IEEE Access Special Section Editorial: Advances in Power Line Communication and its Applications

Power line communication (PLC) is a growing technology which utilizes the existing pre-installed power delivery infrastructure for data transmission. While it is true that the history of PLC technology goes back to the beginning of the last century, when the first data transmission over power lines took place for low data rate control and monitoring purposes, PLC has recently regained a considerable amount of research attention due to the dawn of the internet and the increasing need for fast connectivity. PLC is also expected to serve as a reliable communication medium for many emerging applications of Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Grids (SGs).