A method for measuring the channel capacity of intra-buildings distribution power lines (DPL) in Egypt is demonstrated. The capacity calculations are based on extensive measurements of both noise (N), and signal plus noise (S+N) levels on a typical DPL network along the time of day. The measurements cover the bandwidth from 30 kHz to 450 kHz. It is shown that the transfer characteristic of the DPL varies with frequency, distance, and transmitter/receiver positions. High levels of attenuation with distance are observed. Noise is shown to be a mixture of narrowband interference, background wideband noise, and line-related noise. It is shown that the capacity is considerabely affected by other devices utilizing DPL for power line communications (PLC) such as automatic meter reading (AMR) devices, and transformer-coupled medium tension transmitters (TMT). |
