With the recent developments in technology, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming more widespread and one of the basic building blocks of every humans life. The increasing demand in broadband communication calls for new technologies. Power line communication (PLC) is one of the potential candidates for next generation ICTs. Although communication through power lines has been investigated for a long time, PLC systems were never taken into account seriously because of its harsh communication medium. However, with the development of more robust data transmission schemes, communication over the power lines is becoming a strong alternative technology because of the existence of the infrastructure and the ubiquity of the network. In order to establish reliable communication systems operating on power line networks (PLNs), characteristics of power line channels have to be investigated very carefully. Unpredictable characteristics of PLNs seriously affect the performance of communication systems. Similar to the other communication channels, PLC environment is affected by noise, attenuation, and multipath type of channel distortions. The level of noise in PLNs is much higher than any other type of communication networks. Furthermore, the frequency dependent attenuation characteristics of power lines and multipath stemming from impedance mismatches are the other distortion factors which have to be investigated in order to establish a reliable PLC system. In this thesis, we focus on modeling of noise, frequency dependent attenuation, and multipath characteristics of power line channels within the frequency range between 30kHz and 30MHz.

Power Line Communications has made impressive strides since its introduction. Power Line Communications (PLC) or Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) is the method of transmitting broadband signals over the power lines and making it available at the power outlet in homes. It provides last mile communication and makes use of existing power lines to transmit signals, thereby eliminating the need to lay cables all over again. PLC is fast becoming a commercial reality in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is working toward making PLC a standard with particular emphasis on power emission issues and interference with nearby bands. Power companies, vendors and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have tied up to bring this new technology to market. The Power line environment is inherently unpredictable due to interference, low signaling impedance and the highly linear operating environment that PLC transmitters require. The coupling unit in the PLC system acts as a filter and eliminates the harmful AC signal from interfering with the broadband signals. A coupling unit amplifier topology that provides gain equalization and wideband mitigation to the effects of low-impedance loads on PLC in the high frequency range has been explored in detail in this study. The amplifier is verified for its performance by means of circuit simulation using industry-standard software such as Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS). The coupling unit has also been fabricated to verify the performance. An experimental setup for verifying the performance of the coupling unit using a PLC transmitter and PLC receiver has also been proposed.

Robust nonparametric spectral estimation includes generating an accurate estimate of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) for a given set of data while trying to minimize the bias due to data outliers. Robust nonparametric spectral estimation is applied in the domain of electrical communications and digital signal processing when a PSD estimate of the electromagnetic spectrum is desired (often for the goal of signal detection), and when the spectrum is also contaminated by Impulsive Noise (IN). Power Line Communication (PLC) is an example of a communication environment where IN is a concern because power lines were not designed with the intent to transmit communication signals. There are many different noise models used to statistically model different types of IN, but one popular model that has been used for PLC and various other applications is called the Middleton Class A model, and this model is extensively used in this thesis. The performances of two different nonparametric spectral estimation methods are analyzed in IN: the Welch method and the multitaper method. These estimators work well under the common assumption that the receiver noise is characterized by Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). However, the performance degrades for both of these estimators when they are used for signal detection in IN environments. In this thesis basic robust estimation theory is used to modify the Welch and multitaper methods in order to increase their robustness, and it is shown that the signal detection capabilities in IN is improved when using the modified robust estimators. / Master of Science / One application of blind spectral estimation is blind signal detection. Unlike a car radio, where the radio is specifically designed to receive AM and PM radio waves, sometimes it is useful for a radio to be able to detect the presence of transmitted signals whose characteristics are not known ahead of time. Cognitive radio is one application where this capability is useful. Often signal detection is inhibited by Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). This is analogous to trying to hear a friend speak (signal detection) in a room full of people talking (background AWGN). However, some noise environments are more impulsive in nature. Using the previous analogy, the background noise could be loud banging caused by machinery; the noise will not be as constant as the chatter of the crowd, but it will be much louder. When power lines are used as a medium for electromagnetic communication (instead of just sending power), it is called Power Line Communication (PLC), and PLC is a good example of a system where the noise environment is impulsive. In this thesis, methods used for blind spectral estimation are modified to work reliably (or robustly) for impulsive noise environments.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo fornecer contribuições metodológicas à implementação da tecnologia PLC/BPL em seus diversos ambientes reais de instalação. São apresentados os aspectos básicos envolvidos, princípio de operação, as topologias das redes PLC, vantagens e desvantagens e exemplos de aplicação. Além disso, são apresentadas as contribuições deste trabalho, as quais visam estabelecer procedimentos no desenvolvimento dos projetos de redes de comunicação que utilizam a tecnologia PLC, assim como procedimentos de instalação nos diversos ambientes reais e os procedimentos para o comissionamento das redes implantadas. São destacados os aspectos relacionados às redes comerciais, as quais possuem inúmeros requisitos de desempenho, manutenção preventiva e/ou corretiva, além dos aspectos financeiros dos projetos e os pontos importantes para atendimento da legislação atualmente em vigor. Finalmente, para cada procedimento apresentado, o mesmo é contextualizado através da apresentação de um caso prático associado. / This work aims to provide methodological contributions to PLC/BPL implementations in their several real installation environments. It is presented the basic aspects of the technology as well as the operation principle, the networks topologies, the advantages and the disadvantages and application examples. Furthermore, it is presented the contributions of this work, which goal is to establish procedures related to projects developments of PLC communication networks, some procedures related to the installation process in their real environments and the procedures for commissioning a deployed network. It is emphasized the commercial networks aspects, which demand several performance requirements, the preventive and/or corrective maintenance, as well as the financial aspects and the main topics to comply with the current regulation. Finally, every presented procedure is exemplified with a real case in order to demonstrate its practical functionality.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo fornecer contribuições metodológicas à implementação da tecnologia PLC/BPL em seus diversos ambientes reais de instalação. São apresentados os aspectos básicos envolvidos, princípio de operação, as topologias das redes PLC, vantagens e desvantagens e exemplos de aplicação. Além disso, são apresentadas as contribuições deste trabalho, as quais visam estabelecer procedimentos no desenvolvimento dos projetos de redes de comunicação que utilizam a tecnologia PLC, assim como procedimentos de instalação nos diversos ambientes reais e os procedimentos para o comissionamento das redes implantadas. São destacados os aspectos relacionados às redes comerciais, as quais possuem inúmeros requisitos de desempenho, manutenção preventiva e/ou corretiva, além dos aspectos financeiros dos projetos e os pontos importantes para atendimento da legislação atualmente em vigor. Finalmente, para cada procedimento apresentado, o mesmo é contextualizado através da apresentação de um caso prático associado. / This work aims to provide methodological contributions to PLC/BPL implementations in their several real installation environments. It is presented the basic aspects of the technology as well as the operation principle, the networks topologies, the advantages and the disadvantages and application examples. Furthermore, it is presented the contributions of this work, which goal is to establish procedures related to projects developments of PLC communication networks, some procedures related to the installation process in their real environments and the procedures for commissioning a deployed network. It is emphasized the commercial networks aspects, which demand several performance requirements, the preventive and/or corrective maintenance, as well as the financial aspects and the main topics to comply with the current regulation. Finally, every presented procedure is exemplified with a real case in order to demonstrate its practical functionality.

Over the last several decades, electricity consumption and generation have continually grown. Investment in the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) infrastructure has been minimal and it has become increasingly difficult and expensive to permit and build new power lines. At the same time, a growing increase in the penetration of renewable energy resources is causing an unprecedented level of dynamics on the grid. Consequently, the power grid is congested and under stress. To compound the situation, the utilities do not possess detailed information on the status and operating margins on their assets in order to use them optimally. The task of monitoring asset status and optimizing asset utilization for the electric power industry seems particularly challenging, given millions of assets and hundreds of thousands of miles of power lines distributed geographically over millions of square miles. The lack of situational awareness compromises system reliability, and raises the possibility of power outages and even cascading blackouts. To address this problem, a conceptual Power Line Sensor Network (PLSN) is proposed in this research. The main objective of this research is to develop a distributed PLSN to provide continuous on-line monitoring of the geographically dispersed power grid by using hundreds of thousands of low-cost, autonomous, smart, and communication-enabled Power Line Sensor (PLS) modules thus to improve the utilization and reliability of the existing power system. The proposed PLSN specifically targets the use of passive sensing techniques, focusing on monitoring the real-time dynamic capacity of a specific span of a power line under present weather conditions by using computational intelligence technologies. An ancillary function is to detect the presence of incipient failures along overhead power lines via monitoring and characterizing the electromagnetic fields around overhead conductors. This research integrates detailed modeling of the power lines and the physical manifestations of the parameters being sensed, with pattern recognition technologies. Key issues of this research also include design of a prototype PLS module with integrated sensing, power and communication functions, and validation of the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology integrated to this proposed PLSN.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-06-07T14:12:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 hugoviveirosschettino.pdf: 1159424 bytes, checksum: 924405f3d1d2d0ad229acb0e08e88be9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-07-13T13:15:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 hugoviveirosschettino.pdf: 1159424 bytes, checksum: 924405f3d1d2d0ad229acb0e08e88be9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-13T13:15:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 hugoviveirosschettino.pdf: 1159424 bytes, checksum: 924405f3d1d2d0ad229acb0e08e88be9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / Este trabalho investiga o uso de filtros digitais de resposta ao impulso finita (finite impulse response - FIR) e de resposta ao impulso infinita (infinite impulse response - IIR) para separar os sinais dos clusters de esquemas de multiplexação por divisão de frequência ortogonal clusterizado (clustered orthogonal frequency division multiplexing - clustered-OFDM), aplicado à sistema de comunicação via rede elétrica (power line communication - PLC). Nesse contexto, introduz-se uma formulação para explicitar a influência do filtro digital no esquema clustered- OFDM. A partir dessa formulação, uma equação que quantifica a vazão em função do uso dos filtros digitais, a qual leva em consideração a relação sinal ruído multicanal, a especificação do filtro e, principalmente, o comprimento dele, é apresentada. Através de simulações computacionais, analisa-se o desempenho do esquema sujeito a um conjunto de filtros digitais previamente selecionados, considerando três cenários: canal corrompido pelo ruído aditivo, gaussiano e branco (additive white Gaussian noise - AWGN), canal PLC indoor corrompido ruído (medido numa residência localizada na cidade de Juiz de Fora, MG) e canal PLC outdoor corrompido pelo ruído (medido numa rede de distribuição de energia elétrica de baixa tensão na cidade de Juiz de Fora, MG). De acordo com os resultados computacionais, dentre os filtros digitais analisados, os filtros digitais Chebychev tipo II, FIR interpolado (interpolated FIR - IFIR) e FIR de fase mínima e equiripple são, de maneira geral, os filtros digitais que proporcionam os melhores benefícios (maior vazão e menor complexidade computacional). Considerando-se a influência da precisão finita nesses três filtros digitais, conclui-se que o filtro digital IIR Chebychev tipo II quantizado proporciona a menor perda de vazão e, portanto, é um filtro bastante adequado para esquemas clustered-OFDM. / This work investigates the use of finite impulse response (FIR) and infinite impulse response (IIR) digital filters to separate the signals belonging distinct clusters in a clustered orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (clustered-OFDM) scheme, when it is applied to power line communication (PLC) system. In this context, we introduce a formulation to take into account the choice of the digital filter for the clustered-OFDM scheme. Based on this formulation, an equation that quantifies the data-rate as a function ofmultichannel signal noise ratio, digital filter design specification and length of the digital filter is presented. Performance analyses based on a previously selected set of digital filters over three scenarios, channel corrupted by additivewhite Gaussian noise (AWGN), indoor PLC channel corrupted by the noise (measured in a residence located in Juiz de Fora city, MG) and outdoor PLC corrupted by the noise (measured in a low voltage distribution network in Juiz de Fora city, MG), are presented. According to numerical results, Chebychev type II, interpolated FIR (IFIR) and equiripple minimum phase FIR digital filters offers the best benefits in terms of less data-rate loss and computer complexity reduction. Considering the influence of the finite precision in these three digital filters, simulation results shows that the quantized Chebychev type II IIR digital filter attains the smallest data-rate loss and, as a consequence, it a very appropriate digital filter for clustered-OFDM schemes.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-04-20T17:56:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 luisguilhermedasilvacosta.pdf: 5093972 bytes, checksum: 6380895e21a76520d3f4a10aad5a3371 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-04-24T16:50:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 luisguilhermedasilvacosta.pdf: 5093972 bytes, checksum: 6380895e21a76520d3f4a10aad5a3371 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-24T16:50:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 luisguilhermedasilvacosta.pdf: 5093972 bytes, checksum: 6380895e21a76520d3f4a10aad5a3371 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-24 / Atualmente, há um grande interesse no desenvolvimento de transceptores PLC (power line communication) para a transmissão banda larga e banda estreita de dados visando, sobretudo, aplicações smart grids e de acesso banda larga. Para o avanço da tecnologia PLC, há grande demanda pela introdução de acopladores com características e desempenhos que viabilizem a conexão dos tranceptores PLC `as redes de energia elétrica, com o mínimo de distorção possível. Neste contexto, a presente contribuição versa sobre o estudo, a investigação, especificação, projeto e análise de acopladores capacitados para transceptores PLC SISO (single input single output) banda larga e banda estreita. Para tanto, são introduzidos acopladores PLC nas seguintes faixas de frequências: de 9 kHz `a 2 MHz, de 1,7 MHz `a 100 MHz e de 1,7 MHz `a 150 MHz. As análises dos projetos e dos protótipos dos acopladores, concebidos para operar nas referidas bandas, mostram as dificuldades encontradas para garantir que as especificações de projeto sejam atendidas quando os componentes passivos são comerciais e a faixa de frequência de operação do acoplador aumenta. Além disso, as análises confirmam a necessidade de consideração de técnicas de prototipação de placas de circuitos impresso para sinais de frequência elevada. Finalmente, os resultados de medição mostram que os acopladores para baixa frequência discutidos podem ser utilizados em sistemas de medição de canais PLC. / Currently, there is a great interest to develop power line communications (PLC) transceivers for broadband and narrowband data communications for smart grids and network access. However, for advancing PLC technologies, there is a great demand for introduction of couplers for connecting the PLC tranceivers to the electric energy circuits with minimum distortion. This contribution addresses the study, investigation, specification, design, and analysis of capacitive couplers for single input single output (SISO), broadband and narrowband PLC transceivers. Capacity and SISO PLC couplers covering the following frequencies bandwidth are addressed: from 9 kHz up to 2 MHz, from 1,7 MHz up to 100 MHz and from 1,7 MHz up to 150 MHz. The analysis performance of the designed and prototyped PLC couplers for operating in the aforementioned frequencies bandwidths, shows the inherent difficulties to guarantee that the design specifications are fulfilled when passive components are commercial ones and the frequency bandwidth increase. Additionally, the analysis confirms the need for taking into account advancing prototyping techniques for dealing with high-frequency signals. Finally, the measurements show that the discussed narrowband PLC couplers can be used in a PLC channel system.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-04-20T18:23:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 laryssaramosamado.pdf: 2344885 bytes, checksum: 4328135ddbd0305fc11aa0bf0f8f8b61 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-04-24T16:50:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 laryssaramosamado.pdf: 2344885 bytes, checksum: 4328135ddbd0305fc11aa0bf0f8f8b61 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-24T16:50:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 laryssaramosamado.pdf: 2344885 bytes, checksum: 4328135ddbd0305fc11aa0bf0f8f8b61 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-29 / CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A presente dissertação tem como objetivos principais a discussão e a análise do uso de técnicas de monitoramento de espectro aplicadas a sistemas PLC, para que a ocupação deste espectro seja explicitada. Neste contexto, diversas técnicas de processamento de sinais e inteligência computacional são utilizadas para extrair e selecionar o menor número de características que sejam mais representativas para detecção, a fim de projetar o melhor e menos complexo detector de sinais a ser utilizado inicialmente na faixa de frequência entre 1,705 e 100 MHz, mas que permita futuras modificações para aplicações na faixa entre 1,705 e 250 MHz. Além disso, o problema de monitoramento de espectro para sistemas PLC é formalizado, e questões de investigação são analisadas tanto para dados simulados em MATLAB quanto para dados medidos em campo. O processo de medição destes dados é descrito e suas características são explicitadas. Finalmente, a análise dos resultados obtidos indica a adequabilidade das técnicas aplicadas ao problema em questão, porém indicam necessidade do aprofundamento desta investigação. Desta maneira, este trabalho consiste em um estudo inicial sobre importantes questões pertinentes ao monitoramento de espectro de sistemas PLC. / This master thesis aims to discuss and analyze the use of spectrum sensing techniques applied to PLC systems, in order to explicit the spectrum occupation. These techniques extract and select the least quantity of the most representative signal features in order to project the best detector that presents the lowest computational complexity. In addition to that, the spectrum sensing problem is formalized, and a few investigation questions are analyzed for both synthetic and measured data. The measurement of PLC signals and their characterization is also exposed. Although the analysis of the attained results indicate that the techniques used are suitable for the examined problems, their further investigation is necessary, in order to better understand the PLC environment and the spectrum sensing issues related to it. This work is, therefore, an initial study about the mentioned matters.

Content of this thesis is theoretic introduction to the steady state of network, theoretic analysis of methods, which serves for calculation of steady state of network such as Gauss Seidel iterative method or Newton Raphson modified method and economy in the energetics, concretely fixation of costs of the power line and calculation of the optimal time of building up the recuperative power line. This thesis includes calculation of steady state of requested network with normal trouble-free network and for criterion (n-1), their analysis and design of recuperative precaution.