A synthesis of theoretical and experimental study on power line communication over an aircraft tree-shaped network

This paper gives an overview of the theoretical and experimental approach which has been carried out in order to study the feasibility of broadband power line communication in aircraft. The network which has been chosen corresponds to part of a cabin lighting system and whose tree shape architecture is complicated enough to be representative of many other aircraft cable harnesses. The transmitting frequency band extends from 1 to 30 MHz. The theoretical channel characteristics are obtained from a software based on the transmission line theory while performances of the link in terms of bit error rate and capacity are deduced from a numerical tool simulating an OFDM link. Measurements on a test bench have allowed to estimate the common mode to differential mode conversion factor and to validate the theoretical results.