Electromagnetic interference from digital signal transmission on power line carrier channels

A procedure is presented to evaluate the electromagnetic field generated by a digital transmission system on multiconductor power-line carrier channels. The vertical component of the electric field and the horizontal component of the magnetic field are defined by approximate formulaes of varying accuracy, depending on the frequency and the distance from phase conductors. Field sources are the currents traveling along the line, which are evaluated by means of an accurate simulation model of the transmission system and a rigorous wave propagation algorithm. Frequency spectra and lateral profiles of the field components are computed for single-phase and two-phase couplings on a horizontal power line. Digital channel capacity is shown to increase as the pulse repetition interval T decreases. However, if T increases, the harmonic content of the input signal code increases and, consequently, electromagnetic pollution rises for a given carrier channel. It is concluded that the EMI (electromagnetic interference) level is an important constraint which must be taken into account when choosing T and, more generally, in the design of the digital transmission system