Evaluation and integrated diagnostic of high speed narrow band power-line chipset

Abstract

The narrow band power-line communication market is very interesting for utility services, automation, building facilities and so on. The available bandwidth is limited and data rates of several Mbps will not be possible. But the frequency range below 500 kHz has a lot of advantages. The EMC problems are very small compared with BPLC [Harald Dalichau, 2001]. The situation for regulation with CENELEC and FCC is much better. Independent use of the same medium and interoperability with BPLC is possible. The attenuation of the cables and the branches are much lower [Manfred Zimmermann] and it is possible to reach for example distances of 60 km (offshore umbilical cord) without any repeater. This is very important, if we look for reliable systems with a complete coverage of an area and real time requirements. Too much repeaters increase the costs, complicate the network management, reduce the reliability and limit the real time possibilities. Due to it IAd decided to produce two chip sets for this kind of market. The first concept for these chipsets was already presented on the 5th ISPLC in Malmo. Meanwhile, the design of the chipsets is ready, emulation boards with engineering samples of the analog ASIC and a complete design of the digital chip in an FPGA are built, software tools for diagnostic and test are implemented and all is in use for evaluation and first field trials. During the design we spent a lot of effort into the integration of measurement tools to analyse disturbers and characterise the transmission channel without any external measurement equipment. As in the past IAd is the expert for difficult power-line channels and therefore, we define our goal for the development as: 'if it is possible to communicate over a channel, our system has to do it' and this is equal to 'there never should be a system, which is able to communicate, but our one not.' Only if we deliver the best quality we get the confidence of our customer. If problems happen in the field we have to present the way, how to analyse the source of the problem and deliver solutions without additional costs. To reach this goal in the field, the integrated diagnostic is an important part.