Development of an Optimal Technique for Reliability Analysis of Power Line Communication System for Smart Grid Realization

Power Line Communication (PLC) is a communication technology that enables transmission of data on a conductor which is also used for electric power transmission. The development of a PLC system presents a significant challenge for the communication engineer due to the unusual channel characteristics that affect high-speed signal transmission since the electric power grid is designed to operate at 50/60 Hz. In addition, the topology of electric power grid network is often very irregular resulting in significant dispersion of the transmitted message signals as it is susceptible to noise and attenuation due to power lines being primarily used for transmission of electricity as a result of its viability for smart grid realization. This study therefore investigates the reliability analysis of PLC for Smart Grid (SG) realization using clipping and Turbo equalizer techniques to reduce the effects of noise and attenuation in narrowband (9-490 kHz) PLC system respectively. This optimal technique is based on the minimum Bit Error Rate (BER) search. The results show that the technique used improves the BER performance of the narrowband PLC system for smart grid realization. The result of this study provides a reliable communication and control for cost efficiency of existing power line infrastructure for Smart Grid. Keywords: PLC, Smart Grid, Attenuation, Clipping, Equalizer, Electric Power Transmission, Bit Error Rate. DOI : 10.7176/MTM/9-8-01 Publication date : August 31st 2019