New Paradigms for Power Line Communications for and through the Grid

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Reusing existing power lines for data communications is a natural choice given that the power wires and cables are already deployed and the pervasiveness of the electric power grid. It is therefore not surprising that this through-the-grid communications, a.k.a. power line communications (PLC), has long been used by electric power utilities for voice communication and grid monitoring and control. On the other hand, the development of modern PLC technology has long stagnated and received relatively less attention, in particular when compared to wireless communication. This has changed in recent years, when the need for an overhaul of the way electricity is generated, transported, and consumed has become apparent. The vision of a "Smart Grid" of the future is tightly coupled with the deployment of a ubiquitous communications infrastructure that enables pervasive sensing and control. Considering the successful track record of PLC as a working communications solution for power utilities, it has been identified as a forerunner technology for smart grid communications, especially for the distribution domain. This renaissance of PLC coincides with significant technological innovations in PLC over the past 10 years, mostly driven by the adoption of signal processing methods originally developed for broadband wireless systems. The trend is further supported by the consolidation of modern PLC technologies in several important PLC standards by the IEEE and ITU-T in 2010 and 2012. Against this background, the gist of this research proposal is to take the innovation of PLC one step further, with its application to support smart grids in mind. We are inspired by recent advances in wireless communications, in particular the introduction of network coding and physical layer security to wireless systems. Because of the similarities of wireless and power line communication channels, due to both media being reused for communication purposes, there are sound arguments that the underlying methods and resulting advantages of network coding and physical layer security carry over from wireless to PLC. Since network coding enables intermediate nodes of a communication network to combine data packets, rather than only forwarding them, we expect that its application helps solving the congestion problem experienced in large-scale PLC deployments. Physical layer security can provide a non-encryption means for secrecy of messages, and thus helps to prevent them against eavesdropping and possible attacks on power grids. We propose to investigate these new communications paradigms for PLC, with a detailed research agenda outlined in the proposal. A third aspect of our research is to exploit the specifics of PLC for signal modulation. Since every element connected to the grid has an effect on the characteristics of signal propagation through the grid, this can be used to condition the channel and/or modulate the signal. Interestingly, a similar paradigm has recently been considered for wireless communications and coined media-based modulation. Thus, again we can draw from similarities between wireless communications and PLC. The research directions proposed in this application are original, timely, and well aligned with developments in industry embracing PLC as important component for smart grid communication with chips sets and systems developed by giants such as Texas Instruments, Freescale, or Maxim Integrated, or the Canadian vendor Corinex. Students will be trained on the latest communication concepts applicable to PLC, wireless, and other communication media. Through the application to smart grid communication, they will be provided with an interdisciplinary context and trained to work with the specific requirements of for-the-grid communications.