Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Design phần 4 potx

72 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Frequency Amplitude Narrowband noiseBackground noise Figure 3.22 Spectral density model for the generalized background noise and build therefore frequency bundles that are usually approximated by a narrowband occupation. Therefore, for its modeling, this noise will be seen as a narrowband noise with very low psd. The power density of the colored background noise is time-averaged for the modeling by N CBN (f ). The time-dependence characteristic of this noise can be modeled independently with the knowledge of the standard deviation; [Beny03]. Therefore, the psd of the generalized background noise can be written under the following form: N GBN (f ) = N CBN (f ) + N NN (f ) (3.23) N GBN (f ) = N CBN (f ) + B  k=1 N (k) NN (f ) (3.24) where N CBN (f ) is the psd of the colored background noise, N NN (f ) the psd of the narrowband noise and N k NN (f ) is the psd of the subcomponent k generated by the interferer k of the narrowband noise. For the model of the colored background noise psd, the measurements have shown that a first-order exponential function is more adequate, as formulated by Eq. (3.25); [Beny03]. N CBN (f ) = N 0 + N 1 · e − f f 1 (3.25) with N 0 the constant noise density, N 1 and f 1 are the parameters of the exponential function, and the unit of the psd is dBµV/Hz 1/2 . Through different investigations and measurements of noise in residential and industrial environments, it was possible to find out approximations for the parameters of this model and the psd of the colored back- ground noise can be described by Eqs. (3.26) and (3.27) for residential and industrial environments respectively; [Phil00]: N BN (f ) =−35 + 35 · e − f [ MHz] 3,6 for residential environments and (3.26) N BN (f ) =−33 + 40 · e − f [ MHz] 8,6 for industrial environments (3.27) PLC Network Characteristics 73 For the approximation of the narrowband noise interferers, the parametric Gaussian function is used, whose main advantages are the few parameters required for specifying the model. Furthermore, the parameters can be individually found out from the measurements, which have shown only a small variance; [Beny03]: N (k) NN (f ) = A k · e − (f −f 0,k ) 2 2·B 2 k (3.28) the function parameters are A k for the amplitude, f 0,k is the center frequency and B k is the bandwidth of the Gaussian function. 3.4.3 Impulsive Noise The impulsive noise class is composed of the periodic impulses that are synchronous with the main frequency and the asynchronous impulsive noise. The measurements show that this class is largely dominated by the last noise type (type 5). For this reason, the modeling of this class is based on the investigations and the measurements of type (5), of which an example is shown in Fig. 3.23. The aim of these investigations and measurements is to find out the statistical char- acteristics of the noise parameters, such as the probability distribution of the impulses width and their interarrival time distribution, representing the time between two succes- sive impulses, Fig. 3.24. One approach to model these impulses is a pulse train with pulse width t w , pulse amplitude A, interarrival time t a and a generalized pulse function p(t/t w ) with unit amplitude and impulse width t w ; [ZimmDo00a]: n imp (t) = ∞  i=−∞ A i · p  t −t a,i t w,i  (3.29) Time Amplitude (V) Impulses envelope Impulses signal Figure 3.23 Example of some measured impulses in the time domain in a PLC network 74 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Time Amplitude (V) t w, i t a, i t a, i +1 A i Interarrival time Impulse i Impulse i +1 Figure 3.24 The impulse model used for impulsive noise class modeling The parameters t w,i ,A i and t a,i of impulse i are random variables, whose statistical properties are measured and investigated in [ZimmDo00a]. The measured impulses have shown that 90% of their amplitudes are between 100 and 200 mV. Only less than 1% exceeds a maximum amplitude of 2 V. The measurements of the impulse width t w have also shown that only about 1% of the measured impulses have a width exceeding 500 µs and only 0.2% of them exceeded 1 ms. Finally, the interarrival time that separates two successive impulses is below 200 ms for more than 90% of the recorded impulses. Other more detailed measurements show that about 30% of the detected pulses had an interarrival time of 10 or 20 ms, which represents the impulsive noise that is synchronous with the mains supply frequency, noise type 3. The interarrival times, lying above 200 ms, have an exponential distribution. 3.4.4 Disturbance Modeling The disturbances can have a big impact on the transmission in PLC networks on different network layers. As this book focuses on the design of the MAC layer, we consider the disturbance modeling to be used in such investigations. In the following section, we describe a simple on–off disturbance model and a complex disturbance model for application in investigations of OFDM-based transmission systems. 3.4.4.1 On–Off Model In Sec. 3.4.2, it is shown that the generalized background noise is stationary over seconds, minutes or even hours. It is also concluded that periodic impulses, synchronous to the mean frequency (noise type 4) have a short duration and low psd. On the other hand, the short-term variance in the powerline noise environment is mostly introduced by the asynchronous impulsive noise (type 5). Those impulses can reach a duration of up to several milliseconds and a higher psd. Suitable methods for forward error correction and interleaving (Sec. 4.3) can deal with disturbances caused by the impulsive noise. However, a certain error probability remains, PLC Network Characteristics 75 T off T on Figure 3.25 On– Off disturbance model which results in erroneous data transmission and the resulting retransmission of the dam- aged data units. Incorrect data transmission has a big influence on the performance of MAC and higher network layers. Therefore, an on–off disturbance model is developed to represent the influence of the asynchronous impulsive noise on the data transmission. The noise impulses can make a transmission channel for a certain time period. After the impulse disappears, the affected transmission channel is again available. Under this kind of noise, the disturbances in a PLC transmission channel can be represented by an on–off model with two states; T on and T off (Fig. 3.25) [HrasHa00]. T off state represents the duration of an impulse making the channel unavailable for the time of its duration. T on is the time without disturbances (absence of disturbance impulses) when the channel is considered available. Both duration of the disturbance impulses and their interarrival time can be represented by two random variables that are negative exponentially distributed, according to the behavior of the noise impulses [ZimmDo00, ZimmDo00a, Zimm00]. 3.4.4.2 Complex Disturbance Models for OFDM-based Systems In the consideration above, an on–off error model is defined describing the availability of a transmission channel. However, if a disturbance impulse occurs, it can affect a variable number of OFDM subcarrier frequencies depending on its characteristics, spectral power, origin, and so on. Therefore, the disturbances have to be modeled not only in the time domain (duration and interarrival time of impulses) but also in the frequency domain, specifying how many and which subcarriers are affected by a disturbance impulse. Furthermore, in the simple on–off disturbance model, an OFDM subcarrier can be only in two hard defined states: On – available for the transmission, or Off – not available. On the other hand, an OFDM system can apply bit loading (Sec. 4.2.1) to provide variable data rates of a subcarrier according to its quality, which depends on the noise behavior on the subcarrier frequency. To model an OFDM system using bit loading, the on–off disturbance model is extended to include several states between “channel is Off” (transmission not possible) and “channel is On” (full data rate is possible) as is presented in Tab. 3.7. The states between “Off” and “On” represent the situations when a subcarrier is affected by the disturbance impulse, but is still able to transmit the data. In such cases, the OFDM- based systems are able to reduce the data rate over affected subcarriers and to make the Table 3.7 Subcarrier data rates in a multistate error model – an example Subcarrier status On On −1 On −2 On −3 On −4 On −5 On −6 On −7 Off Data rate/kbps 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 76 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks transmission possible. Therefore, the multistate error model make sense if an OFDM- based PLC system is investigated. As is mentioned above, the length of typical PLC access networks is up to several hundreds meters. Thus, we can expect that the distrubances can differently affect particular network segments; for example, depending on the position of noise source, protection of powerline grids in different network sections, and so on. In this case, a PLC network is under the influence of so-called selective distrubances, where the network stations are differently affected by particular disturbances, which primarly depend on their position in the network. Such distrubances are represented by selective disturbance models. It can be concluded that the distrubances can act selectively in two different ways, frequency and space/position dependent. 3.4.4.3 Model Parameters For the specification of the parameters representing general disturbance characteristics in PLC access networks, measurements of the disturbance behaviors have to be carried out in numerous networks operating in various environments: rural and urban areas, business and industrial areas, PLC networks designed with various technologies (e.g. different types of cables), and so on. Local conditions and realizations of PLC networks can be very different from each other and the achieved measurement results can strongly vary from network to network. Therefore, there is not only a need for the general characterization of the disturbance behavior but also for the characterization of each individual PLC access network. 3.5 Summary The low-voltage networks have complex topologies that can differ strongly from one network to another. This difference comes from the fact that they have parameters whose values can be varied, such as the users density, the users activity, the connected appliances, and so on. Generally, it can be concluded that low-voltage power supply networks, also including in-home part of the network, have a physical tree topology. However, on the logical level, a PLC access network can be considered a bus network, representing a shared transmission medium. Because PLC networks perform on shared medium, there is the need for medium access management policy. This task is taken by a base station, which control the access to the medium over the whole or only a part of the considered PLC network. The base station is also the point over which access to the WAN is possible. Additional PLC devices, such as repeaters and/or gateways can also be implemented. Low-voltage networks were designed only for energy distribution to households and a wide range of devices and appliances are either switched on or off at any location and at any time. This variation in the network charge leads to strong fluctuation of the medium impedance. These impedance fluctuations and discontinuity lead to multipath behavior of the PLC channel, making its utilization for the information transmission more delicate. Beside these channel impairments, the noise present in the PLC environment makes the reception of error-free communication signal more difficult. The noise in PLC networks is diverse and is described as the superposition of five additive noise types, that are PLC Network Characteristics 77 categorized into two main classes – on the one hand is the background noise, which remains stationary over long time intervals, and on the other is the impulsive noise, which consists of the principle obstacle for a free data transmission, because of its relative high intensity. This impulsive noise results in error bursts, whose duration can exceed the limit to be detected and corrected usually by used error correcting codes. Therefore, the impulsive noise in PLC networks has to be represented in appropriate disturbance models. EMC is the first requirement to be met by any device, before it enters the market and even before it enters the wide production phase. However, this remains the main challenge that the PLC community is facing. Several services use one or multiple parts of the spectrum 0–30 MHz that is targeted by the PLC system. This makes the set of possible EM victims of PLC devices larger. In spite of it, standardization activities are going on and trying to reach international flexible standards for the electrical field strength limits, like those imposed by the FCC Part 15. 4 Realization of PLC Access Systems As considered in Chapter 3, PLC access networks are characterized by given topology of low-voltage supply networks, unfavorable transmission conditions over power grids, problem of electromagnetic compatibility and resulting low data rates and sensitivity to disturbances from the network itself and from the network environment. To solve these problems and to be able to ensure data transmission over power grids, achieving certain data rates necessary for realization of the broadband access, various transmission mecha- nisms and protocols can be applied. As mentioned in Sec. 2.3.3, PLC access systems are realized by several network elements. Basically, the communication within a PLC access network takes place between a base station and a number of PLC modems, connecting PLC subscribers and their communications devices. In this chapter, we present realization of PLC access systems including their transmission and protocol architecture implemented within the network elements, as well as telecommunications services which are applied to broadband PLC networks. 4.1 Architecture of the PLC Systems Exchange of information between distant communicating partners seems to be very com- plex. The communications devices used can differ from each other, and the information flow between them can be carried out over multiple networks, which can apply dif- ferent transmission technologies. To understand the complex communications structures, the entire communications process has been universally standardized and organized in individual hierarchical communications layers [Walke99]. The hierarchical model exactly specifies tasks of each communications layer as well as interfaces between them, ensuring an easier specification and standardization of communications protocols. Nowadays, the ISO/OSI Reference Model (International Standardization Organiza- tion/Open Systems Interconnection, Fig. 4.1) is mainly used for description of various communications systems. It consists of seven layers, each of them carrying a precisely defined function (or several functions). Every higher layer represents a new level of abstraction compared to the layer below it. The first network layer specifies data trans- mission on a so-called physical network layer (transmission medium), and every higher Broadband Powerline Communications Networks H. Hrasnica, A. Haidine, and R. Lehnert  2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd ISBN: 0-470-85741-2 80 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Application Presentation Session Transport Network Data link Physical Application Presentation Application layers Session Transport Network Data link PhysicalPhysical Data link Network Layer 1 Layer 2 Layer 3 Layer 4 Layer 5 Layer 6 Layer 7 Network switching node Device A Device B Transmission medium (e.g. power grid for PLC) MAC LLC Transport layers Figure 4.1 The ISO/OSI reference model layer specifies processes nearer to communications applications (end user device). The OSI reference model is well described in the available literature, for example, [Tane98]. Therefore, we just give a brief description of functions specified in the reference model so as to be able to define PLC specific network layers. • Layer 1 – Physical Layer – considers transmission ofbits over a communications medium, including electrical and mechanical characteristics of a transmission medium, synchro- nization, signal coding, modulation, and so on. • Layer 2 – Data Link – is divided into two sublayers (e.g. [John90]): – MAC – Medium Access Control (lower sublayer) – specifies access protocols – LLC – Logical Link Control (upper sublayer) – considers error detection and cor- rection, and data flow control. • Layer 3 – Network Layer – is responsible for the set-up and termination of network connections, as well as routing. • Layer 4 – Transport Layer – considers end-to-end data transport including segmen- tation of transmitted messages, data flow control, error handling, data security, and so on. • Layer 5 – Session Layer – controls communication between participating terminals (devices). • Layer 6 – Presentation Layer – transforms data structures into a standard format for transmission. • Layer 7 – Application Layer – provides interface to the end user. Network layers 5–7 are nearer to the end user and to a running communications applica- tion. Therefore, these network layers are very often characterized as Application Network Layers (or Application-oriented Layers) [Kade91]. As against the application layers, net- work layers 1–4 are responsible for the transmission over a network, and accordingly, they are called Transport Layers (Fig. 4.1), or Transport-oriented Layers. Realization of PLC Access Systems 81 As mentioned above, the transport layer (layer 4) takes care of end-to-end connections and, accordingly, is implemented within end communication devices (e.g. TCP in standard computer equipment). On the other hand, network layers 1–3 fulfill tasks related to the data transmission over different communications networks and network sections (subnet- works). In accordance with this, these layers are implemented within various network elements, such as switching nodes, routers, and so on, and are called Network Dependent Layers (or Network Layers). Thus, the transport layer (layer 4) represents an interface between the network layers and the totally network-independent application layers 5–7. A PLC access network consists of a base station and a number of subscribers using PLC modems. The modems provide, usually, various user interfaces to be able to con- nect different communications devices (Fig. 4.2). Thus, an user interface can provide an Ethernet interface connecting a personal computer. On the other hand, a PLC modem is connected to the powerline transmission medium providing a PLC specific interface. The communication between the PLC transmission medium and the user interface is carried out on the third network layer. Information received on the physical layer form the pow- erline network is delivered through MAC and LLC sublayers to the network layer, which is organized according to a specified standard (e.g. IP) ensuring communications between PLC and Ethernet (or any other) data interfaces. The information received by the data interface of the communications device is forwarded to the application network layers. The base station connects a PLC access network and its powerline transmission medium to a communications distribution network, and with it to the backbone network (Sec. 2.3.4). Accordingly, it provides a PLC specific interface and a corresponding interface to the communications technology used in the distribution network. Generally, the data exchange between a PLC network and a distribution network is carried out on the third network layer, such as between the PLC interface in the modem and the user interface. In accordance with the consideration presented above, it can be recognized that both base stations and PLC modems provide a specific interface for their connection to the powerline transmission medium (Fig. 4.2). On the other hand, the interfaces for the con- nection to the distribution and backbone networks, as well as to various communications devices, are realized according to communications technologies applied in the backbone and in the end devices, which are specified in the corresponding telecommunications standards. The interconnection between PLC and other communications technologies is carried out on the third network layer, which is also standardized. Network LLC PHY MAC PHY MAC LLC Network LLC PHY MAC PHY MAC LLC LLC Net. Tran. Application MAC PHY PLC modem Device Base station PLC access network To the backbone Wall socket User interface PLC network layers Figure 4.2 PLC specific network layers [...]... signal can be expressed as b(t) = √ ∞ 2P · (t − nTb ) cos(2πfn t + φn ) (4. 22) n=−∞ Tb Fast hopping Slow hopping Frequency bins 1/Tc M /Tc 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 6 5 4 2 1 0 Frequency bins 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Tc = Th Ts M/Tc 2Ts Time 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Tc = Ts Th 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 2Th Time Figure 4. 11 Time and frequency representation of slow and fast FHSS Information... lNT S ] · ej 2πknTS /(NT S ) k=0 l=−∞ N−1 (4. 8) [n − lN ] · ej 2πkn/N bl [k] (4. 9) N ∞ x[n] = bl [k] k=0 l=−∞ N 86 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks with 1, 0, [n − lN ] = N for (lN < n ≤ (l + 1)N ) otherwise (4. 10) the signal can be presented in the form ∞ N−1 x[n] = [n − lN ] · l=−∞ N bl [k]ej 2πkn/N (4. 11) k=0 ∞ x[n] = [n − lN ] · IDFT(bl , n) (4. 12) l=−∞ N where IDFT is Inverse Discrete... to the OFDM 84 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Duplication TCP: cyclic prefix duration T : OFDM symbol duration Figure 4. 4 Adding the cyclic prefix by duplicating the first part of the original symbol symbol, and in order to build a kind of periodicity around this OFDM symbol the content of this guard time is duplicated from the first part of the symbol, as represented in Fig 4. 4 In this case,...82 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks The PLC specific interface includes first two network layers: physical layer and MAC and LLC sublayers of the second network layer PLC physical layer is organized according to the specific features of the powerline transmission medium and is described in Sec 4. 2 Owing to the inconvenient noise scenario in PLC networks (Sec 3 .4) , various mechanisms... direction [Rodr02] If the encoding is in the time direction, then (4. 13) Sl,k = Sl−1,k × Bl,k and to initialize this differential mapping process each subcarrier of the first OFDM symbol conveys a known reference value If encoding is performed in the frequency direction, then (4. 14) Sl,k = Sl,k−1 × Sl,k 88 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks 16-PSK Q 0110 0111 0101 16-QAM Q 1011 1001 0001 0011 1010... b (t ) Highpass filter a (t ) Frequency synthesizer FH code clock Figure 4. 12 Code generator Transmitter for FHSS s (t ) 94 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Received signal r (t ) Data modulator Highpass filter Highpass filter Estimated data ^ b [n ] a (t ) Frequency synthesizer FH code clock Code generator Figure 4. 13 Receiver for a FHSS system where fk ∈ {fs0 fs1 , , fsM−1 } and P is... and code words, as illustrated by the following example: 100 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Data source m Block encoder Information vector c Modulator Channel codeword Noise Data sink ^m Channel r Decoder Demodulator Received vector Estimate of m Discrete noisy channel Figure 4. 15 General model of coded communications system Table 4. 2 Example of mapping function of a binary (2,5) linear code... additional delays that may be not acceptable The basic variants of ARQ mechanisms are described in Sec 4. 3 .4 The ARQ mechanisms deal with a relatively short duration of the disturbances (some milliseconds) that occur on one or several data units On the other hand, so-called 98 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks long-term disturbances (e.g caused by narrowband noise produced by short-wave radio stations)... ) sqr(2Eb/Tb) cos(2pfct ) (carrier signal) PNS signal c [m ] Rate 1/Tc PAM ΠT (t ) c c (t ) Figure 4. 9 Synoptic scheme of a DSSS transmitter 92 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks and the wave form of the spreading code, which is a baseband signal, is defined by ∞ c(t) = (t − mTc ) c[m] m=−∞ (4. 21) Tc where T (t) denotes an unit amplitude rectangular pulse with a duration of T By taking 1/Tc... disrupt the communication, the adversary needs to do two things; first to detect that a transmission is taking place and second to transmit a jamming signal that is designed to confuse the receiver Therefore, a 90 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks spread-spectrum system must be able to make these tasks as difficult as possible Firstly, the transmitted signal should be difficult to detect by the adversary, . higher Broadband Powerline Communications Networks H. Hrasnica, A. Haidine, and R. Lehnert  20 04 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd ISBN: 0 -47 0-85 741 -2 80 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks Application Presentation Session Transport Network Data. T cp duration is added to the OFDM 84 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks T CP : cyclic prefix duration T : OFDM symbol duration Duplication Figure 4. 4 Adding the cyclic prefix by duplicating. e j2πknT S /(NT S ) (4. 8) x[n] = N−1  k=0 ∞  l=−∞ b l [k]  N [n − lN] · e j2πkn/N (4. 9) 86 Broadband Powerline Communications Networks with  N [n − lN] =  1, for (lN < n ≤ (l + 1)N) 0, otherwise (4. 10) the