Technological challenges of powerline telecommunication

Citation

Noll, A.M. (2002), "Technological challenges of powerline telecommunication", info, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/info.2002.27204aab.001

Technological challenges of powerline telecommunication

A. Michael Noll

A. Michael Noll is a Professor and Former Dean at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA, and is also affiliated with the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia University.

Keywords: Electricity industry, Distribution, Telecommunications, Problem identification

Abstract The basic principles of electric power distribution are reviewed. The technological issues that need to be conquered to utilize powerlines for two-way telecommunication are summarized. The conclusion is that there are formidable obstacles to the practical use of powerlines for telecommunication.

The basic concepts employed in electric power distribution are well over 100 years old and are mostly the visions of Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla. Edison contributed the basic concepts of end-to-end service, including generation, distribution, metering, switches, and high-resistance light bulbs. Tesla contributed the alternating current motor which then made alternating current practical.

Electric power is generated by a variety of sources, including steam produced from the combustion of oil and coal or from nuclear energy, water turning turbines, and wind turning generators.

An early major innovation in the distribution of electric power was the use of alternating current (ac). The earlier direct current (dc) required ever-larger diameters of copper wire to keep the power losses acceptable. These losses occur when electricity flows through the resistance in the distribution wires causing them to heat up, and are proportional to product of the resistance of the wire and the square of the current: I²R in equation form. Since all the currents going to the various users of electric power add, the total current soared. The early practical solution was many local power generating plants.

This situation changed dramatically with alternating current. The electric transformer (invented by Lucian Gaulard and Josiah Willard Gibbs, and first built by William Stanley in 1885) works only with alternating current and allows ac voltages to be transformed from one value to another. But as voltages change, the currents correspondingly change in the opposite direction to keep the electric power into the transformer the same as the output power. Thus by using higher voltages the currents could be reduced, thereby keeping the I2R losses under control in the distribution system.

Homes in the USA are served by three power wires. One wire is ground (earthed). Each of the other two wires has a nominal voltage of 120 volts with respect to ground. Every few homes are served by a step-down power transformer which reduces the input voltage of the few thousand volts at the primary of the transformer to the 240 volts at the center-tapped secondary. Neighborhoods and small cities are served by substations where voltages in the tens (and even hundreds) of thousands are reduced by very large step-down transformers to the few thousands of volts for the local power transformers. The frequency of the alternating current is 60Hz in the USA and many other countries. Still other countries operate at 50Hz, at 120 volts and higher.

Most electronic devices – such as television receivers, computers, and stereos – obtain their power from the powerline. The 60Hz alternating current is reduced in voltage, rectified, and then filtered to obtain the low-voltage direct current required to power the electronic circuitry. However, the electric power distribution system was designed for the safe and efficient distribution of electric power at 60Hz – not for two-way telecommunication.

Telecommunication issues

Telecommunication is a two-way affair that today is conveyed over a wide variety of media, including radio waves, optical fiber, and copper wire. The capacity – or bandwidth – of the physical medium is an important parameter in telecommunication and depends on a number of factors. Copper wire comes in many forms: the twisted pairs of the telephone world, the coaxial cable of CATV, and the twin lead of connection to a television antenna (Figure 1). Bandwidth, loss, and susceptibility to noise are important considerations for these different copper-wire media.

The many challenges of copper wire are solved with optical fiber, which offers virtually unlimited bandwidth and very low loss over distance. Optical fiber is clearly the technology of choice for carrying communication signals of all kinds over great distances, across continents and under oceans. But the cost of rewiring local connections to homes and small offices is still too costly to justify the investment, although this is slowly changing as both telephone companies and CATV companies increasingly introduce fiber into their local distribution networks. Optical fiber carries light, not electricity or electrical signals.

Figure 1 - Computing architectures

Copper wires are used to carry electric power, but these wires are far thicker than the twisted pair used to carry the electrical signals for telephone service. This is because the lower resistance of thicker wires is required so that the wires do not heat up and waste power while carrying electric current. The basic idea of using these same powerlines to carry two-way telecommunication signals is an old idea, still fraught with many problems.

One problem is bandwidth, which is a measure of signal carrying capacity. Within the home, the powerline has considerable bandwidth, as do most copper-wire transmission lines over short distances. Home powerlines have been used for decades for home intercom systems, although noise and interference have been frequent problems. The home powerline can also be used to carry low-bandwidth data signals to control various electric appliances. Systems are also available for using the powerline within the home for local computer interconnection. Carrying signals beyond the home is another matter though. One issue is the power transformer which is optimized to pass 60 Hz and acts as a low-pass filter of higher frequencies. Another issue is the configuration of the electrical conductors and their frequency-dependent properties over distance.

The configuration of copper wire affects both its bandwidth and its susceptibility to noise. Coaxial cable (or coax) has an outer conductor that surrounds and shields an inner conductor. This configuration offers considerable bandwidth and isolation to external sources of interference, but has high losses over distance. A pair of conductors, such as the twisted pair used in the telephone local loop, has much less bandwidth and is more susceptible to interference. The bandwidth of twisted pair is about a few mega hertz (or a few mega bits per second) over the distance of about a mile. The bandwidth of copper wire decreases with distance, depending on the configuration of the conductors.

The bandwidth of the copper wire used in the powerline would be similar to the twisted pair of the telephone local loop and would greatly decrease over distance. The inductance of the power transformers along the line would have frequency-dependent effects on the signal-carrying capacity of the line, acing as a low-pass filter.

Another issue is noise and interference. Simply turning electric lamps on and off creates small electric sparks which propagate along the powerline as noise. The high-voltages used for distribution are subject to arcing, which creates considerable amounts of electrical noise. The powerline is also the source of 60Hz hum, another form of unwanted interference, and also higher harmonics. The high-voltage line in many areas is a single wire, with the ground of the earth acting as the source and sink for the electron flow. The earth is a source of much noise and interference. In the early days of telephony, the earth was similarly used as a common ground path, until in 1881 John J. Carty invented the use of two wires forming a loop for the flow of electricity.

The powerline is unshielded and thus acts as an antenna to pick up all sorts of radio-borne noise, such as from lightning flashes, automobile ignitions, and high-voltage sparking. The powerline also acts as a giant antenna, radiating high-frequency electromagnetic interference.

Telecommunication signals are usually very small, a few volts at most. These small signals would be overwhelmed by the 120 volts at the secondary of the power transformer and by the thousands of volts at the primary. Noise produced at such large voltages would also overwhelm the small high-frequency signals of telecommunication and be difficult to remove. Lightning strikes on the powerline generate huge surges of high-voltage electricity from which sensitive telecommunication electronics would need protection and isolation.

Many homes are all attached to the same powerline. Thus, if used for telecommunication, the powerline would be a large party line, or bus architecture, with all parties receiving the same signals. Contention resolution and multiplexing would be required, conceptually similar to what is used for cable modems and shared local-area data networks. If the usable bandwidth of the powerline were capable of carrying 2Mbps and were simultaneously shared by 100 homes, then each home would have only 20kbps on average, actually less than a dial-up modem connection.

Safety is yet another issue. Large voltages with the potential of large currents are carried over powerlines. Appliances in the home and office are not allowed direct access to the powerline, and circuits are isolated and protected by fuses and circuit breakers. Direct connection to the powerline for telecommunication purposes must be protected from large voltages, and also the powerline must be protected from short circuits. Only licensed electricians are allowed to make direct connections to powerlines.

There are also regulatory and policy uncertainties. As an example, if the powerline were used for two-way telecommunication, would the common carrier model as used for telephone service apply or would the closed model of cable television apply?

Perspective

The use of the powerline for two-way telecommunication is an old idea. The powerline has been used within the home for intercoms and also for low-speed data to control appliances and light switches.

Utility companies have been investigating the use of the powerline for low-speed data telecommunication for remote automatic meter reading. Electric power is metered, and electric power companies send their employees monthly to homes to read the electric meter. Since remote meter reading via telecommunication would save this cost of labor, electric power companies have a motivation to use telecommunication over powerlines. However, some past attempts at remote meter reading have used telephone lines or wireless as a far easier solution than using the powerline even for such low-speed data telecommunication. Remote meter reading still remains in its infancy, after decades of promotion, although trials and pilot tests are being conducted. Power companies also have a strong motivation to monitor the status of their distribution network, including the transformers, and telecommunication over the powerline would be an appropriate way to do so. But again this has not happened because of the many technological problems, which are difficult to overcome in an economic manner.

Conclusion

Taken together, all the problems and issues make the use of the powerline for telecommunication very challenging. Although some of the challenges can be solved, the solutions are complex and costly. Some problems, such as the bandwidth limitations of pairs of copper wires, are inherent to the medium. In the end, it is easier to use the coaxial cable of the CATV company, the twisted pairs of the telephone company, or even radio waves. For example, a single twisted pair could be leased from the telephone company and then shared by many users, as a method comparable to sharing the powerline among many users but far simpler.

Technology does advance and innovation does occur. But whether such advances and innovations will occur in powerline telecommunication remain to be shown – notwithstanding the promises and promotional zeal of its advocates. But a successful business venture requires far more than faith, as the advocates of low earth orbit satellites, video telephones, tulips, and many Internet businesses have all discovered. The burden of proof should be on the advocates of this technology.