Electric load monitoring and control in the domestic environment

An electric load monitoring and control system for the domestic environment has been developed, utilizing the domestic mains conductors as a communication medium. Although the domestic mains is a hostile environment for communication signals, it seems to have become increasingly more popular for use in load management and distribution automation systems. A variety of power line communication systems are in use, but none seems to have the qualities of a "best-system". This paper intends to briefly show some of the most prominent characteristics of the domestic transmission line. It also outlines the principles on which the present system works and how this system could be improved to be used as a subsystem of an intelligent controller in domestic load management programmes.<>