Proceedings of the 14th International Middle East Power Systems Conference (MEPCON10), Cairo University, Egypt, December 19-21,

2010, Paper ID 252.

Practical Issues of Power Line Communication for

Automatic Meter Reading Systems
Yasser Fathi, MIEEE, Tamer A. Kawady, MIEEE, Ahmed Husein, and Mohamed El-Geziry

Abstract Power Line Communication (PLC) represents an

economic, versatile and dependable tool for distribution automa-
tion purposes. It is expected to play a major role towards realiz-
ing "Smart Grids" in the future. This paper visualizes some
practical issues of Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) based on
Power Line Communication systems. It highlights different fac-
tors affecting system performance and its time and location de-
pendent behavior. The relation of PLC system performance fluc-
tuations with the average customer current demand in two
mechanisms namely Access Impedance and Injected Noise is em-
phasized. In addition, it explains the performance variation
across different system areas. It therefore helps to realize a better
understanding of the PLC implementation for real applications
which is essential for successful utilization of such tools in the fu-
ture.
Index terms: Automatic Meter Reading, Distribution Automa-
tion, , Power Line Communication, Spread Spectrum
I. INTRODUCTION
Several AMR systems have been evaluated in Egypt in differ-
ent governorates faced may problems especially at the begin-
ning. Several systems utilizing different modulation tech-
niques were proposed. One of the most robust systems that
covered more than 30,000 customers is ARSEL AMR sys-
tem developed by EOIP1 and utilized one of the Spread
Spectrum techniques and will be taken as our case study.
Section II, introduces different problems facing PLC systems
concentrating on our case study. Section III is dedicated to the
measurements setups and evaluation results. Finally, the con-
clusions are given in section IV.
II. CASE STUDY AND PROBLEM CLARIFICATION
In our case study of ARSEL AMR system shown in Figure 1,
each customer KWH meter is equipped with a PLC transmitter
that converts the meter disk movement into an equivalent
reading. Subsequently, the meter reading is appended by a

U
unique customer code and sent to a central receiver located in
tilizing power network for data transmission is not a
the distribution transformer[9]. The system deploys Direct Se-
new idea [1]-[3]. It started as early as the beginning
quence Spread Spectrum DSSS modulation technique working
of the last century with the wave of full coverage
in the frequency range defined by CENELEC standard Band A
electrification. Although power line communication systems
form 9KHz to 95KHz [5], [10].
are getting more and more interest, their performance espe- Complex tree of Customer
cially in long distance AMR applications is sill subject of Loads
doubt[4]. The performance of any PLC system is found to be
heavily depending on time, location and power network wiring
topology. Distribution transformers heavily attenuate high fre-
quency signals beyond several kilo hertz and hence form the
communication point of view, the low tension network is di- PLC Receiver & PLC
1234
vided into isolated islands or cells concentrated on each distri- Data Concentrator Transmitter
bution transformer. Communication signaling can only be im- KWH Meter
plemented within the area serviced by one transformer [10]. Customer
Dist. Transformer Entry Point
The first known patent on power line signaling was proposed
in 1897 in the United Kingdom [8]. In such systems com-
Main Feeder
mands of load shading are broadcasted for a central generation
point to meters. In Automatic Meter Reading systems the in- 1 1
formation emerges from different meters and required to be
collected at central location in the reverse direction[9], [6].
Home appliance manufacturers are continuously developing
Feeding other customers
and producing new instruments with less regard to communi-
cation signaling issues. On the other hand especially in the de- Figure 1: ARSEL PLC based AMR System
veloping counties, Arial lines are still heavily used in the LV
The generated PLC signal is coupled to the line at the prem-
grid. This environment negatively affects the quality and reli-
ises entry point through a special coupling circuit designed to
ability of any communication system and thus creating a
block the line frequency meanwhile passing the higher fre-
harsh, hostile and horrible channel as described in several pa-
pers.
1
EOIP Engineering Office for Integrated Projects an R&D house in Egypt
involved in several communication projects serving the utility companies.

634
quency communication signals [10]. Since its generation The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition SCADA sys-
within the transmitter circuit, the signal experience the cou- tem shown in Figure 2 is utilized to capture and record the
pling circuit power and cable network characteristics in addi- current trends over several days through a complex communi-
tion it is contaminated by noise. Finally, the receiver has to ex- cation network. MV currents are monitored by the outgoing
tract the transmitted information carried by the weekend and protection digital relays meanwhile the LV side is monitored
distorted signal that is completely embedded in noise. So, we by a special Transformer Inelegant Module TIM built for this
can deduce the three factors almost influencing any PLC sys- purpose.
tem as follows
A. Access Impedance
PLC devices directly drive the mains terminals and are re- Medium Voltage 11 Kv
quired to deliver sufficient signaling power depending on the Protection and
monitoring
required coverage range. The lumped element equivalent im- Relay
pedance of the power network seen across the coupling circuit
terminals is known as Access Impedance and in general is a
function of the frequency [10]. Access impedance shunts the SCADA
power amplifier and its coupling circuit and hence it deter- System Low Voltage
distribution
mines the injected signal power. Every load or appliance con- Transformer
nected to the mains contributes to this access impedance. Un-
Transformer
fortunately, these loads are not fixed but continuously chang- Intelligent
Low Voltage 0.4 Kv
ing in random patterns resulting in time varying channel re- Module
sponse.
LV Grid

B. PLC channel
Along its path form Transmitter to Receiver, the signal en- Figure 2: SCADA System Block Diagram
counters several impedance discontinuities[1]-[3]. It may tra-
vel across different cable types and may encounter branching
or even couple across phases. Such discontinuities introduce 70

impedance mismatches and dramatically degrade the signal 60

Phase Currents (A)

strength by and dividing its power among branches. In addi-

50
tion, no guarantee, that different paths have the same channel
characteristics, instead signal from different customers will in 40

general experience different environment[9], [10]. 30

FeederCurrentA
20
FeederCurrentB
C. Power Line Noise FeederCurrentC
10
Every connected load running from the mains injects a load
0
specific noise signature. In addition, the power network itself 3/25 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/27 3/27
works as a huge antenna that captures different types of elec- 19:12 0:00 4:48 9:36 14:24 19:12 0:00 4:48

tromagnetic waves thus providing a rich cocktail of noise at (a)

the receiver front end [7].
80
III. EVALUATION TESTS 70
Phase Currents (A)

A. Current demand and Access Impedance Measurements 60

Customers loads are powered on and off arbitrarily resulting 50

in time dependant current demands and introducing randomly 40

fluctuating impedance. In order to study this time dependence 30

behavior, we have to estimate the ensample average current FeederCurrentA
20
demand over a large number of customers. FeederCurrentB
10 FeederCurrentC

Fortunately, the power network hierarchy can be utilized to es- 0

3/25 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/27 3/27
timate the average access impedance per customer. The total 19:12 0:00 4:48 9:36 14:24 19:12 0:00 4:48
outgoing current of the distribution transformer is the sum of
(b)
about 300 customer currents. Furthermore, the MV feeder is
responsible for feeding about 6 to 7 or even more distribution Figure 3: Current demand of MV Feeder 2 (25 to 27 March)
transformers and thus providing a summation of very high
number of customers.

635
 70 500.00

60 450.00

Phase Currents (A)

Phase Currents (A)

400.00
50
350.00
40
300.00
30 250.00
`
20 FeederCurrentA 200.00
Phase A
FeederCurrentB 150.00
10 Phase B
FeederCurrentC
100.00 Phase C
0
50.00
3/25 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/27 3/27
19:12 0:00 4:48 9:36 14:24 19:12 0:00 4:48 0.00
8/14 8/15 0:00 8/15 8/16 0:00 8/16 8/17 0:00
12:00 12:00 12:00
(a)

80

70 Figure 5: Current demand of LV side of single distribution trans-

former
Phase Currents (A)

60

50

40

30 180

FeederCurrentA

Average Estimated Custormer

20 160
FeederCurrentB

Access Impedance(Ohm)
10 140
FeederCurrentC
120
0
3/25 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/27 3/27 100
19:12 0:00 4:48 9:36 14:24 19:12 0:00 4:48
80
(b)
60

Figure 4: Current demand of MV Feeder 4 (25 to 27 March) 40

20

0
3/25 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/26 3/27 3/27
B. Access Impedance near the Power Frequency 19:12 0:00 4:48 9:36 14:24 19:12 0:00 4:48

Figure 6: Average Customer Access Impedance

Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the captured current demand of four
MV feeders over the same time period. A closer look at the
curves reveals several astonishing results. Although custom-
ers switch on and off loads arbitrarily, they tend to produce
common trends related to the human normal activities. In
general, the time from mid-night to noon is considered as low
power demand period at which a large number of the customer
loads are disconnected. This period corresponds to higher ac-
cess impedance and lower noise level as a large portion of the
home appliances are disconnected. Hence, this represents the
best conditions for communication and collecting the meter
readings. The recorded samples clearly indicate relatively
large variations of the customer current demand. The re-
corded peak to minimum load demand reached 200% or even
more.
Turning our attention to the LV side of the network, the LV
current demand shown in Figure 5, indicates that the three
phases are not well balanced as expected because the most of
loads are single phase. The sample shows that one of the phas-
es is loaded by approximately double the current of another
phase that represents another source of asymmetry in the PLC
channels. Furthermore, the current demand shows the same
fluctuating behavior as indicated by the feeding MV. By sim-
ple manipulation the average customer access impedance with
time is derived and shown in Figure 6.
C. Access Impedance Measurement in the Frequency Range
10 - 100 KHz
As the frequency rises, most of the components of the electric
appliances gradually change their electrical characteristics re-
sulting in frequency dependant impedance. For example, the
iron used in the transformers and motors dramatically changes
its magnetic characteristics and consequently introducing
higher impedance levels. In addition, the bulk capacitors nor-
mally included in the motors as phase shift devices and in the
switched mode power supplies experiences a resonance fre-
quency in the range below 100 KHz at which they are equiva-
lently behave as coils. In other words, the most of the elec-
tronic devices and components that have direct connection to
the mains are optimized to operate in the low frequency range
and lose their properties gradually as the frequency rises. As a
result, the impedance of the home appliances exhibits rising
trends with the frequency. Eventually, in the mega Hertz fre-
quency ranges the load impedances takes sufficiently high
values to be neglected. Hence, the power line channel charac-
teristics are dominated by the wiring and cable characteristics
[11], [12].

636
 Sweep sinusoidal transmitter
Signal conditioning and capturing
Current
Sweep Sensing To the Mains
Generator
Coupling & Anti Aliasing Data PC (off line
Transmit Line
Power protection LPF Filter (fc Acquisition spectral
Coupling
Amplifier Capacitor Receive Circuit <100KHz) analysis)
Coupling &
BPF

Current Voltage Figure 9: Power line noise measurement set-up.

signal signal

True RMS Measurements 1) Measurement Setup

Figure 7: Access Impedance measurement in the frequency range
10 to 100 KHz
In the frequency range from 10 to 100 KHz, both the network
architecture and the loads affect the resulting channel proper-
ties. A special setup has been developed to measure the im-
pedance magnitude indirectly at several frequency points. The
measurement set-up shown in Figure 7 consists of a sweep si-
nusoidal transmitter driving a capacitive coupling circuit in se-
ries with a 1-ohm current sensing resistance, and a band pass
filter covering the frequency range from 1 to 100 KHz.
12
To capture the noise bouncing over the power line a special
coupling and protection circuit is used. As shown in Figure 9,
this special circuit filters out the high line voltage while pass-
ing signal components above 1 KHz. In addition it provides
the necessary protection and isolation for the following cir-
cuits. The captured signal is then passed through Anti-Alias
filter before sampling by the Data Acquisition System. The
acquired samples are then offline processed by Welch spec-
trum estimation algorithm implemented in Matlab software.
2) Measurement results
The captured samples are analyzed in time and frequency do-
mains. The noise sample shown in Figure 10 clearly contains a
variety of components, particularly, the impulsive noise, the
line frequency harmonics and the background high frequency
hum with different weights.

10
1.5
8
Ohm

6 1

4
2 0.5
Voltage

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0

Frequency (KHz)

-0.5
Figure 8: Access impedance (10-100 KHz)

-1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Figure 8 shows one sample of the measurement indicating im- Time (ms)
pedance values ranging from 2 to 10 ohms with frequencies up Figure 10: Power line noise sample
to 100 KHz. Such relatively low value must be taken into con-
sideration in designing the PLC Power Amplifier, Power Sup-
ply and coupling circuits. A closer look at one of the large periodic impulses penetrated
throughout the entire sample is shown in Figure 11. The im-
D. Noise Measurements pulses usually take the shape of a damped oscillation spanning
about 1 ms and a peak voltage of 1 volt. The origin of these
As the Signal to Noise Ratio SNR is the figure of merit for any impulses is referred to different types of switching and spark-
communication system, we implemented several noise meas- ing loads like motors dimmers and different types of home ap-
urements in the system transmission band. pliances.

637
 1.5 20

Powe r S pe ctrum Magnitude (dB)

10
1
0
Ampl i tude (vol t)

0.5 -1 0

-2 0
0
-3 0

-0.5
-4 0

-5 0
-1 0 2 4 6 8 10
51 52 53 54 55 F re qu e n cy H z
Ti me ( ms ) (a)
4

Figure 11: Common Shape of Power Line Pulses 10

Powe r S pe ctrum Magnitude (dB)

0

20
Hi gh PSD porti on of the -1 0
Col ored Background noi se
10
P ow er Spectrum Magni tude (dB )

Monotoni cal l y decreasi ng -2 0

0
PSD porti on of theCocl red
Background noi se
-3 0
-10
Narrow Band i nterference
-4 0
-20

-5 0
-30 0 2 4 6 8 10
F re qu e n cy H z
4
(b)
-40

Figure 13: PSD of a power line noise sample, Cairo, August 2001, 3.00
-50 PM, Phase 2,3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Frequency (Hz) x 10
4

Figure 12: PSD of the power line noise sample, Cairo, August 0
P ow er Spectrum Magni tude (dB )

2001, 3.00 PM, Phase 1

-5

The power spectral density estimation (PSD) of theses sam- -10

ples are carried out using Welch Algorithm. Clearly, Figure 12
and Figure 13 distinguished the main noise components domi-
-15
nating in the low frequency band. Particularly, the narrow
band needle shaped noise resulting from the monitors and
switching power supplies included in the PC. Through this -20

band, the PSD decreases gradually with the frequency to reach

about 35 dB below its initial value at 1 KHz. Obviously, the -25
noise power concentration below 30 KHz indicates the insig- 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000

nificance of using such band for signaling. Focusing on the Frequency (Hz)
low range below 10 KHz shown in
Figure 14, reveals that, the major components contributing to Figure 14: Background noise details showing the line harmonics
the noise in this band is the line related harmonics. below 10 KHz

638
E. Field Measurements
Buried Cable Section
Buried, Aerial Cable or Overhead Lines
Virtual Zoning lines
Zone 1
Outgoing 380V
HV/LV
Distribution
Transformer
Incoming 11KV
Supply line (max. length. 1000m)
Zone 2
Customer
connection
Supply radius
100-500m
Cable Box
Zone 2
Figure 15: Low Voltage Power Distribution network connection
While following the investigated system performance in dif-
ferent sites in Egypt, several notes about the LV grid that may
influence the PLC performance have been recorded. As shown
in Figure 15 the main output of the distribution transformer is
split into several main feeders. Each feeder carries energy to
about 100 customer premises. The feeder length can reach up
to 1 km or even longer. Although the system construction is a
triple phase, the majority of the loads are single phase ones.
As a result, the load balance between different phases is not
well guaranteed. Consequently, PLC performance differences
among phases are expected.
This tree configuration results in a minimum impedance at the
transformer outlet functioning as break wall. Signals transmit-
ted over one feeder are almost blocked upon reaching this
point. When we put a receiver midway on one feeder, it re-
ceives only about 30% of other feeders corresponding to near
customers. So, the customers fed form one distribution trans-
former are further divided into 3 or further nearly isolated
groups.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
PLC systems are one of the strongest and most commercial so-
lutions for AMR systems especially regarding the running
cost. Transformers do not provide sufficient coupling beyond
10 KHz and thus crating isolated LV Islands requiring another
means for communication to reach a central station. In addi-
tion, the transformer construction with several feeders further
divides the LV service area into three or four divisions. Loads
(Home Appliances) interacts with any PLC system in two fold
action. First, introduce time dependant access impedance and
second providing time and frequency dependant noise. During
peak loading, in some area lower impedance is seen shunting
transmitters and more noise injected interfering receivers.
639
Hence, the performance of any PLC regarding, coverage range
and even the signaling reliability is expected to be dimen-
sioned and vice versa. The network cable construction espe-
cially cable types, pillar boxes branching, mixing between dif-
ferent types of cables introduces rich impedance mismatch
opportunities in addition to different number of customers re-
sulting in different system performance for each LV Island.
Acknowledgement
The authors are expressing their gratitude to Engineering Of-
fice for Integrated Projects EOIP the owner of ARSEL and
the SCADA Systems. In addition to Middle East Electricity
Company Egypt MEEDCO and Canal Company for Electric-
ity Distribution, Egypt CCED.
V. REFERENCES
[1] V. Guillet, G. Lamarque, P. Ravier and C. Leger, Improving the
power line communication signal-to-noise ratio during a resistive
load commutation ACADEMY PUBLISHER JOURNAL OF
COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 4, NO. 2, MARCH 2009
[2] Lars T. Berger, Gabriel Moreno-Rodrguez Power Line Com-
munication Channel Modelling through Concatenated IIR-Filter
Elements ACADEMY PUBLISHER JOURNAL OF
COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 4, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2009
[3] Anatory J. , Theethayi N. , and Mvungi N. H Power Line Chan-
nel Models: Comparisons between different Modeling Adopted in
BPLC Systems THIRD WORKSHOP ON POWER LINE
COMMUNICATIONS, OCTOBER 1-2, 2009, UDINE, ITALY
[4] N. Miura, H. Sato, H. Narita, M. Takaki Automatic meter-
reading system by power line carrier communications IEE
PROCEEDINGS, Vol. 137, Pt. C, No. I , JANUARY 1990
[5] Stefan Ramseier, Michael Arzberger, Andreas Hauser MV and
LV Powerline Communications: New Proposed IEC Standards,
IEEE Transmission and Distribution Conference, 1999, IEEE,
1999, pp. 235-239.
[6] Jrventausta, P., Mkinen, A., Kivikko, K., Verho P., Krelampi,
M., Chrons, T., Vehvilinen, S., Trygg, P, Rinta-Opas, A,. Using
advanced AMR system in low Voltage distribution network man-
agement, Proc. CIRED 2007 Conf., Vienna, Austria. 21-24 may
2007.
[7] Edward P., Guillen, Julin J. Lpez,, Cesar Y. Barahona,
Throughput Analysis over Power Line Communication Channel
in an Electric Noisy Scenario, World Academy of Science, En-
gineering and Technology 43, 2008.
[8] Klaus Dostert, "Power Line Communications", PRINTICE
HALL, 2000.
[9] El-Ghoneimy M., Kandil A.H., Harb K., "Automatic Meter
Reading in Egypt", 6 'th International Middle East Power Systems
Conference, MOPECON 1998, pp. 677-684
[10] Yasser Fathi Msc An Enhanced Direct Sequence Spread Spec-
trum Communication System over the Mains Msc Thesis Cairo
University 2004.
[11] T. Bostoen and O. V. de Wiel, Modeling the low-voltage power
distribution network in the frequency band from 0.5 to 30 MHz
for broadband power line communication, Communications,
2000, Proceedings. 2000 International Zurich Seminar on, Febru-
ary 2000, pp. 171-178.
[12] G. Marubayashi, S.Tachikawa ; "Spread Spectrum Transmission
on Residential Power Line", Spread Spectrum Techniques and
Applications Proceedings 1996., IEEE 4th International
Symposium on, 22-25 Sep. 1996.
 VI. BIOGRAPHIES Tamer A. Kawady (M02) was born in Shebin El-kom,
Egypt on Sept. 30, 1972. He received his B.Sc. (honors) and
M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering, Menoufiya Univer-
Yasser Fathi was born in Fayoum Egypt on Mars, 20, sity, Egypt, Ph.D. degree (excellent) from Technical Univer-
1971. He received his B.Sc M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engi- sity Darmstadt, Germany in 1995, 1999 and 2005 respec-
neering, Cairo University, Egypt in 1993 and 2004 respec- tively. Dr. Kawady is currently an assistant professor at
tively. He is now Technical Manager of the hardware depart- Menoufiya University, Egypt since April 2005. His interests
ment and a technical consultant of several projects developed are in digital protection, Power system simulation using the Electromagnetic
in Engineering Office for Integrated Projects EOIP Since his Transient Program (EMTP) and Artificial Intelligence applications to power
graduation in 1993 he designed several Communication, Control and Data Ac- system protection.
quisition systems He implemented several modems utilizing several modula-
tion techniques (DSSS, M-FSK, MSK and ASK) in different frequency bands
and channels Through his work, he introduced the second generation of EOIP
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system through the Power Line Channel that
reached the mass production level and covered about 60,000 customer premises Mohammed Z.Elgeziry was born in Elbagour, Egypt on
in several governorates in Egypt. Eventually, this system resulted in 3 patents Mars, 13, 1981. He received his B.Sc. degrees in Electrical
and fulfilled his M.Sc. degree in 2004. Engineering, Menoufiya University, Egypt in 2002. He is
working currently towards M.Sc. degree. His interests are in
digital protection, signal processing, and power system auto-
mation.
Ahmed Hussien was born in Giza, Egypt on 1960. He
received his B.Sc., M.Sc., and PhD. degrees in Electrical En-
gineering, Cairo University, Egypt in 1983, 1987 and 2002
respectively Dr. Ahmed is currently an assistant professor at
Ciro University, Egypt. His interests are in digital signal
processing FPGA utilization in signal processing in addition to Special Interest
in Analogue circuit design

640