Data transmission applications via low voltage power lines using OFDM technique

The author introduces a transmissions scheme for power lines that is based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The suitability of such a system is proved by various simulations taking real channel conditions into account. As a basis for the system layout, an overview of the channel properties of a 230 V power line network is given. The channel characteristics are gained by several measurements of attenuation and a noise survey having been performed by the author in different locations. These investigations lead to a system based on the OFDM technique which is also presented. For such an OFDM system many parameters have to be suitably selected, such as the algorithm that distributes the data among the different subchannels by selecting different modulation schemes for each subchannel. Simulation results are depicted that show the influence of such system parameters on the data transmission