Potential Effects of Power Line Communication on xDSL Inside the Home Environment

Power line communication (PLC) is a recent and rapidly evolving technology using the existing electricity power lines for data transmissions at high rates (higher than 1 Mbit/s). As these lines have not been designed for high data rate transmissions, they will produce unintentional radio frequency emissions that may adversely cause high interferences in a wider frequency range than their own bandwidth (due to frequency harmonics and the statistical properties of noise like interference). Digital subscriber line technology is currently used to deliver high data rates to users that are using the existing telephone lines. The lines of the two networks (the electricity power distribution and the telephone) are found close to each other in residential places and offices (sometimes in the same duct). Therefore, service providers are concerned about the influence of the PLC transmission on the delivery of services over VDSL2, where the two technologies overlap in frequency range. In this paper, the interference on telephone lines caused by PLC will be studied. Electrical measurements are presented that show the impact of PLC on xDSL in various scenarios. It is demonstrated that readily available in-line radio frequent interference filters are effective solution to minimize the interference levels.

Publication year:2009

Keywords:crosstalk, interference, PLC, xDSL