An Appraisal Study of Power-Line Communication and its Application

Abstract

The communication flow of today is very high. Many applications are operating at high speed in which a fixed connection is often preferred. If the power utilities could supply communication signals over the power-line to the consumers, this could make a tremendous breakthrough in communications. Every household would then be connected at any time and services would be provided at real-time. Using the power-line as a communication medium, communication could also be cost-effective, compared to other systems because it uses an existing infrastructure, wires exists to every household which are connected to the power-line network. In recent times, the deregulated market has forced the power utilities to explore new markets to find new business opportunities which have increased the research in power-line communications the last decade. Researchers have initially focused on providing services related to power distribution such as load control, meter reading, tariff control, remote control and smart homes. These value-added services would open up new markets for the power utilities and hence increase the profit.