Impulsive noise generated by a pulse width modulation inverter: Modeling and impact on powerline communication

Currently, to ensure data transmission between an inverter and the sensors implemented on a motor, a dedicated cable is used. Since in an aircraft environment, weight is a critical issue, this cable may be avoided by using Power Line Communication technology (PLC), i.e. by transmitting the information on the 3-phase power cable connecting the inverter and the motor. This approach also presents advantages in terms of reliability and maintenance. However impulsive noise due to the inverter has a strong impact on the performances of the link. In order to optimize the communication scheme, it is important to characterize this noise both in the frequency domain and in the time domain. The objective of the work presented in this paper is first to extract the main impulsive noise characteristics and to study their variation as a function of the electrical configuration as the rotation speed of the motor. A noise model is then proposed to be used as an input in a software tool simulating the link in order to optimize the transmission scheme. Performances of PLC links are calculated in terms of bit error rate for different bit rates.