Power Line Communications – An Overview of Applications, Technology and

the HomePlug Standards

Muhammad Salman Yousuf*, Mustafa El-Shafei**
* Department of Electrical Engineering
** Department of Systems Engineering
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, KSA.
syousuf@kfupm.edu.sa, elshafei@ccse.kfupm.edu.sa

Abstract II. A TREATISE ON PLC APPLICATIONS

We give an overview of the Power Line Communications 1. A Bit of History

(PLC) technology, its importance and an overview of the
HomePlug standard associated with it. We start with the
discussion of main applications of PLC and its
prospects. We the concentrate on the important issues
in PLC and the structure of standards to tackle them.
Finally, we look at the HomePlug standard in detail and
the results of its field tests etc.
Our prime focus is on these standards: HomePlug 1.0
and HomePlug AV as these have become the basis for
the world’s most widely deployed PLC systems.
Keywords: Latest technology, Power Line
Communications, PLC, HomePlug 1.0, HomePlug
AV.
I. INTRODUCTION
Power lines were originally devised to transmit electric
power from a small number of sources (the generators)
to a large number of sinks (the consumers) in the
frequency range of 50-60 Hz. It is a fact that power
transmission towers and lines are some of the most
robust structures ever built. Historically, the PLC
technology has very limited applications but now we are
witnessing the possibility of it being acclaimed
universally as a prime mode of long-haul data
communication.
With the inevitable arrival of broadband access, the
demand for sending digital voice, video and Internet data
within the home increases continuously. While retrofitting
the houses and neighborhoods with special wires is one
option, it is expensive and time consuming. PLC
Technology allows the use of the existing and
widespread power distribution infrastructure to provide
high speed networking capabilities along with many
other benefits.
Section 2 gives a brief application history and the shining
prospects of PLC technology. Section 3 discusses the
issues in PLC. The preceding sections are then
dedicated to PLC Standards and focus on the HomePlug
Standards as already mentioned.
Initially, the first application involving data transmissions
over power lines were primarily done only to protect
sections of the power distribution system in case of
faults. (In fact, power line protection remains one of the
primary functions of power line communications.) In such
an event, the fast exchange of information is necessary
between power plants, substations and distribution
centers so as to minimize their detrimental effects. The
robustness of the power lines and their ready
connectivity and availability make this technique an
optimal solution.
Narrowband power line communications started soon
after the beginning of wide-spread electrical power
supply. Around the year 1922 the first carrier frequency
systems began to operate over high-tension lines in the
frequency range 15 to 500 kHz for telemetry purposes,
and this continues to the present time [1]. Consumer
products such as baby alarms have been available at
least since 1940. [2]
Historically, also, a primary motivation for power line
communications has been to do load management in
future. The currently employed ripple control systems
have the disadvantage of requiring several megawatts
for information transmission. A second important
motivation has been to facilitate meter reading from a
distance. An English study has shown that a meter
reader achieves an average information rate of only
about 1 bit/s [3]. The Tokyo Electric Power Co was
running experiments in the 1970’s which reported
successful bi-directional operation with several hundred
units [4].
Considering that data transmission over power lines has
been around for quite sometime, one might wonder why
it is receiving such renewed attention recently especially
considering the data rate for protection and telemetering
purposes is at most a few kb/sec and is not comparable
to the Mb/sec data that needs to be supported for
multimedia applications? The answer is a combination of
effects that took place during the mid thru late 1990s,
namely, the explosive growth of the Internet and the
gigantic leaps in VLSI (Very Large Integrated Circuits)
and DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology. Then
was the telecommunications market deregulation, first in
the US and then in Europe and Asia. All these events
have made power line communications a viable
technology for numerous other applications.
2. Home Automation
Power line communications technology can use the
household electrical power wiring as a transmission
medium. This is a technique used in home automation
for remote control of lighting and appliances and sensors
for alarm systems etc without installation of additional
control wiring. This is primarily based on the X10
Industrial Standard and has been in development since
1975. A detailed article on this standard and its
application can be found in [5].
3. Home Networking and Internet Access
(Broadband over Power Lines, BPL)
It follows that we can use the low voltage power network
as a Local Area Network (LAN) for conveniently
connecting many different computers in the same
building. With multiple outlets in every room, residential
power lines are already the most pervasive network in
the home. Using this existing infrastructure to provide
high speed networking capabilities provides several
benefits. First of all, there is no need for expensive
rewiring of the house. Secondly, almost all devices that
need to be networked are already connected to the AC
wiring. Thus, home networking becomes as simple as
plugging the device in the AC outlet.
The market for PLC for consumers is thus two-fold: to
the home, or “last mile” access; and in the home, or “last
inch” access. [6]
Figure 1: The “last-inch” networking through PLC.
The development of the “last inch” by Home-networking
companies in the form wireless network adapters and
power-line adapters is gradually leading to widespread
home networking; i.e., a wide array of devices connected
inside the home in an intra-home network. This “in-home
networking” could transform all power outlets in the
household into broadband connections for PCs,
telephones and their accessories, as well as other
‘enabled’ electric appliances.
Figure 1 illustrates the concept of “last inch” or in-home
networking, while Fig. 2 illustrates the “last mile”
concept.
Broadband over power lines (BPL), also known as
power-line internet or Powerband, is the use of PLC
technology to provide broadband Internet access
through ordinary power lines. A computer (or any other
device) would need only to plug a BPL "modem" into any
outlet in an equipped building to have high-speed
Internet access.
However, due to several issues hampering the
implementation and usefulness of BPL, one possible
alternative is to use BPL as the backhaul for wireless
communications, by for instance hanging Wi-Fi access
points or cellphone base stations on utility poles, thus
allowing end-users within a certain range to connect with
equipment they already have. In the near future, BPL
might also be used as a backhaul for WiMAX networks.
Figure 2: The “last-mile” broadband access to
homes and offices through the local power
distribution center.
Much higher speed transmissions using microwave
frequencies transmitted via a newly discovered surface
wave propagation mechanism called E-Line have been
demonstrated using only a single power line conductor.
These systems have shown the potential for symmetric
and full duplex communication well in excess of 1 Gbit/s
in each direction [7]. Multiple WiFi channels with
simultaneous analog television in the 2.4 and 5.3 GHz
unlicensed bands have been demonstrated operating
over a single medium voltage line. Furthermore,
because it can operate anywhere in the 100 MHz - 10
GHz region, this technology can completely avoid the
interference issues associated with utilizing shared
spectrum while offering the greater flexibility for
modulation and protocols found for any other type of
microwave system.
At present there is no universal standard for power line
communication for this purpose. However, HomePlug
Powerline Alliance has defined enduring standards, the
detailed exposition of which is in Section…
4. Narrowband PLC - Radio Broadcasting
PLC for radio transmission was and is widely used in
Germany (Drahtfunk), Switzerland (Telefonrundspruch),
Norway (Linjesender), USSR and some other countries.
In all cases the radio program was fed by special
transformers into the lines. In order to prevent
uncontrolled propagation, filters for the carrier
frequencies of the PLC systems were installed in
substations and at line branches. The narrowband
powerline communications channel presents many
technical challenges. A mathematical channel model and
a survey of work can be found in [8].
5. Automotive
Power-line technology enables in-vehicle network
communication of Data, Voice, Music and Video signals
by digital means over Direct Current (DC) battery power-
line. Advanced digital communication techniques tailored
to overcome hostile and noisy environment are
implemented in a small size silicon device. One power
line can be used for multiple independent networks.
Prototypes are successfully operational in vehicles using
automotive compatible protocols such as CAN-bus, LIN-
bus over power line (DC-LIN) and DC-bus developed by
Yamar. Automotive applications include Mechatronics
(e.g. Climate controls, Door modules, Immobilizers,
Obstacle detectors), Telematics and Multimedia.
6. Further Reading on Specific Applications
Nowadays, we are seeing novel applications being
developed using PLC and there is a wealth of literature
available on the topic. The demand for home automation
systems / intelligent homes has fueled much research
and practical intelligent homes have been designed, as
in [9]. Cavdar has presented a solution to remote
detection of illegal electricity usage in [10]. The quality of
power can also be measured using PLC [11].
III. ISSUES IN PLC
1. The Powerline Channel as Transmission Medium
1.1 Design
First off, the power line carrier was not specifically
designed for data transmission and provides a harsh
environment for it. Varying impedance, considerable
noise that is not white in nature and high levels of
frequency-dependent attenuation are the main issues.
1.2 Varying Channel Model
For successful communication, the communication
channel must be first modeled and analyzed accordingly.
The channel between any two outlets in a home has the
transfer function of an extremely complicated line
network. Power line networks are usually made of a
variety of conductor types, joined almost at random, and
terminating into loads of varying impedance. Over such
a transmission medium, the amplitude and phase
response may vary widely with frequency. While the
signal may arrive at the receiver with very little loss over
some frequencies, it may be completely
indistinguishable over other frequencies. Worse, the
channel transfer function itself is time varying since
plugging in or switching off of devices connected to the
network would change the network topology. Hence, the
channel may be described as random and time varying
with a frequency dependent signal to noise ratio (SNR)
over the transmission bandwidth.
A detailed discussion of modeling with mathematical
treatment for a Power Line Channel is given in [12]. The
signal propagation modeling in PLC networks is given in
[13].
1.3 High Dependence of Transmitter and Receiver
Location
The location of the transmitter or the receiver (in this
case the power outlet) could also have a serious effect
on transmission error rates. For example, a receiver
close to a noise source would have a poor signal to
noise ratio (SNR) compared to one further away from the
noise source. The noise sources could be home devices
plugged into the network.
1.4 Reflection, Multi-path Fading and Attenuation
Just like a wireless channel, signal propagation does not
take place between the transmitter and the receiver
along a line-of-sight path. As a result, additional echoes
must be considered. This echoing occurs because a
number of propagation paths exist between the
transmitter and the receiver. Reflection of the signal
often occurs due to the various impedance mismatches
in the electric network. Each multi-path would have a
certain weight factor attributed to it to account for the
reflection and transmission losses. All reflection and
transmission parameters in a power line channel may be
assumed to be less than one. The number of dominant
multi-paths to be considered (N) is often not more than
five or six since additional multi-paths are usually too
weak to be of any significance. This is because the more
transitions and reflections that occur along a path, the
smaller its weighting factor would be. It has been
observed from channel measurements that at higher
frequencies the channel attenuation increases.
2. Noise
Noise in power lines is a significant problem for data
transmission. This is because it rarely has properties
similar to the easily analyzed white Gaussian noise of
the receiver with which we are much familiar with.
Typical sources of noise are brush motors, fluorescent
and halogen lamps, switching power supplies and
dimmer switches. Apart from these, ingress sources
such as amateur radio transmission can render certain
frequencies unfit for communication. The noise in power
lines can be impulsive or frequency selective in nature
and, sometimes, both. Due to high attenuation over the
power line, the noise is also location dependent.
Recent studies have indicated that the noise in PLC
systems can be typified into four categories.
1. Colored noise: This type of noise has relatively low
power spectral density (psd) which decreases with
increasing frequency. It is considered to be the sum of
all low power noise sources and may be time varying.
2. Narrowband background noise: This noise is mainly
due to amplitude modulated sinusoidal signals. This kind
of interference is from broadcast stations in the medium
and short wave bands. The interference level varies
during different times of the day.
3. Impulse noise that is synchronous with the
generator’s actual supply frequency: This type of
impulse noise usually repeats at multiples of the supply
frequency of 60/50Hz. It has a short duration of about a
few microseconds and a power spectral density that
decreases with increasing frequency. The noise is
caused from power supplies operating synchronously to
the main’s frequency.
4. Impulse noise asynchronous with the main’s
frequency: This is the most detrimental type of noise for
data transmission.
Colored noise + Narrowband
noise + Synchronous and
Asynchronous Impulse noise
S(t) H(t,τ) R(t)
Transmitter Channel Receiver
Figure 3: A generalized block diagram for the PLC
system.
Its duration varies from a few microseconds to
milliseconds and has a random inter-arrival time. The
psd of such impulse noise may be as much as 50dB
above the background noise spectrum. Hence, it is
capable of wiping out blocks of data symbols during high
data transmission at certain frequencies. It is caused
from switching transients in the system network.
With this discussion we are ready to generalize a PLC
system into a model as shown in block diagram form in
figure 3.
3. Layers, Access Methods and Protocols
The communication in power lines can be divided into
two main layers: The Physical Layer and the Medium
Access Control (MAC) Layer.
The Physical Layer defines the modulation techniques to
transmit data over the power lines while the MAC
protocol specifies as resource sharing strategy i.e. the
access of multiple users to the network transmission
capacity based on a fixed resource sharing protocol.
Communicating at the PLC Physical Layer demands
robust modulation techniques like Frequency Shift
Keying (FSK), Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM). For low cost, low data rate applications, such
as power line protection and telemetering, FSK is seen
as a good solution. For data rates up to 1Mbps, the
CDMA technique may provide an effective solution.
However, for high data applications beyond that, OFDM
is the technology of choice for PLC. For MAC, there are
generally two categories of access schemes.
1. Fixed Access - assigns each user a predetermined or
fixed channel capacity irrespective of whether the user
needs to transmit data at that time. Such schemes are
not suitable for traffic in bursts, such as data
transmission that is provided by PLC.
2. Dynamic Access - protocols may be classified into
two separate categories:
2.1 Contention based protocols: collisions occur.
2.2 Arbitration protocols: collision free.
Contention protocols may not be able to guarantee a
quality of service (QoS), especially for time critical
applications, since collisions might occur and data might
have to be retransmitted. Arbitration based protocols are
more capable of guaranteeing a certain QoS. However,
contention based protocols may actually provide higher
data rates in applications which do not have stringent
QoS requirements (e.g., Internet applications). This is
because they require much less overhead compared to
arbitration protocols (polling, reservation, token passing).
The widely studied protocols for MAC Layer in PLC are.
3. Polling - primary/secondary access method in which
the primary station asks the secondary station if it has
any data to send. Arbitration based polling can handle
heavy traffic and does provide QoS guarantees.

4. Aloha - is a random access protocol in which a user
accesses a channel as soon as it has data to send.
5. Token passing schemes (e.g., token ring, token bus)
- are efficient under heavy symmetric loads. However,
they can be expensive to implement and serious
problems can arise with lost tokens on noisy unreliable
channels such as power lines.
6. Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) with
overload detection has been proposed for PLC. CSMA is
a contention based access method in which each station
listens to the line before transmitting data. CSMA is
efficient under light to medium traffic loads and for many
low-duty-cycle bursty terminals (e.g. Internet browsing).
6.1 Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) – senses the
channel for a collision after transmitting. When it senses
a collision, it waits a random amount of time before
retransmitting again. But on power lines the wide
variation of the received signal and noise levels make
collision detection difficult and unreliable.
6.2 Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) – As in the
CSMA/CD method, each device listens to the signal
level to determine when the channel is idle. Unlike
CSMA/CD, it then waits for a random amount of time
before trying to send a packet. Packet size is kept small
due to the PLC’s hostile channel characteristics. Though
this means more overhead, overall data rate is improved
since it means less retransmission.
CSMA/CA is used in HomePlug Standards and we will
talk about it in more detail in the next sections. For
further details of all of the other protocols, see [14].
IV. STANDARDS
As mentioned earlier, X10 is a de facto standard also
used by RadioShack's Plug'n'Power system. However,
several competing standards are evolving including the
HomePlug Powerline Alliance, Universal Powerline
Association, ETSI, and the IEEE. It is unclear which
standard will come out ahead. We will just give a
passing mention of current standards in the market and
will treat the HomePlug as it is most widely deployed.
1. IEEE Standards
IEEE is currently working on developing standards for
PLC and in 2008 the work is expected to be complete.
The IEEE standards that are still in working group form
are:
• IEEE P1675 “Standard for Broadband over
Powerline Hardware”. Its working on hardware
installation and safety issues.
• IEEE P1775 "Powerline Communication
Equipment - Electromagnetic Compatibility
(EMC) Requirements - Testing and
Measurement Methods”. Its focused on PLC
equipment, electromagnetic compatibility
requirements, testing and measurement
methods.
• IEEE P1901 "Draft Standard for Broadband over
Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control
and Physical Layer Specifications". Its working
for delivering broadband over power lines.
2. OPERA
OPERA (Open PLC European Research Alliance) is a
R&D Project with funding from the European
Commission. It aims to improve the existing systems,
develop PLC service, and standardize systems. [15]
3. POWERNET
POWERNET is a R&D Project with funding from the
European Commission. It aims to develop and validate a
‘plug and play’ Cognitive Broadband over Power Lines
(CBPL) communications equipment that meet the
regulatory requirements concerning electro-magnetic
radiations and can deliver high data rates while using
with low transmit power spectral density and working at
low signal to noise ratio. [16]
4. Universal Powerline Association (UPA)
The Universal Powerline Association (UPA) aligns
industry leaders in the global Powerline Communications
(PLC) market and covers all markets and both access
and an in-home PLC technology to ensure a level
playing field for the deployment of interoperable and
coexisting PLC products to the benefit of consumers
worldwide. UPA promotes products based on the UPA
Digital Home Standard for home networking applications
and on the Opera standard for BPL Power line access
applications. [17]
UPA standard is a strong standard and is contributing
towards the upcoming IEEE P1901 standard.
5. CEPCA
Consumer Electronics Powerline Communications
Alliance (CEPCA) (Sony, Mitsubishi and Panasonic) is
developing powerline technologies which can offer
speeds up to 170 Mbit/s. [18]
6. ETSI PLT
The project will progress the necessary standards and
specifications to cover the provision of voice and data
services over the mains power transmission and
distribution network and/or in-building electricity
wiring[19]. The standards will be developed in sufficient
detail to allow interoperability between equipment from
different manufacturers and co-existence of multiple
powerline systems within the same environment.
Harmonized Standards will be developed to allow
presumption of conformity with the relevant EU/EC
Directives.
7. HomePlug Powerline Alliance Standards
The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is a trade group
consisting of over 65 member companies. It was
founded in March 2000 by leading technology
companies to provide a forum for the creation of
specifications for home power line networking products
and services. The Alliance's mission is to enable and
promote rapid availability, adoption and implementation
of cost-effective, interoperable and standards-based
home power line networks and products. The Sponsors
and members of the Board of Directors of the Alliance
include: Comcast, Earthlink, GE, Intel, Linksys, Motorola,
Radio Shack, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony. Because
HomePlug technology is based on the contributions of
multiple companies from around the world, the resulting
standards offer best of class performance. The
HomePlug Powerline Alliance has defined a number of
standards:
• HomePlug 1.0 — specification for connecting
devices via power lines in the home
• HomePlug AV — designed for transmitting HDTV
and VoIP around the home
• HomePlug BPL — a working group to develop a
specification for to-the-home connection
• Homeplug CC — Command and Control is a low-
speed, very low-cost technology intended to
complement the alliance's higher-speed powerline
communications technologies.
V. HOMEPLUG 1.0 STANDARD
In 2000, the HomePlug organization developed the
HomePlug 1.0 standard which became the basis for the
world’s most widely deployed power line communication
system. Here we look at some of its features in brief
while their details can be found in [20].
1. Summary of Physical Layer Features
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is
the basic transmission technique used by the HomePlug.
OFDM is well known in the literature and in industry [21]
and is used in DSL, IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g
standards and distribution of TV signals. The OFDM
used by HomePlug is specially tailored for powerline
environments. It uses 84 equally spaced subcarriers in
the frequency band between 4.5MHz and 1MHz. Cyclic
prefix and differential modulation techniques (DBPSK,
DQPSK) are used to completely eliminate the need for
any equalization. Impulsive noise events are overcome
by means of forward error correction and data
interleaving. HomePlug payload uses a concatenation of
Viterbi and Reed-Solomon FEC. Sensitive frame control
data is encoded using turbo product codes.
Channel adaptation is achieved by Tone Allocation,
modulation and FEC choice. Tone allocation is the
process by which certain heavily impaired carriers are
turned off. This significantly reduces the bit error rates
and helps in targeting the power of FEC and Modulation
choices on the good carriers. HomePlug allows for
choosing from DBPSK 1/2, DQPSK 1/2 and DQPSK 3/4
on all the carriers. The end result of this adaptation is a
highly optimized link throughput.
2. Summary of MAC, Frame Formats and Channel
Access Mechanism Features
Since home networks should be able to support a
diverse set of applications ranging from simple file
transfer to very high QoS demanding applications such
as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and Streaming Media,
HomePlug 1.0 addresses these needs.
HomePlug MAC is modeled to work with IEEE 802.3
frame formats. This choice simplifies the integration with
the widely deployed Ethernet. HomePlug MAC appends
the Ethernet frames with encryption and other
management before transmitting it over the powerline. A
segmentation and reassembly mechanism is used to in
cases where the complete packet cannot be fit in a
single frame.
HomePlug technology uses two basic frame formats. A
Long Frame consists of a Start of Frame (SOF)
delimiter, Payload and End of Frame delimiter (EOF). A
Short Frame consists of a Response Delimiter and is
used as part of the Stop-and Wait automatic repeat
request (ARQ) process. ARQ mechanism causes
retransmission of corrupt packets, thus reducing the
packet error rate.
The channel access mechanism used by the HomePlug
MAC is a variant of the well-known CSMA/CA protocol.
The overall protocol includes a carrier sensing
mechanism, a priority resolution mechanism and a
backoff algorithm.
The carrier sense mechanism helps HomePlug nodes to
synchronize with each other. At the heart of this
mechanism are the delimiters. HomePlug technology
uses a combination of Physical Carrier Sense (PCS) and
Virtual Carrier Sense (VCS) to determine the state of the
medium (i.e., if the medium is idle or busy and for how
long). PCS is provided by the HomePlug PHY and
basically indicates whether a preamble signal is detected
on the medium. VCS is maintained by the HomePlug
MAC layer and is updated based on the information
contained in the delimiter. Delimiters contain information
not only on the duration of current transmission but also
on which priority traffic can contend for the medium after
this transmission. PCS and VCS information is
maintained by the MAC to determine the exact state of
the medium.
The Priority resolution mechanism provides prioritized
access of the medium in a highly distributed manner and
allows up to four different priority levels.
The backoff algorithm used by HomePlug MAC is
designed to provide high network utilization (which
manifests itself as high network throughput) even under
heavily loaded conditions. It is also tailored to
seamlessly integrate with the priority level construction
and the applications that each of these priorities is
expected to support.
3. QoS Features
HomePlug MAC is designed to provide guarantees of
QoS. This enables HomePlug based home networks to
support applications like VoIP and Streaming media.
Below is a list of some of the salient features:
• Supports up to 4 different priority classes based on
VLAN tag (IEEE 802.1Q),
• Completely distributed approach reduces the
implementation complexity,
• Optional support for contention free access,
• Segmentation and Reassembly ensures that higher
priority traffic does not get excessively delayed due
to on going lower priority packet transmission,
• Aggressive backoff algorithm for higher priority traffic
(Priority 3 and Priority 2) ensures lower latencies,
• Variable packet discard timer and maximum retry
limit ensures that excessively delayed packets are
discarded.
VI. HOMEPLUG AV STANDARD
In this section, we give an introduction to HomePlug AV
specification and summaries of its Physical and MAC
Layers [22]. We then give a comparison of it with
HomePlug 1.0 Standard.
HomePlug AV (HPAV) represents the next generation of
technology from the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. Its
purpose is to provide high-quality, multi-stream,
entertainment oriented networking over existing AC
wiring within the home, while addressing interoperability
with HomePlug 1.0. HPAV employs advanced PHY and
MAC technologies that provide a 200 Mbps (million bits
per second) class powerline network for video, audio
and data. The Physical (PHY) Layer utilizes this 200
Mbps channel rate to provide a 150 Mbps information
rate with robust, near-capacity communications over
noisy power line channels. The Medium Access Control
(MAC) Layer is designed to be highly efficient;
supporting both TDMA and CSMA based access with
AC line cycle synchronization. The TDMA access
provides Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees including
guaranteed bandwidth reservation, high reliability and
tight control of latency and jitter. The CSMA access
provides four priority levels. AC line cycle
synchronization provides superior channel adaptation in
the face of common line cycle-synchronized noise. The
Central Coordinator (CCo) controls the activities of the
network, allocating time for CSMA use and scheduling
the TDMA use.
1. The HPAV Architecture
Figure 4: HPAV Architecture
2. Summary of Physical Layer
HomePlug AV employs a number of additional features
to achieve the higher throughputs required in the
targeted set of applications. [23]
• Turbo codes with varying code rates are employed
to gain additional resilience to noisy environments,
and increase coding gain over the concatenated
codes of HomePlug 1.0.
• Coherent modulation is supported, and modulation
types include BPSK, QPSK, 8-QAM, 16-QAM, 64-
QAM, 256-QAM and 1024-QAM
• To enable coexistence between HomePlug 1.0
devices and HomePlug AV devices, the HomePlug
AV PHY is equipped with the ability to send and
receive HomePlug 1.0 frame control signals, and it
utilizes a similar synchronization scheme (all devices
thus have the ability to detect packets of either
system).
• Several robust modes of operation are provided in
HomePlug AV for the communication of network
synchronization information, for session setup,
multicast and broadcast modes. For example, a 10
Mbps broadcast mode can be employed on the vast
majority (99%) of all power line channels without the
 requirement of exchanging channel information
between transmitter and receiver.
• Channel Estimation is a critical element of the
HomePlug AV system. In addition to the line cycle
synchronization ability discussed above, HomePlug
AV employs higher order modulations up to 1024
QAM, supports variable bit-loading (each carrier
individually selects modulation type according to the
SNR it observes), monitors carrier signal-to-noise
ratios without the explicit need for channel
estimation frames (estimates SNR on bit-loaded
packets), and is able to track changes in the channel
with high efficiency (93% of ideal, i.e. a priori
channel and noise information).
3. Summary of MAC Layer Features
HPAV provides connection-oriented Contention Free
(CF) service to support the QoS requirements of
demanding AV and IP applications. This Contention Free
service is based on periodic Time Division Multiple
Access (TDMA) allocations of adequate duration to
support the QoS requirements of a connection. HPAV
also provides a connectionless, prioritized Contention
based service to support both best-effort applications
and applications that rely on prioritized QoS. This
service is based on Collision Sense Multiple
Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) technology.
HPAV implements a flexible, centrally-managed
architecture. The central manager is called a Central
Coordinator (CCo). The CCo establishes a Beacon
Period and a schedule which accommodates both the
Contention Free allocations and the time allotted for
Contention-based traffic. As shown in Figure 5, the
Beacon Period is divided into 3 regions:
1. Beacon Region
2. CSMA Region
3. Contention-Free Region
Figure 5: Example of Beacon Period Structure
The CCo broadcasts a beacon at the beginning of each
Beacon Period; it uses the beacon to communicate the
scheduling within the beacon period. The beacons are
extremely robust and reliable. The schedules advertised
in the Beacon are persistent—i.e., the CCo promises not
to change the schedule for a number of Beacon
Periods—and the persistence is also advertised in the
beacon so that the transmitting station for a connection
can confidently transmit during its persistent allocation(s)
even if it has missed several beacons within the
advertised persistence of the schedule. This provides
additional continuity even if a few beacons are missed.
The CSMA periods are also persistent so that stations
wishing to send CSMA traffic can do so even if they miss
a few beacons.
The MAC layer provides both Contention (CSMA) and
Contention Free (CF) services through the respective
regions in the Beacon Period. The CCo-managed
Persistent Contention Free (PCF) Region enables HPAV
to provide a strict guarantee on Higher Layer Entity
(HLE) QoS requirements. An HLE uses the Connection
Specification (CSPEC) to specify its QoS requirements.
The Connection Manager (CM) in the station evaluates
the CSPEC and, if appropriate, communicates the
pertinent requirements to the CCo and asks the CCo for
a suitable Contention Free allocation.
If the CCo is able to accommodate the connection
request, it will ask the stations to “sound” the channel.
This allows the stations to perform the initial channel
estimation. The Tone Map is communicated from the
receiver to the transmitter; the channel estimation is also
communicated in abbreviated form to the CCo to help it
determine how much time should be allocated to the
connection.
More intricate details of the working can be found in the
technical white papers from the vendor.
4. MAC Control and Data Planes
Figure 6: Normal SACK Transmission. Lost SACK &
retransmission of SACK.
HomePlug AV will use a two-level MAC framing scheme.
Incoming MSDUs are packaged with minimal overhead
into MAC frames, which then form a MAC frame stream.
This is treated as a byte stream by the segmentation
process, which forms fixed-size segments for reliable
transmission. Each segment is given a header and trailer
that allow it to be encrypted, sent, decrypted, and
delivered independently as a PHY Block (PB). The PB
header contains sequence numbers that support
reassembly of the original MAC frame stream from
segments delivered out of order. It also contains
information that allows MAC frame resynchronization
after a portion of the MAC frame stream is lost. Each PB
is sent in its own FEC block, and the PB check
sequence allows uncorrectable FEC blocks to be
detected reliably. Each PB can be individually
acknowledged using a selective acknowledgement
response, and only the damaged PBs are retransmitted.
This results in a highly efficient framing and error
correction scheme as illustrated in Figure 6.
5. System Performance Compared to HomePlug 1.0
• Experimental systems of HomePlugAV have been
field tested in houses, suggesting that on average a
HomePlug AV system achieves 10 times the data
rate of a 1.0 system. For example, the average
PHY layer data rate measured in a large number of
homes and a large number of outlet pairs per home
is approximately 85Mbps. The increase is due
(approximately) to the following factors.
• More Bandwidth (50% more used bandwidth)
• More Power (Transmit PSD is 2.2dB higher, due to
lower peak-to-average ratio)
• Coherent transmission (improves ~2.5dB over
differential transmission in HP1.0)
• Higher Order Modulation (modulates up to
1024QAM, taking advantage of higher SNRs when
available)
• Powerful Forward Error Correction (Turbo Codes
have about 2.5dB advantage over concatenated
codes of HP1.0)
• Smart Channel Adaptation (full variable bit-loading,
unsolicited channel information updates, line cycle
adaptation)
• Efficient Signaling (minimal framing overhead,
minimal cyclic prefix)
• Additional Signal Processing
VII. CONCLUSION
In this overview, we have seen the evolution and
potential of PLC technology and have gained some idea
of the structure of the standards involved with it. We
have provided valuable references for a full-fledged
technical knowledge base needed to understand and
become up to date with PLC technology and the
HomePlug Standards.
Acknowledgment
We are eternally grateful to King Fahd University for
Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, KSA.
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