Time-domain multitone impedance measurement system for space applications

© 2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.This paper presents a time-domain methodology to measure the devices' live impedance at the frequency range between 30 Hz and 100 kHz. This measurement is a requirement for some space applications to ensure the stability between DC/DC converters and the onboard power. The methodology is based on a multitone excitation combined with current and voltage measurements performed with an oscilloscope. The experiments show that the measurement system obtains accurate results and offers new capabilities to deal with the drawbacks that traditional frequency-sweep instrumentation implies. The multitone approach injects signals at the entire frequency range simultaneously. Therefore, the measurement system is able to characterize time-varying and the nonlinear devices. The time-domain measurement system has been validated through different test cases achieving excellent results compared with the ones obtained using the reference impedance frequency-sweep approach.The project on which these results are based has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 801342 (TecniospringINDUSTRY) and the Government of Catalonia's Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ). This work was supported by the Spanish “Agencia Estatal de Investigación” under project PID2019-106120RBC31/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

DC Power Line Communication (PLC) on 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz Wired RF Transceivers

Efficient management through monitoring of Li-ion batteries is critical to the progress of electro-mobility and energy storage globally, since the technology can be hazardous if pushed beyond its safety boundaries. Battery management systems (BMSs) are being actively improved to reduce size, weight, and cost while increasing their capabilities. Using power line communication, wireless monitoring, or hybrid data links are one of the most advanced research directions today. In this work, we propose the use of radio frequency (RF) transceivers as a communication unit that can deliver both wired and wireless services, through their superior analog and digital signal processing capability compared to PLC technology. To validate our approach computational simulation and empirical evaluation was conducted to examine the possibility of using RF transceivers on a direct current (DC) bus for wired BMS. A key advantage of this study is that it proposes a flexible and tested system for communication across a variety of network scenarios, where wireless data links over disrupted connections may be enabled by using this technology in short-range wired modes. This investigation demonstrates that the IEEE 802.15.4-compliant transceivers with operating frequencies of 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz can establish stable data links on a DC bus via capacitive coupling at high data rates

Characterizing MIMO Channels in Low-Voltage Electric Power Line Communication through Impedance and Scattering Parameters Analysis

Abstract This study examines the characteristics of the lowvoltage MIMO-PLC electric power line channel, which operates within the 2-100 MHz frequency range. The research involved measurements in four different Setups using 2.5 mm copper wires, including phase, neutral, and protective earth wires. These wires were transposed within a conduit, measured in pairs, with variations in the number and lengths of branches, assuming a deterministic modeling behavior of the electric power line. Throughout the experimentation process, essential parameters such as the magnitude of the S21 scattering parameters and VSWR identify frequency ranges suitable for efficient data transmission. The findings suggest remarkable prospects for enhancing PLC communication across MIMO channels. Depending on the combination of cable lines, over 70% of the bandwidth remains available. Additionally, the overall average impedance measured at 77.14 Ω is vital for impedance matching in PLC coupling circuit designs

Upgrading the Power Grid Functionalities with Broadband Power Line Communications: Basis, Applications, Current Trends and Challenges

This article reviews the basis and the main aspects of the recent evolution of Broadband Power Line Communications (BB-PLC or, more commonly, BPL) technologies. The article starts describing the organizations and alliances involved in the development and evolution of BPL systems, as well as the standardization institutions working on PLC technologies. Then, a short description of the technical foundation of the recent proposed technologies and a comparison of the main specifications are presented; the regulatory activities related to the limits of emissions and immunity are also addressed. Finally, some representative applications of BPL and some selected use cases enabled by these technologies are summarized, together with the main challenges to be faced.This work was financially supported in part by the Basque Government under the grants IT1426-22, PRE_2021_1_0006, and PRE_2021_1_0051, and by the Spanish Government under the grants PID2021-124706OB-I00 and RTI2018-099162-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”)