A POWER LINE DATA COMMUNICATION INTERFACE USING POWER LINE Modem IN HOME AUTOMATION Qasem Abu Al-Haija and M.H. Shwehdi EE Department King Faisal University

Home Automation Technology  Home automation also called Domestics .  The use of computer and IT to control home appliances and features (such as refrigerator and lighting).

 Systems can range from simple remote control of lighting through to complex with varying degrees of intelligence and automation.  Home automation is adopted for reasons of ease, security and energy efficiency.

A typical domestic patch panel. 3/25

The

3 C’s

 Convenience   

Accessibility from anywhere with internet connection Laziness factor Nikola Tesla – 1898 – first patented remote control 

First used for military

 Control  

Manage anything that is hooked up – alarms, etc. Efficient use of systems – radiant heat example

 Cool 

Pride factor

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Common 2010 Uses • HVAC – Temperature and humidity control

• Lighting – Mood lighting – Whole home control

• Water heaters, Refrigerators, etc.. • Why is it needed? - Energy efficiency. 5/25

Green Building and Safe Building • HVAC Control • Electricity consumption management – Lighting control, AC, Water Heaters

Security Connections to cameras, alarms

Example: Flashing all lights if alarm goes off. Flood warning

• Regulated according to ambient light and temperature

• Natural Light – Shades/Curtain control 6/25

Power Line Communication (PLC) • It is a system for carrying data on a conductor. • It uses the existing power lines to transmit data from one device to another. • This makes power line communication one of the best means for networking. 7/25

Why PLC!! • 60%+ KSA homes have Internet access. • 10% broadband. – Inaccessible and costly

• PLC = No new wires. – Emerging Technology – Use of Power grid for communication – Extensive infrastructure • "Every" building 8/25

PLC - Problems 1. Need high frequencies. ‫ ــ‬Current lines designed @ 50-60 Hz to 400 Hz

2. Contaminated -- noise, unreliable. 3. Legal restrictions on frequency bands limit data rates. 4. Power Loss – Directly proportional to square of current. – Proportional to distance. – High, medium, & low voltage lines & customer premise lines. 9/25

PLC -- Previous Use • Due to past low data rate communication needs, utility companies used PLC to maintain power grid. • New technologies allow high data-rate communication over low-tension lines.

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PLC Electromagnetic Compatibility • Power lines are leaky: radiate high-frequency electromagnetic signals. • Interferes with nearby wireless devices. • Need filters to prevent leakage.

• 802.11b wireless network protocol (WiFi).

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How power line communication operates • It operates by impressing a modulated carrier signal on the wiring system. • Data rates over a power line communication system vary widely. • Some control networks in PLC – – – –

CEBUS LonWorks LnCP HNCP 12/25

Methods of communications. • Several methods of communication over a power line have been proposed. • X-10 & CE-Bus applied very profitably to help in energy management for both customer and utility. • In this presentation, Power Line Modem (PLM-1) and Smart Meter methods are proposed as to provide a reliable communication and allows designing more cost-effective PLC transceivers to serve managing energy at home and elsewhere.

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Power Line Modem (PLM-1)  Digital modem implementing a half-duplex transmitter/receiver for PLC.  Designed as an ASIC, the device is a very efficient solution for cost sensitive, medium data rate applications.  PLM-1 uses a narrowband FSK (FrequencyShift Keying) modulation technique.

 Information is encoded by shifting the frequency of the carrier signal between two discrete values in a very narrow range. 14/25

Power Line Modem (PLM-1)  Complete set of advanced processing functions. o PLM-1 technology offers superior performance in PLC.  Highly selective filtering & error detection/correction algorithms. o A reliable comm. in a very noisy electrical envir.s is possible.  Programmable baud rate and carrier frequency. o Flexibility to the user. o Allow sharing the same power line medium with other systems and technologies.

 Protocol-neutral technology . o Allows transporting multiple protocols within one PL-network. o Enables applications to use more than one protocol. 15/25

PLM-1 FEATURES • Robust narrowband FSK modulation • Programmable transmission data rate up to 30kbps • Programmable communication frequency: 50kHz to 500kHz • Complete Media Access Control (MAC) logic • CSMA/CD type collision detection and resolution

• Programmable automatic preamble generation • Programmable automatic packet-priority management with 4levels • Error detection (CRC 16) • High-efficiency Forward Error Correction (FEC) • Parallel and SPI interfaces • Protocol neutrality

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PLM-1 PPLICATIONS Thanks to its low cost and high performance, PLM-1 modem offers communication solutions for residential, commercial, industrial and public utilities automation applications.

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PLM-1 PPLICATIONS • Building and Home Automation: – • Lighting – • Solar Panels – • Thermostats/HVAC – • Security • Utilities and Public Services: – • Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) – • Demand Response – • Load Shedding

– • Remote Diagnostic – • Street/Tunnel Lighting – • Traffic Lights 18/25

PLM-1-BASED POWERLINE TRANSCEIVER

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PLM-1 FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION  The PLM-1 modem can be used to transport data over any AC, DC or unpowered line.  The main external components required to complete the modem functionality are: o Host: CPU that implements the upper layers of the communication protocol and application specific functions. Typically it is a microcontroller (MCU). o Oscillator (OSC): provides the operating clock signal. o Analog Front-End: performs signal conditioning and coupling with the communication lines. o Power supply: provides suitable DC power to all components. 20/25

PLM-1 Internal Operation  Implementing PHY and MAC layers of the OSI model, the PLM-1 modem is based on a patented technique for modulating the binary information on a frequency shift keying (FSK) carrier in a very narrow band.  The digital data is encoded in a binary signal whose frequency is shifted between two discrete values: F0 for logic 0 and F1 for logic 1.  The average value of the two frequencies is defined as the center frequency Fc.

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PLM-1 Internal Operation  The internal structure of the PLM-1 modem consists of four main blocks, as shown in previous Figure. o The Clock Generator is used internally to set timings for comm. frequencies. o An external clock signal (MCLKI) that ranges from 4MHz to 20MHz is required to provide the operating frequency Fosc. o The Demodulator, or Receiver, samples the input signal on the RXIN pin, decodes it and feeds it to the Host Interface. o The Modulator, or Transmitter, receives data from the Host Interface and modulates them on the output signal pin (TXOUT). o The signal TXEN is used to enable the external amplifier during transmission. 22/25

USING THE SAME TECHNOLOGY for TELE-watthour meter (Smart Meter)

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Smart Meter  This is an excellent bi-product of the basics of automation, with limiting its services to read input power and display the consumption, plus using the same communication devices used in PLC and PLM.  So electrical meter that records consumption of electric energy in intervals of an hour or less and communicates that information at least daily back to the utility for monitoring and billing purposes.  Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system.  Unlike home energy monitors, smart meters can gather data for remote reporting.

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Smart Meter  Example of a smart meter in use in Europe that has the ability to reduce load, disconnectreconnect remotely, and interface to gas and water meters.

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