Channel Estimation and Simulation of an Indoor Power-Line Network via a Recursive Time-Domain Solution

The frequency-selective characteristics of a power-line channel is a result of the tree-like structure of the power-line network and the various loads connected to its termination points. Channel modeling is important for the estimation and compensation of the degradation suffered by the signal propagating over power lines, and is also the basis for channel simulation. Based on the previously proposed time-domain models, the authors present a new method to efficiently calculate a power-line channel´s frequency response. With the knowledge about the power-line network´s topology and cable characteristics, this algorithm utilizes simple but effective recursive matrix operations to accurately estimate the channel response of a particular power-line network. This method can be used to estimate the frequency response of any point-to-point channel in a power-line network, and can also be exploited as a channel simulation tool which provides a remarkably realistic description of a power-line channel. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by comparing the estimated and measured responses of two example power-line networks.