Channel modelling and relay for powerline communications

Abstract

The thesis discusses the channel modelling and relay techniques in powerline communications (PLC) which is considered as a promising technology for the Smart Grid communications, Internet access and home area network (HAN). In this thesis, the statistical PLC channel characteristics are investigated, a new statistical channel modelling method is proposed for the in-door PLC. Then a series of the relay protocols are suggested for the broadband communications over power grid.

The statistical channel modelling method is proposed to surmount the limits of the traditional deterministic PLC channel models such as multipath model and transmission line model. To develop the channel model, the properties of the multipath magnitudes, interval between the paths, cable loss and the channel classification are investigated in detail. Then, each property is described by statistical distribution or formula. The simulation results show that the statistical model can describe the PLC channels as accurate as deterministic models without the topology information which is a time-consuming work for collecting.

The relay transmission is proposed to help PLC adapting the diverse application scenarios.

The protocols covers the main relay aspects which include decode/amplify forwarding, single/ multiple relay nodes, full/half duplex relay working mode. The capacity performance of each protocol is given and compared. A series of the facts which improve the performance of the PLC networks are figured out according to simulation results. The facts include that the decode-and-forward is more suitable for the PLC environment, deviation or transforming station is better location for placing relay node and full duplex relay working mode help exploiting the capacity potential of the PLC networks.

Some future works are pointed out based on the work of statistical channel model and relay. In the last part of this thesis, an unit based statistical channel model is initialled for adapting various PLC channel conditions, a more practical relay scenario which contains multiple data terminals is proposed for approaching the realistic transmission scenario. At last, the relay for the narrowband PLC Smart Grid is also mentioned as future research topic.