesh Chi Bun Mummoorthy CS 536 – October 22, 2004

Broadband over power lines (BPL) ¡ FCC approved last week: power utilities free to carry data on electrical wires to provide broadband services ¡ Benefits l l l ¡ Better coverage than phone and cable (e. g. small towns and rural areas) Faster deployment May lower the price Challenges l EM interference to various radio signals ¡ ¡ l System to monitor interference, Restrict service in areas where could affect public safety High-voltage and fluctuation can corrupt data ¡ Clean data stream if power down to 7000 V

How Stuff Works? ¡ Medium l l ¡ PHY l l ¡ Fibers / Phone lines (to skip disruptive high-voltage lines) Medium voltage wires RF (bundled w/ AC) 4. 3 MHz – 20. 9 MHz 84 carriers OFDM MAC l l l CSMA/CA virtual carrier sense contention resolution Encoding: DQPSK Error detection/correction: FEC, ARQ

How Stuff Connected? l How to plug in? ¡ ¡ l Data rates ¡ ¡ ¡ l Wireless router on poles Special adaptor/modem plugged into electrical outlets Homeplug Powerline Alliance: 14 Mbps Amperion: currently 20 Mbps, 100 Mbps next year CVEC: claims 256 Mbps bidirectionally Prices ¡ ¡ Amperion: $19/mo Home n/w device: $25 Wall-plugged Ethernet Bridge

The future ¡ Home network l ¡ Easily create a network via electric outlets Smart electrical grids and devices l l Read electrical usage Diagnose maintenance problems and feed back Traffic lights, surveillance cams networked instantly Control power use

Comments on the article & the topic ¡ Pros l l l ¡ Cons l l ¡ Impact of BPL to broadband providers Provided estimated cost of services Proposed idea of smart electrical devices No technical details about data transmission mechanism over power line No discussion of safety and security Our Opinions l l l l +: +: -: -: -: ¡ Alternative to existing network infrastructure Opportunity for smart devices More trials and testing needed Interference problems? More at the hands of nature: Rain, Snow, . . New medium: Properties of Aluminum wires? ? ? Will it survive the opposition: ARRL(163, 000), FEMA, DERA & many more …

How Stuff Messed Up? Short wave/CB: 5. 9 MHz – 27. 41 Mhz Affected FEMA (emergency), ARRL (relay radio)