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Broadband over power lines has already made its presence in the United States and the Europe. Sooner or later, transferring voice and data through power lines will be a reality in India as well.
Broadband over Power Line (BPL) is a technology that allows Internet data to be transmitted over utility power lines. (BPL is also sometimes called Power-line Communications or PLC.) In order to make use of BPL, subscribers are not dependent on a phone, cable or a satellite connection. Instead, a subscriber installs a modem that plugs into an ordinary wall outlet and pays a subscription fee similar to those paid for other types of Internet service.
BPL works by modulating high-frequency radio waves with the digital signals from the Internet. These radio waves are fed into the utility grid at specific points. They travel along the wires and pass through the utility transformers to subscribers' homes and businesses. Wires and sockets are used simultaneously for electricity and data transmission, without causing disruption to either.
BPL equipment vendors typically use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) processes to handle high-speed data transmission between computers, as a solution for a noisy electricity network. The OFDM technique detects changes within the power line and maintains network communication - even during power spikes or other disruptions on the line.
ADD-ON FEATURES
BPL technology can also be used for smart grid application control using data transfer over an existing electric grid, and improving their control of energy reserves. It can detect real-time theft detection, Detection of any malfunctions or service distribution disorders, alert on misuse of any utility service, real-time power usage detection.
The Web-based broadband automatic meter reading (Broadband AMR) application can be used for simple integration of a variety of existing metering systems into an IP-based network which can be used to read and record real time usage of electricity.
Security and surveillance issues can also be handled by this technology by placing audio and video devices at strategic point and transferring the data through power lines.
Challenges Ahead
The biggest challenge for wide scale use of this technology is the opposition from users of the same spectrum. They fear interference from BPL in their radio signals.
In both access and in-house high-speed BPL technologies, multiple carriers spread signals over a broad range of frequencies that are used by other services. In the spectrum below 30 MHz, incumbent authorized operations include fixed, land mobile, aeronautical mobile, maritime mobile, radio location, broadcast radio, amateur radio terrestrial and satellite, and radio astronomy. In the spectrum from 30 to 300 MHz, incumbent authorized operations include fixed land mobile, aeronautical mobile, maritime mobile and mobile satellite, radio astronomy, and amateur radio terrestrial and satellite, broadcasts TV and radio. This spectrum is also used for public safety and law enforcement, and government aeronautical radio navigation and radio navigation satellite. Each of these authorized services in the spectrum can get harmful interference. The close proximity of access BPL equipment on utility poles may affect the operation of cable television service and high-speed digital transmission service, such as DSL.
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