SC-FDMA for uplink smart meter transmission over low voltage power lines

Recently data communications over smart grid between the smart meters and the central modem attract a lot of interests. Extensive works have been done based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system on one of the possible solutions for smart grid, i.e., low voltage power lines. Although OFDMA has been widely adopted in many wired and wireless communication systems, its multicarrier nature results in severely high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), which is undesirable for low-cost terminal equipments. On the other hand, Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), a promising alternative to OFDMA, can greatly reduce PAPR while achieving similar performance and complexity. In this paper, SC-FDMA is for the first time introduced to PLC. We compare it with OFDMA, and study its potential for uplink smart meter transmission on power lines. Finally, simulation results also corroborate the advantages of SC-FDMA to OFDMA.