Low-voltage power line channel environment and the application analysis in smart grid

PLC (power line communication) technology is widely used in smart grid, this article details the power line channel characteristics of the environment, and its noise model can be divided into five categories. With analyzing their causes, bandwidth and respective property, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of the broadband and narrowband PLC technology in terms of the communication performance. And the major application scenarios in smart grid were divided into three different types: power information collection and the monitoring of electrical equipment, indoor devices interconnecting for smart home and broadband access. We are focusing on the topology and technical characteristics in the electric energy data acquisition system. Finally, the paper investigated the requirement of electric energy data acquisition system in China for smart grid.