Design and development of a test bed to investigate conducted and radiated emissions from power line communication networks

Abstract

Advances in digital communications have made it possible to access the Internet using a variety of methods such as using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Fiber Optic, Power Line Communication (PLC), and etc. PLC is an emerging technology which has gained a lot of research interest over the past years.

PLC exploits the already build power line infrastructure to provide high-speed internet where no extra cabling will be needed which is convenient and low cost. User can simply connect to the internet by simply plugging the computer to the power socket. Despite the advantages, the main drawback is that power line was never designed for communication purposes. Harmonics can be introduced into the system due to the turning on and off of the other power plug. Common-Mode (CM) noise current will be generated due to the imbalance nature of power line which leads to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) radiation which affects other wireless communications user.

The aim of this report is to design and implement a CM choke into the PLC modem which will reduce CM current and not affecting the Differentiate-Mode (DM) current which is the useful transmitted communication signal as much as possible.