Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Talkative Power Conversion

Since the beginning of electrification, the fields of power electronics (PE) and communications engineering (COM) have developed largely independently. In recent times, however, increased effort has been on joint information and power transfer (IPT). Examples include power line communication and smart grid/digitalized power systems, wireless IPT in PE applications as well as in sensor networks, and the Internet of PE-interfaced energy/resources. One innovative realization of IPT is to modulate the pulsewidth modulation (PWM)-type switching signal of a power converter, causing an information-carrying ripple. Power/signal dual modulation, dubbed talkative power conversion (TPC), extends the application range of power converters significantly. TPC is not just an alternative to power line communication but is also applicable in wireless and energy storage systems. The objective of this Special Issue was to provide an opportunity for the presentation of innovative TPC technologies in the fields of wireline, wireless, and networked PE-interfaced Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JESTPE.2024.3433230 resources and dominated systems. In response to the call for papers, 23 manuscripts were received. Thirteen articles were finally selected for publication, with China clearly leading the submissions, followed by the USA and Europe.