New Paradigms for Power Line Communications for and through the Grid

面向电网并通过电网的电力线通信新范式

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-05765
• 负责人: Lampe, Lutz
• 金额: $ 3.06万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=656519
• 关键词: New; Paradigms; Power; Line; Communications

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.

考虑到电力线和电缆已经部署以及电网的普遍性，重新使用现有的电力线进行数据通信是一个自然的选择。因此，毫不奇怪，这种通过电网的通信，又名。电力线通信（PLC）长期以来被电力公司用于语音通信和电网监控。另一方面，现代PLC技术的发展长期停滞不前，受到的关注相对较少，特别是与无线通信相比。近年来，这种情况发生了变化，因为对电力生产、运输和消费方式进行彻底改革的必要性变得越来越明显。未来“智能电网”的愿景与无处不在的通信基础设施的部署紧密结合，该基础设施能够实现无处不在的传感和控制。考虑到PLC作为电力公司通信解决方案的成功记录，它已被确定为智能电网通信的先驱技术，特别是在配电领域。PLC的复兴与过去10年来PLC的重大技术创新相吻合，主要是由于采用了最初为宽带无线系统开发的信号处理方法。2010年和2012年，IEEE和ITU-T将现代PLC技术整合到几个重要的PLC标准中，进一步支持了这一趋势。* 在此背景下，本研究提案的主旨是将PLC的创新再向前推进一步，将其应用于支持智能电网。我们的灵感来自无线通信的最新进展，特别是引入网络编码和物理层安全的无线系统。由于无线和电力线通信信道的相似性，由于两种介质都被重新用于通信目的，因此有充分的理由认为网络编码和物理层安全的底层方法和所产生的优势从无线延续到PLC。由于网络编码使通信网络的中间节点能够联合收割机组合数据包，而不仅仅是转发数据包，因此我们期望其应用有助于解决大规模PLC部署中遇到的拥塞问题。物理层安全可以为消息的保密提供非加密手段，从而有助于防止它们被窃听和可能对电网的攻击。我们建议调查这些新的通信模式PLC，详细的研究议程中列出的建议。我们研究的第三个方面是利用PLC的特性进行信号调制。由于连接到网格的每个元件对通过网格的信号传播的特性具有影响，因此这可以用于调节信道和/或调制信号。有趣的是，类似的范例最近已经被考虑用于无线通信和基于媒体的调制。因此，我们可以再次从无线通信和PLC之间的相似性中得出结论。* 本申请中提出的研究方向是原创的，及时的，并且与工业发展保持一致，将PLC作为智能电网通信的重要组件，其芯片组和系统由Texas Instruments，Freescale或Maxim Integrated或加拿大供应商Corinex开发。学生将接受适用于PLC、无线和其他通信媒体的最新通信概念的培训。通过应用到智能电网通信，他们将提供一个跨学科的背景下，并培训工作与电网通信的具体要求。