Method to Cancel Impulsive Noise From Power-Line Communication Systems by Processing the Information in the Idle Carriers

The standards which rule power-line communications (PLC) systems specify that power must not be transmitted in those carriers, corresponding to the frequency bands of several radio services, such as amateur radio or radio broadcasting, in order not to interfere with them. So at PLC receivers, only a little power from background noise and perhaps some interference would be found in those idle carriers. When impulsive noise (IN) enters a PLC receiver, its energy spreads throughout the entire receiver band. The IN introduced in the idle carriers is very high compared to their background noise; therefore, we propose a method to cancel IN by using the information received in these idle carriers.