Sponsored review Developer kit answers PLCmodem need for mixed-signal expertisesignal processing and complex softwareEDN Staff - July 01 2013

Power line communication (PLC) is at first glance an attractive and convenient way to bringintelligent monitoring and control to many commercial and industrial applications Due to theavailability and accessibility of the power line its an enabling technology for Smart Grid uses fromsmart metering lighting control solar power electric vehicle charging building automation(HVAC) and security

When you think about it trying to use the wide-open power line as a communications medium is notonly daunting but perhaps slightly crazy On the transmit side you must inject a high-current signalonto the low-impedance power line with enough amplitude to hopefully be seen at the receiverdespite basic attenuation at the receiver you try to extract that tiny signal buried by a large ACvoltage and smothered by random noise and spikes of many varieties (forget about Gaussian whitenoise here) You then need to derive power from the line or a local DC supply Finally you mustimplement wired or wireless interfaces to the outside world for the data IO All of these functionsmust be done via electrically isolated circuits to protect the modem and user

This means that engineering and validating a power line modem is a difficult design-team challengeIt requires a mix of engineering skills and expertise is disciplines spanning AC-line interface(isolation signal and safety issues) an analog front end which must deal with severe noise issuesisolation of the power supply and power management and the signal processing knowledge toencode the data into the proper modulation scheme (FSK and OFDM are common options) and thenextract the signal from all that noise and demodulate the data on the receiver

Thats where the C2000 Power Line Modem Developers Kit (TMDSPLCKIT-V3) from TexasInstruments can help Figure 1 This low-priced kit ($599) includes all the hardware designinformation software and bill of materials so a designer can evaluate enhance and tailor a PLCmodem to meet specific application requirements It not only provides a working design from sensorthrough communications link it allows the design team to customize many aspects of the circuitand more important the operational software and user interface

The kit comes with all of hardware software tools and accessories Figure 2 It includes two PLCmodems based on the C2000 TMS320F28PLC83 processor controlCARD the single-chip analog frontend AFE031 and plcSUITE software

The kit is preloaded with firmware that supports the PRIME standard - the software can easily bechanged to a version which supports the G3 standard instead The PRIME and G3 standards eachoperate in the 3kHz-95kHz frequency band and offer data rates that can reach 128Kbps Other PLC

kits from TI support standards such as the upcoming IEEE-P19012 which operate at higher datarates in the 10kHz-490kHz frequency band

Along with the embedded PLC firmware the kit provides GUI tools which allow users to quicklyconfigure and control the kit Cables and power wonrsquot be an issue either since it also comes with allnecessary power and connection cables

Each application and operating environment is different requiring developers to optimize designsacross a variety of factors TI PLC software is delivered in the plcSUITE library and enablesdevelopers to support several modulations and standards on one common hardware design using theTMS320F28PLC83 processor and AFE031 analog front end

With the many protocol standards and modulation schemes available developers need a flexibledevelopment platform which simplifies design allows for optimization to environmental conditionssupports local regulations and can be easily adjusted to conform to evolving standards The C2000tradeMCU family enables developers to support multiple modulations on the same hardware thuseliminating the need to redesign the modem to support different modulation or standards Thismakes the family a smart and flexible platform for Power Line Communication implementationresulting is a complete certified field-tested PLC modem meeting various worldwide standards

Click for more information on the TMDSPLCKIT-V3 or TIrsquos PLC Modem Solution

Click to buy the part at Mouser Electronics

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Evaluating the Low-Frequency Power Line Communications channel in Rural North America

TI Delivers Flexible Power Line Communications Solutions

Developing a Flexible PLC Implementation for Worldwide Deployment

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Figure 1 The C2000 Power Line Modem Developers Kit (TMDSPLCKIT-V3) provides the hardwareneeded from the power-line interface all the way through a variety of communications links it alsoprovides applications software and development tools in a complete suite

Figure 2 The $599 kit greatly speeds up and simplifies the challenge of implementing a variety ofPLC modems using a host of modulations schemes and which meet a variety of worldwidestandards