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Published byMyrtle Debra Jefferson Modified over 9 years ago
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BPL Regulations for Access Networks CURRENT’s Experience
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2 US FCC Investigations Into BPL During 2003-2006, the United States Federal Communications Commission conducted an extensive investigation into Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) Involved over 5000 submitted comments from interested parties, technical field investigations and testing. Concluded with an endorsement of the potential of BPL systems for both broadband access delivery as well as improving electric utility operations.
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3 General Findings FCC concludes that BPL “offers the potential to give rise to a major new medium for broadband service delivery” Residential, institutional, commercial users Rural, underserved and competitively served areas Promote U.S. leadership in broadband technology FCC noted that many utilities are looking to BPL to enable a variety of “more sophisticated power distribution applications” SmartGrid Applications include automated outage/restoration detection, remote monitoring and operation of network distribution equipment, remote connect/disconnect, demand-side management programs and power quality monitoring to detect faulty components before they fail. “ Access BPL systems will be able to operate successfully on an unlicensed, non- harmful interference basis”
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4 FCC General Findings (continued) “Harmful interference potential from Access BPL systems operating in compliance with the existing Part 15 emission limits for carrier current systems is low in connection with the additional rules” “Potential for any harmful interference is limited to areas within a short distance of the power lines” and the potential “decays rapidly” with distance from the line No evidence that BPL will raise the background noise level (“noise floor”) No evidence that Access BPL will cause the power lines to act as miles-long antennae radiating RF energy along their full length “Properly designed and operated” systems pose “little interference hazard” The FCC reaffirmed that existing Part 15 limits for BPL systems should apply and will pose little interference risk. Also maintained in-situ testing for compliance due to lack of evidence showing correlation from lab measurements to actual field levels
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5 FCC Reaffirmed Part 15 Emissions Limits Class A radiated emissions rules apply on MV wires MV wires carry between 1,000 and 40,000 volts from a substation and may be overhead or underground Class B radiated emissions rules apply on LV wires LV wires carry “low voltage, e.g., 240/120 volts” from a distribution transformer to a customer premise Class A provides for ~10 db more power then Class B Distinction applies only above 30 MHz FCC rejected requests for emissions increases for rural areas (Main.net) emissions increases of 10 db above Class A (Satius) emissions decreases from amateurs applicable to ham bands FCC will revisit emissions levels if “information develops that raising the limits might be possible without incurring unacceptable risk of interference” No conducted emissions limits (including AM radio bands)
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6 The FCC Rules Have Been Proven Right! BPL has continued deployment in North America CURRENT’s deployment experience shows that BPL can be deployed without interference CURRENT has the two largest BPL deployments in North America 55,000 homes in Cincinnati, Ohio (operational since 2004) >60,000 homes in Dallas, Texas (operational since 2006) Zero interference complaints of any kind Even the National Association for Amateur Radio has stated that BPL done as CURRENT does it poses little interference risk. CURRENT has shown that BPL can be deployed at the FCC limits without interference!
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