Development of a test bed for power line communications

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a power line test bed which provides a platform to simulate the 230 V/50 Hz power line environment in a controlled and reproducible engineering manner. The target is to communicate data over power lines in the frequency range from 1 MHz to 10 MHz. This test bed is integrated with power line communication (PLC) channel model, loads and impairment devices for worst-case environment simulation. Besides, the methods for coupling and isolating the high frequency signals from one section to another section are discussed. These methods are important for realizing the test bed as the noise immunity, channel impedance controllability, and high frequency communication signal coupling and isolation capabilities are essential.