Broadband PLC field trial on a compact electric vehicle

Power line communication (PLC) is a valuable solution to limit the amount of wiring, reduce the weight and thus increase the performance of electric vehicles. Basically, PLC removes the need of a dedicated wiring infrastructure for the data exchange by signaling over the power delivery cables. This work shows the potentialities of such technology reporting the performance of commercially available PLC devices designed for in-home networks and adapted for the in-vehicle scenario. Further, it provides an insight on the channel and noise characteristics and proves the robustness of PLC, a technology that is able to cope with high attenuation, large periodic noise and disruptive impulses. Finally, an application example where a rear camera is connected via PLC to a display placed on the dashboard of the vehicle is described.