EXPERIMENTAL ACTIVITY AND ANALYSIS OF PLC TECHNOLOGY IN VARIOUS SCENARIOS

Power line communications (PLCs) have become a key technology in the telecommunication world, both in terms of stand-alone technology or a technology that can complement other systems, e.g., radio communications. Since PLCs exploit the existing power delivery grid to convey data signals, the application scenarios are multiple. Historically, PLCs have been deployed in outdoor low voltage (< 1 kV) power distribution networks for the automatic metering and the management of the loads. Today, the evolution of the electrical grid toward an intelligent and smart grid that dynamically manages the generation, the distribution and the consumption of the power makes this technology still relevant in this scenario. Therefore, PLCs have raised significant interest in recent years for the possibility of delivering broadband Internet access and high speed services to homes and within the home. The increase in demand for such services has inspired the research activity in the in-home scenario, both toward the direction of the development of independent or integrated solutions, with respect to already existing technologies. Another application scenario that has not been deeply investigated yet is the in-vehicle one, which includes the in-car, in-plane and in-ship scenario. Since the power grid has not been designed for data communications, the transmission medium is hostile and exhibits high attenuation, multipath propagation and frequency selectivity, due to the presence of branches, discontinuities and unmatched loads. For the proper design of a power line communication (PLC) system, good knowledge of the grid characteristics in terms of propagation channel and disturbances is required. In this respect, we have performed experimental measurement campaigns in all the aforementioned scenarios. We aimed to investigate the grid characteristics from a telecommunication point of view. In this thesis, we present the results of our experimental activity. Firstly, we analyze the outdoor low voltage and industrial scenario. We have carried out a measurement campaign in an artificial network that can resemble either an outdoor low voltage power distribution network or an industrial or marine power system. We have focused on the channel frequency response, the line impedance and the background PLC noise, within the narrow band and the broad band frequency ranges. Then, we focus on the in-home scenario. In this context, we have studied the impact of the electrical devices (loads) connected to the power grid on the PLC medium characteristics and on the quality of the data communication. Their behavior has been investigated both in the time and frequency domain, in terms of load impedance and impulsive noise components that they inject into the network. Finally, we consider in-vehicle PLC, in particular the in-ship and in-car environment. Firstly, we summarize the results of a channel measurement campaign that we have carried out in a large cruise ship focusing on the low voltage power distribution network in the band 0-50 MHz. Thus, we present the results of an entire PLC noise and channel measurement campaign that we have performed in a compact electrical car

Power line communication (PLC) channel measurements and characterization.

M. Sc. Eng. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.The potential of the power line to transport both power and communication signals simultaneously has been realized and practiced for over a century, dating back to the 1900’s. Since the key aspect of power line communications being its expansivity, its implementations were largely as a retrofit technology. This motivation of power line communication is typical for low-, medium-, and high voltage distribution networks. Beyond the “last mile” part, there’s an uprising appeal for intra-building networks currently targeted for home automation (smart homes/buildings) and in-building networking. The optimum use of the existing power line channels has been a focus area for researchers and designers, with the inherent channel hostility proving a serious drawback for high speed data communications. The low-voltage electrical network has unpredictable noise sources, moreover it has two other main disadvantages as a communication channel. The first short coming has to do with the unknown characteristics of the power cable and topology of the network, the second arises from the time-dependent fluctuation of the impedance level of the power line as the loads are switched into and out of the power line network in an unpredictable manner. These factors determine the behaviour of the power line channel when a high frequency signal is impressed on it. This study has shown that the behaviour of indoor power line channels can be captured using a multipath based model even with limited qualitative and/or quantitative knowledge of the network topology. This model is suitable for typical indoor power line channels where knowledge of the topology is near impossible. Some of the feed parameters are obtained through measurements. With sufficient adjustment of control parameters, this model was successfully validated using sample measured channels from the numerous measurements. Through noise measurements, this study has established that impulsive noise is the rifest in the frequency band of interest. The impulsive energy rises well above background noise, which translates to possible data “black outs”. The statistics of the components of this noise are presented. A model of sufficient simplicity is used to facilitate the qualitative description of the background noise through its power spectral density. Two descriptions are provided in terms of the worst and best case scenarios of the background noise occurrences. The model has a good macroscopic capture of the noise power spectral density, with narrow-band interference visible for the worst case noise. Due to the multipath nature of the power line channel, this study also presents the dispersive characteristics of the power line as a communication channel. The power delay profile is used to determine parameters such as first arrival delay, mean excess delay, root mean square delay spread and maximum delay spread. The statistics of these parameters are presented. Also, the coherence bandwidth of power line channels is studied and its relationship with the rms delay spread is developed. It is in view of this work that further research in power line communication and related topics shall be inspired

Insights into tunnel FET-based charge pumps and rectifiers for energy harvesting applications

In this paper, the electrical characteristics of tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) devices are explored for energy harvesting front-end circuits with ultralow power consumption. Compared with conventional thermionic technologies, the improved electrical characteristics of TFET devices are expected to increase the power conversion efficiency of front-end charge pumps and rectifiers powered at sub-µW power levels. However, under reverse bias conditions the TFET device presents particular electrical characteristics due to its different carrier injection mechanism. In this paper, it is shown that reverse losses in TFET-based circuits can be attenuated by changing the gate-to-source voltage of reverse-biased TFETs. Therefore, in order to take full advantage of the TFETs in front-end energy harvesting circuits, different circuit approaches are required. In this paper, we propose and discuss different topologies for TFET-based charge pumps and rectifiers for energy harvesting applications.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A Numerical Study of Scaling Issues for Schottky Barrier Carbon Nanotube Transistors

We performed a comprehensive scaling study of Schottky barrier carbon nanotube transistors using self-consistent, atomistic scale simulations. We restrict our attention to Schottky barrier carbon nanotube FETs whose metal source/drain is attached to an intrinsic carbon nanotube channel. Ambipolar conduction is found to be an important factor that must be carefully considered in device design, especially when the gate oxide is thin. The channel length scaling limit imposed by source-drain tunneling is found to be between 5nm and 10nm, depending on the off-current specification. Using a large diameter tube increases the on-current, but it also increases the leakage current. Our study of gate dielectric scaling shows that the charge on the nanotube can play an important role above threshold.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure

Performance Analysis of Discrete Wavelet Multitone Transceiver for Narrowband PLC in Smart Grid

Smart Grid is an abstract idea, which involves the utilization of powerlines for sensing, measurement, control and communication for efficient utilization and distribution of energy, as well as automation of meter reading, load management and capillary control of Green Energy resources connected to the grid. Powerline Communication (PLC) has assumed a new role in the Smart Grid scenario, adopting the narrowband PLC (NB-PLC) for a low cost and low data rate communication for applications such as, automatic meter reading, dynamic management of load, etc. In this paper, we have proposed and simulated a discrete wavelet multitone (DWMT) transceiver in the presence of impulse noise for the NB-PLC channel applications in Smart Grid. The simulation results show that a DWMT transceiver outperforms a DFT-DMT with reference to the bit error rate (BER) performance

Evaluation of a gate capacitance in the sub-aF range for a chemical field-effect transistor with a silicon nanowire channel

An evaluation of the gate capacitance of a field-effect transitor (FET) whose channel length and width are several ten nanometer, is a key point for sensors applications. However, experimental and precise evaluation of capacitance in the aF range or less has been extremely difficult. Here, we report an extraction of the capacitance down to 0.55 aF for a silicon FET with a nanoscale wire channel whose width and length are 15 and 50 nm, respectively. The extraction can be achieved by using a combination of four kinds of measurements: current characteristics modulated by double gates, random-telegraph-signal noise induced by trapping and detrapping of a single electron, dielectric polarization noise, and current characteristics showing Coulomb blockade at low temperature. The extraction of such a small gate capacitance enables us to evaluate electron mobility in a nanoscale wire using a classical model of current characteristics of a FET.Comment: To be published in IEEE Trans. Nanotechno