1. Broadband over Power lines by Jayesh Chi Bun Mummoorthy CS 536 – October 22, 2004

2. Broadband over power lines (BPL)  FCC approved last week: power utilities free to carry data on electrical wires to provide broadband services  Benefits Better coverage than phone and cable (e.g. small towns and rural areas) Faster deployment May lower the price  Challenges EM interference to various radio signals  System to monitor interference,  Restrict service in areas where could affect public safety High-voltage and fluctuation can corrupt data  Clean data stream if power down to 7000V

3. How Stuff Works?  Medium Fibers / Phone lines (to skip disruptive high-voltage lines) Medium voltage wires  PHY RF (bundled w/ AC) 4.3MHz – 20.9MHz 84 carriers OFDM  MAC CSMA/CA virtual carrier sense contention resolution Encoding: DQPSK Error detection/correction: FEC, ARQ

4. How Stuff Connected? How to plug in?  Wireless router on poles  Special adaptor/modem plugged into electrical outlets Data rates  Homeplug Powerline Alliance: 14Mbps  Amperion: currently 20Mbps, 100Mbps next year  CVEC: claims 256Mbps bidirectionally Prices  Amperion: $19/mo  Home n/w device: $25 Wall-plugged Ethernet Bridge

5. The future  Home network Easily create a network via electric outlets  Smart electrical grids and devices Read electrical usage Diagnose maintenance problems and feed back Traffic lights, surveillance cams networked instantly Control power use

6. Comments on the article & the topic  Pros Impact of BPL to broadband providers Provided estimated cost of services Proposed idea of smart electrical devices  Cons No technical details about data transmission mechanism over power line No discussion of safety and security  Our Opinions +: Alternative to existing network infrastructure +: Opportunity for smart devices -: More trials and testing needed -: Interference problems? -: More at the hands of nature: Rain, Snow,.. -: New medium: Properties of Aluminum wires??? -: Will it survive the opposition:  ARRL(163,000), FEMA, DERA & many more …

7. How Stuff Messed Up? Short wave/CB: 5.9MHz – 27.41Mhz Affected FEMA (emergency), ARRL (relay radio)