Adaptive Power Line Communication for Low-Data-Rate Control and Sensing

Unreliable and range-limited communication restricts the effectiveness of many demand-side management schemes. For electrical loads with infrequent switching needs, untapped opportunities still exist to facilitate the reliable deployment of power line communication (PLC) for demand-side management applications. Inexpensive low-data-rate PLC, typically robust against power-line attenuation, can enable reliable load control in a building or facility. Yet, effective low-data-rate PLC schemes are susceptible to harmful and time-varying power-line noise levels. This paper presents approaches for adapting low-data-rate PLC to short-term and long-term noise variations often present in PLC channels. The proposed approaches enhance low-data-rate PLC performance, and further improve the reliability of load-control schemes that only require low data rates. Field demonstrations in a 24-floor apartment building with challenging conditions validate the proposed schemes.