Noise Emission Investigations of Power Electronic Devices as Input Data for Planning of BPL Access Networks

Powerline Communication (PLC) is a central technology for the realization of smart metering and smart grid applications. A large-scale PLC-rollout requires a planning process based on the grid's topology and characteristics. Therefore, we implement a PLC optimization tool with physical parameters as input data using PLC performance influencing factors from field tests and laboratory investigations. First investigations focus on power electronic devices. The paper presents two methodical approaches of measuring a converter's broadband noise emission. For short measurement durations, we suggest using a frequency sweep and for time domain analysis a Zero Span measurement. The usage of the Root Mean Square detector allows the comparison to a frequency channel's signal power. Finally, we depict example measurements for both approaches.