1
Simulation of Power Line Communication using
ATP-EMTP and MATLAB
S. Robson, Student Member, IET, A. Haddad, Member, IET and H. Griffiths, Member, IET
AbstractIn this paper, a simulation test bed for narrowband
Power Line Communications (PLC) is demonstrated. The
method is able to quickly assess the performance of modulation
schemes for an arbitrary network constructed in the ATP-EMTP
software, both for point to point and for multi-point to point
communication. Demodulation is carried out in MATLAB. The
test setup is used to implement Orthogonal Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) on a number of typical medium voltage (MV)
distribution networks. The simulation results show that with a
considered choice of OFDM parameter values, robust, real time
communication over the narrowband PLC channel is possible.
Index Termsmultipath, Narrowband Power
Communication, OFDM.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE recent movement toward smart grids and the
continued pressure on utility companies to provide a more
reliable service to customers has amplified the importance of
robust, real time communication between remote points of the
network and the control room. One way to achieve this is the
use of the existing power line infrastructure as the
communications medium, a process generally known as PLC.
Though PLC is not a new concept [1], advancements in
modulation performance and the ever-decreasing cost of
implementing modems in hardware now means that a network
wide multi-point to point network without the need for
expensive line traps is possible [2].
The usual first step toward assessing the performances of
modulation schemes for PLC is to develop a model that
attempts to accurately describe the power line channel. One of
the first channel models to gain widespread acceptance was
made by Zimmerman and Dostert [3]. In this model, the
multipath effects are resolved by attributing a weighting
factor, attenuation portion and delay portion to each path. The
model is verified for simple networks but loses accuracy as the
number of paths increases. For the 10-kV MV network, an
attempt has been made to form a generalized model based on
empirical measurements [4], however, a general model may
not be suitable for testing multi-point to point modulation
because the multipath components will differ depending on
This work is funded by the Power Networks Research Academy (PNRA) and
in collaboration with EDF energy.
The authors are with the High Voltage Energy Systems (HIVES) group,
Cardiff University. Contact details:
S. Robson, (e-mail: robsons1@cardiff.ac.uk).
A. Haddad (e-mail: haddad@cardiff.ac.uk).
H. Griffiths (e-mail: griffithsh@cardiff.ac.uk)
the location of the modem within the network. If a base node
is defined as the entry point to the network, and therefore the
node sustaining an individual link with each separate remote
node, then a proper assessment of the performance of
modulation schemes should separately consider the channel
response between each remote node and the base node, plus
the channel response between each remote node,
simultaneously. The large delay spread and complexity of a
branched distribution network suggests that large differences
in channel response will exist depending on which two points
are chosen [5].
To resolve this problem, the modulation scheme is directly
Line
implemented within the ATP-EMTP software environment
using the native FORTRAN based models language. The
modulated signal can be injected into the network at any point
using any coupling scheme. A model of an inductive coupler
is used in this study. The extracted signal is exported to
MATLAB and demodulated. Synchronisation algorithms
allow the simulation to be free running in the sense that a
frame sent from any node can be demodulated by any other
node without additional user intervention.
The organization of the paper is as follows. Section 2
introduces the simulation setup and highlights the important
aspects of each part. In section 3, the network model is
introduced and magnitude and phase responses are obtained.
Examples of how the simulation setup can be used are
presented in section 4, with emphasis on assessing the
performance of multipoint to point OFDM modulation
schemes operating on the rural overhead 11-kV distribution
network in the CENELEC range of frequencies. Special
attention is given to the choice of cyclic prefix length, the
potential advantages of using adaptive techniques and the
performance of the synchronization algorithm.
II. SIMULATION SETUP
A. Simulation Setup Overview
The simulation setup is split into three domains:
1) ATP-EMTP domain, where the network model and the
inductive coupler is constructed and simulated. The
line model used is explained further in section 4.
2) ATP Models domain, where the modulator is
simulated in FORTRAN code. A model is also used to
resolve the phase voltages and currents into modal
values.
3) MATLAB domain, where demodulation and post-
processing takes place.
 2

by mapping the parallelised input biit stream using some form

of modulation. In this study, differeential modulation schemes
are examined. In this case, the inform
mation is modulated in the
phase difference between adjacent sub-carriers, either in the
time or frequency domain, though h, only frequency domain
differential modulation is consideredd in these simulations. The
code is designed to be flexible, alloowing the implementation
of several Phase Shift Keying (PSK K) schemes. In the analysis
that follows, Differential Binary PS SK (DBPSK), Differential
Quadrature QSK (DQPSK) and Diffferential 8 PSK (D8PSK)
are to be used. Each modulation scheme is implemented in the
FORTRAN code through the use of a simple truth table.
TABLE 1
TRUTH TABLE FOR SYMBOL MAPPING: IN PHASE COMPONENTS (I) AND
QUADRATURE COMPON NENTS (Q)

Bits I/Q Bits I/Q

0 1 000 1.404/0
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the simulation setup DBPSK 001 1/1
1 -1
010 0/1.404
The overall simulation scheme (see Fig. 1) facilitates the 00 1/1 011 -1/0
simulation of OFDM modulation on any ATP-EMTP network D8
8PSK
01 1/-1 100 -1.404/0
model. Within ATP-EMTP, one may replicatte network events DQPSK 10 -1/1 101 -1/-1
such as fault transients or switching surges tto study the effect
110 0/-1.404
on the communication link. Furthermore, thhe scheme allows 11 -1/-1
111 1/-1
the noise inherent to the power line (bothh background and
impulse) to be incorporated in the modeel. A number of
The code can be easily modified to implement higher order
modulators can be considered simultaneouslyy, giving the user
constellation schemes. The serial to parallel conversion is not
an indication on how time domain multiiplexing schemes
necessary in the model because thee use of a simple random
operate on the power line channel. The mainn disadvantage of
function can determine which poin nt on the constellation is
the presented simulation scheme is the unncertainty in the
transmitted on each sub-carrier and d performance calculations
accuracy of the line model at high frequencies.
(e.g., Bit Error Rate (BER)) can stilll be achieved provided the
B. OFDM Modulator transmitted constellation points are known
k at the demodulator.
OFDM is regarded as a suitable modulatioon scheme for the The output of the complex IDFT is a series of time domain
PLC channel [6], [7]. The most important advvantage of OFDM values. The FORTRAN code allowss the possibility to append
over single carrier modulation schemes iis the ability to a cyclic prefix of arbitrary length to
t the start of the OFDM
mitigate the multipath environment inherent in PLC channels. symbol. This is done by copying a number of samples from
OFDM divides the available spectrum innto many narrow the end of the symbol and appendin ng them to the start. Thus,
bands. The data to be transmitted are sserial to parallel (1) becomes:
converted, symbol mapped, and inputtedd to an Inverse
Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT). The ouutput of the IDFT
/
can then be reconstructed into a time ddomain baseband , 2
representation of its input. The OFDM ssymbol period is
approximately N times longer than an equuivalent data-rate
single carrier modulation scheme. If the lenggth of the symbol where Tc denotes the length of the cy
yclic prefix.
is long compared to the RMS delay spreadd of the channel, A Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) is required to
Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) is signifficantly reduced. construct a time domain baseband d signal from the discrete
Furthermore, if a cyclic prefix is appended too the beginning of output values of the IDFT. This is achieved by a simple
each OFDM symbol, ISI can be effectively elliminated, even in sample and hold followed by a reconstruction
r filter. To
aggressive multipath channels [8]. One OFD DM symbol can be implement the sample and hold, the simulation directive
defined as the sum of N sub-carriers: TIMESTEP MAX is applied to th he output of the modulator
model. The effect is to define a local maximum to the
simulation time-step of the model,, allowing the conversion
/
,0 1 rate of the DAC to be specified. Carre must be taken to ensure
that the Nyquist criterion is met byy making the ATP-EMTP
sampling frequency at least twice asa large as the conversion
where T is the symbol duration and Xk are tthe data symbols, rate of the DAC. A number of examp ples are listed in Table 2.
i.e. the IDFT output values. The input to thee IDFT is formed

TABLE 2
EXAMPLES OF SIMULATION PARAMETERS
Simulation
Timestep OFDM System Sample Rate in
Sampling
Max Sampling Frequency MATLAB
Frequency
Every 30
6 s 10 MHz 333.33 kHz
samples
Every 30
60 s 1 MHz 333.33 kHz
samples
Every 3
0.6 s 10 MHz 333.33 MHz
samples
A reconstruction filter is implemented in a separate model
within the ATP-EMTP environment. The input to the
reconstruction filter model is taken from the output of the
modulation model. The Z transfer function built in to the
models language is used to implement a low pass filter with a
cut-off frequency of approximately 1/2T, where T is the
OFDM symbol period.
It is noted that the simulation setup is able to assess the
trade-off between filter requirements and oversampling. For
example, zero-padding the IDFT eases the roll-off
requirements of the reconstruction filter at the cost of
sacrificing data rate.
The up-conversion is carried out immediately after the
reconstruction filter. In code, this is quadrature mixing the
baseband signal by a carrier frequency signal. The signal is
now ready to be transmitted onto the channel.
C. OFDM Dedodulator
Once injected into the network, the OFDM signal is free to
propagate. The signal can be recovered from any node in the
network and exported to MATLAB for demodulation. The
first step in the demodulation process is down-conversion to
an intermediate frequency (IF) and quadrature demodulation.
A low pass filter is required to filter out the IF and leave the
baseband signal. After low pass filtering, a synchronization
algorithm is implemented in order to provide an estimate for
the starting time of the symbol. In this study, the Schmidl and
Cox algorithm [9] is implemented directly in the MATLAB
code. The algorithm is chosen due to its robustness and ease of
implementation, though any synchronization algorithm can be
easily implemented in the simulation setup. The Schmidl and
Cox algorithm searches for a time domain signal with two
identical halves, where each half can be made equal in length
to half the FFT sampling period. The construction of such a
training symbol is conveniently carried out in the modulator
by transmitting a constellation point on only the even
frequencies of the IFFT and keeping the odd frequencies set to
zero. The search for the start of the symbol is made by a
sliding window autocorrelation function.
3
3
In code and hardware implementations, this is most
conveniently implemented using the iterative formula:
1 4
where d is the time index corresponding to a window of 2L
samples. The energy received in the second half symbol is:
| | 5
Finally, the actual timing metric is defined as:
| |
6
The timing metric leads to a characteristic plateau with
length equal to the length of the cyclic prefix minus the
duration of the channel impulse response. This leads to a
degree of uncertainty in the exact start time of the symbol,
however, the addition of the cyclic prefix and the use of
differential modulation eases the requirements on necessary
accuracy. Note that in the full implementation of the Schmidl
and Cox algorithm, a second training symbol is used to gain
an estimate of the frequency offset. In this study, the
frequency offset is assumed to be zero hence the second
training symbol is not required.
After synchronization, the timing offset estimate is used to
dictate when the FFT sampling period begins. The FFT
sampling period begins at every S+F samples, where S is the
number of samples making up the FFT symbol duration plus
the cyclic prefix length and F is the offset estimate from the
timing metric. In this implementation, one training symbol is
used per frame and the frame consists of any number of data
symbols. The demodulator assumes that the received symbols
have been differentially encoded. Though differential
modulation has not actually occurred at the modulator, the
performance of the scheme can still be determined by
demodulating the randomly generated sent symbols to reveal
the bit-stream that would have created these symbols. This is
then compared to the demodulated received symbols to give a
value for the BER.
D. Noise
The aim of the noise part of the simulation scheme is to
provide a means of replicating the noise levels on an MV
power line. For convenience, background noise is added after
signal extraction in the MATLAB part of the simulation
scheme. The noise power is set by changing the variance of a
random variable. For an extracted signal, S, and a noise
source, N, the signal-to-noise ratio is defined as:
7
where is the standard deviation of the noise.
 4

III. NETWORK MODEL TABLE 3

DIMENSIONS AND MODAL PARAMETERS OF OVERHEAD LINE USED
A. Line Model
The line model is required to satisfactorily model the Wood Pole Overhead Line
response of the distribution line over the frequencies of Height 9m
interest. For this study, the frequencies of interest are Height at mid-span 7.5m
restricted to below 1 MHz, however, the difficulty resides in Conductor separation 1.5m
modeling a wide range of frequencies with the same line Conductor name Dingo
model. The usual starting point in line model development is Conductor resistivity 0.1814 /km DC
to define the characteristic impedance, and the propagation Mode 1 propagation constant 0.09 Nepers/km at 500 kHz
constant, : Mode 2 propagation constant 0.008 Nepers/km at 500 kHz
Mode 3 propagation constant 0.007 Nepers/km at 500 kHz
8 0.603 0.707 0.409
Transformation matrix 0.523 0 0.816
0.603 0.707 0.409

9
where R is the resistance, L the inductance, C the capacitance
and G the conductance of the mode of propagation. It is noted
that both and are frequency dependent. R and L are
themselves frequency dependent and complicate the
calculation of and over wide frequency ranges.
The most popular frequency dependent model within the
ATP-EMTP is known as the J.MARTI frequency dependent
model [10]. The model requires the calculation of from DC
up to a frequency where it is constant and up to a frequency
where it becomes negligibly small. An obvious source of error
is in the ATP-EMTP treatment of the frequency dependence of
R and L. For R, the skin depth will have an ever-increasing
influence as frequency increases. To calculate the skin depth,
the ATP-EMTP assumes a tubular conductor and the forced
approximation that a stranded conductor is equivalent to a
tubular conductor of the same cross sectional area. For
stranded aluminum or copper conductors, for instance those
commonly used in MV overhead lines, the actual skin depth
calculation is less trivial and non negligible errors are to be
expected if the ATP-EMTP tubular approximation is used at
frequencies exceeding 5-10 kHz [11]. For frequencies
exceeding 5 kHz, the ATP-EMTP uses the Galloway formula
[12] which provides a more accurate model of the skin effect
at higher frequencies. With the current state of knowledge, it
B. Developed Network Models
To demonstrate the simulation scheme, a network model
based on representative 11 kV overhead networks is
constructed in ATP-EMTP. The actual network is based on a
series of typical networks known as the UK Generic
Distribution Network (UKGDS) [13]. The UKGDS is a suite
of reference networks designed to embody the main features
of distribution networks in the UK. The emphasis in this study
is on rural overhead networks because this represents a part of
the power system network operators have least real time
knowledge of and is particularly vulnerable to outages. For the
large rural network of the UKGDS is chosen. This is a large
overhead network with branches. It is noted that some branch
lengths in the reference network are identical, leading to the
possibility of unrealistic multipath conditions. To make the
network more realistic, all branch lengths are randomised to
10% of their original length. The test network is shown in
Fig. 2.
0.815 km
C
0.390 km
0.745 km 0.515 km
0.510 km 0.445 km
0.790 km 1.515 km
0.410 km 0.434 km

is difficult to confidently assess the error associated with the 0.811 km

B
0.790 km
A
ATP-EMTP treatment of stranded conductors so caution must 0.525 km
0.419 km
0.578 km
0.404 km

be used in interpreting the results of the presented simulation 0.521 km 0.552 km 0.535 km
0.634 km 0.593 km 0.760 km
scheme in simulations where attenuation is an important 0.815 km 0.815 km
factor.
0.634 km 0.760 km
The actual geometry of the overhead line is based on 0.773 km 0.795 km
standard wood pole designs commonly deployed in the UK.
0.815 km 0.807 km
The dimensions of the overhead line model and the ATP-
D
EMTP computations of the transformation matrix and modal 0.876 km
0.770 km
propagation constants are shown in Table 3.
0.800 km

Fig. 2. Line network model representative of a large, rural overhead

distribution network
 5

C. Magnitude and Phase Response of Test Network The impulse responses used to derive Fig. 3 can also be
A method is developed to determine the magnitude and used to calculate the root mean squared (RMS) delay spread.
phase responses between point A and points B, C and D The first moment of the power delay profile (PDP) is defined
respectively. An impulse is injected into the network at point as:
A and the measured signal at point B, C and D is recorded.
Phase to phase coupling is used resulting in a signal that
contains only mode 2. An FFT is applied to the received 10

signals at B, C and D. The magnitude and phase of the FFT
operation can be regarded as the magnitude and phase where is alternatively called the mean excess delay. The
response of the channel. square root of the second central moment of the PDP is given
by:
Magnitude Response (Position A to Position B)
50

Attenuation (dB)

0
11
-50

-100
Another measure of multipath delay spread is the coherence
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x 10
5
bandwidth:
Phase Response (Position A to Position B)
4

2 1
Phase (Radians)

12
0 5
-2

is simply a dual representation of the RMS delay spread. It

-4
0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency(Hz)
6 7 8 9
x 10
10
5 specifies the range of frequencies over which the channel
affects the signal in a similar way. More specifically, it is the
(a)
range over which the attenuation can be thought of as flat
50
Magnitude Response (Position A to Position C) and the phase change can be thought of as linear. The
calculated RMS delay spread and coherence bandwidth are
Attenuation (dB)

0
listed in Table 4.
-50

-100
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
TABLE 4
5
x 10 RMS DELAY SPREAD AND COHERENCE BANDWIDTH
Phase Response (Position A to Position C)
4

2 B C D
Phase (Radians)

0 MODE 1 278 710 232 860 257 780

MODE 2 267 750 578 350 184 1080
-2
MODE 3 398 500 912 220 363 550
-4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Frequency(Hz) 5
x 10

(b) IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

Magnitude Response (Position A to Position D)
50 A. Performance of the synchronization algorithm
0
The Schmidl and Cox synchronization algorithm is tested
Attenuation (dB)

-50
under various conditions. For AWGN channels (no multipath),
-100
the length of the characteristic plateau is equal to the cyclic
-150
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5
prefix length. This is clearly shown in Fig. 4. A weakness of
the Schmidl and Cox method is the inherent uncertainty in the
x 10
Phase Response (Position A to Position D)
4

2
starting time caused by the plateau. It was observed that the
Phase (Radians)

0
start time can be chosen anywhere within the cyclic prefix
without a significant loss in performance. For multipath
-2
channels, the plateau is shortened due to the delay spread of
-4
0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency(Hz)
6 7 8 9 10
5
the channel. This is demonstrated in Fig. 5. Problems were
x 10
encountered when using the Schmidl and Cox algorithm in
(c) noisy channels and channels with large delay spreads, even
Fig. 3. (a) Magnitude and phase response between positions A and B. (b) when the condition that the cyclic prefix is greater in length
Between position A and C. (c) Between positions A and D. than the RMS delay spread of the channel. False peaks falling
outside of the characteristic plateau led to inaccuracies. A
possible solution to this follows from a suggestion published
in [14]. A moving average filter can be used to smooth the
timing metric, improving the accuracy of the algorithm. In
 6

Schmidl and Cox: No multipath and noiseless

Unchanged Schmidl and Cox metric

0.9
1 Moving Average Filter
C. Effect of position on network
0.8 The effect of positioning of the remote node is examined.
0.7
The BER is obtained for communication between the base
node, A and the remote positions B, C and D. A carrier
Timing Metric

0.6

0.5

0.4
frequency of 275 kHz is chosen, with a sampling frequency of
0.3 333 kHz, FFT size of 512 and 320 used subcarriers with
0.2
DBPSK modulation. These parameters lead to a useful symbol
0.1

0
duration of 1.5 ms, a sub-carrier spacing of 650 Hz and a data
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Sample Number
1100 1200 1300 1400 bandwidth of approximately 200 kHz. Fig. 7, Fig. 8 and Fig. 9
show the results of the simulation. It is observed that the BER
Fig. 4. Schmidl and Cox timing metric in AWGN noise channel and the climbs to 0.5 at particular frequencies, even in channels with
response of the modified metric using a moving average filter. an extremely high SNR. This is true at all three positions,
though position A shows a better performance.
Schmidl and Cox: Multipath channel and noiseless
0.7
Moving Average Filter
1
Unchanged Schmidl and Cox metric

0.9
0.6
0.8

0.7
0.5
Timing Metric

0.6

0.5

Bit Error Rate

0.4
0.4

0.3
0.3
0.2

0.1
0.2
0
500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300
Sample Number

0.1

Fig. 5. Schmidl and Cox timing metric in multipath channel and the modified
0
moving average metric. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Subcarrier Number

practice, a back-off time was required due to the delay of the Fig. 7. BER for the channel between positions A and B. Cyclic prefix >>
filter and the tendency of the peak of the filtered metric to fall RMS delay spread
at the very latest part of the plateau. 0.8

B. Performance in the AWGN channel 0.7

The simulation is first tested under AWGN conditions and 0.6

no multipath. This is achieved by using a long line model such 0.5

Bit Error Rate

that no reflections are possible. Signal injection takes place at 0.4

the centre of the line and extraction at some arbitrary point 0.3
away from the injection point. The OFDM scheme uses
0.2
DBPSK, DQPSK or D8PSK with all subcarriers used to aid
0.1
comparison with theoretical BER curves. The results are
shown in Fig. 6. 0
0 50 100 150 200
Subcarrier Number
250 300 350

0
10 Fig. 8. BER for the channel between positions A and C. Cyclic prefix >>
RMS delay spread
-1
10
0.7

0.6
-2
10
Bit Error Rate

0.5
Bit Error Rate

0.4
-3
10
0.3

0.2
-4
10 DQPSK
D8PSK 0.1
DBPSK
-5 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 35
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Subcarrier Number
Eb/N0 (dB)
Fig. 9. BER for the channel between positions A and D. Cyclic prefix >>
Fig. 6. BER curves obtained from the simulation setup using DBPSK, RMS delay spread
DQPSK and D8PSK on an AWGN channel (no multipath). Averaged over
2000 symbols.
 7

There is an intimate relationship between the phase E. Effect of modulation scheme

response of the network and the expected error when The phase shift between adjacent subcarriers will affect
transmitting differentially encoded information over the different modulation schemes in different ways. It is expected
network. Referring again to Fig. 3, it is clear that the phase that larger constellation schemes will be less robust to phase
response is non-linear for large parts of the frequency shifts because the decision boundary is smaller than for lower
spectrum. This translates into phase rotations that have the order constellation schemes. This is tested by simulating
potential to move the phase difference between one subcarrier DBPSK, DQPSK and D8PSK on the same channel. The
and the previous subcarrier away from the correct decision results are shown in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12. The simulation
making boundary. From [15], differential phase detection in results show a marked difference between BER depending on
the frequency domain can be described as: the modulation scheme. As expected, D8PSK is the worst
performer; however, at certain subcarriers zero BER is
,
, , obtained. Given that D8PSK is able to transmit 3 bits per
, ,
, , subcarrier (compared to 2 bits per subcarrier for DQPSK and 1
13 bit per subcarrier for DBPSK), there may be a significant gain
, ,
in performance if adaptive schemes are used, for instance
algorithms able to dynamically allocate subcarrier modulation
where the phase of is the received phase difference between
schemes depending on channel SNR could be used. The
the current and previous subcarrier, is the FFT output for comparison between Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 shows that the BER is
the current subcarrier and , the conjugate of the FFT generally less in schemes using the 440 kHz carrier frequency
output of the previous subcarrier. The received phase is made (i.e. for a 200 kHz bandwidth, this would mean the frequency
up of the desired phase, ij, and an unwanted component, range between 340 kHz and 540 kHz would be occupied).
, caused by the phase shift between adjacent
subcarriers in the frequency domain. The tendency of the
network to do this is not constant across the frequency range.
Bit Error Rate Comparison:SNR=50 dB, Carrier Frequency=275 kHz
For instance, it is observed that there are regions in the 0.7
D8PSK
spectrum exhibiting a zero BER for high SNR channels. It is DQPSK
0.6
also found that the regions below approximately 250 kHz is DBPSK

more frequency selective and gives larger and more sudden 0.5

phase shifts than higher up in the frequency range. This is

Bit Error Rate

0.4
reflected by higher BERs.
0.3

D. Cyclic Prefix Length 0.2

The choice of cyclic prefix length is a crucial factor in the 0.1

design of OFDM systems. It has been suggested that a sensible
design choice is to set the cyclic prefix at least twice as large 0
50 100 150 200 250 300
as the RMS delay spread of the channel [15]. In the simulation Subcarrier Number

setup, the BER for various cyclic prefix lengths are obtained Fig. 11. BER comparison of DBPSK, DQPSK and D8PSK for a carrier
and shown for three carrier frequencies in Fig. 10. It is frequency of 275 kHz, occupied bandwidth of ~200 kHz (175 kHz-375 kHz),
observed that the BER minimises at a certain cyclic prefix sampling frequency of 333 kHz, FFT size of 512 and between position A and
B.
length. For the simulated system, this occurs at around 200
samples (1.2 ms). This is around twice the RMS delay spread Bit Error Rate Comparison: SNR=50 dB, Carrier Frequency=440 kHz
for the channel (see Table 4). 0.7
D8PSK
DQPSK
0.6 DBPSK

0.5
0.16
Bit Error Rate

0.4
0.14
400 kHz
0.3
300 kHz
0.12 500 kHz
0.2

0.1
0.1
Bit Error Rate

0.08 0
50 100 150 200 250 300
Subcarrier Number
0.06

0.04 Fig. 12. BER comparison of DBPSK, DQPSK and D8PSK for a carrier
frequency of 440 kHz, occupied bandwidth of ~200 kHz (340 kHz 540
0.02 kHz), sampling frequency of 333 kHz, FFT size of 512 and between position
0
A and B.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Cyclic Prefix Length (samples)

Fig. 10. Cyclic prefix length versus BER for the channel between A and B
and at carrier frequencies of 300 kHz, 400 kHz and500 kHz. The sampling
frequency is 333 kHz
 8

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K "Performance analysis
of uncoded and coded OFDM broadban nd transmission over low voltage
sub-carrier spacing is to use a longer FFT pperiod. For every power-line channels with impulsive noise," IEEE Trans. Pow. Delivery.,
doubling of the FFT period, the sub-carrier spacing halves. vol. 21, pp. 1927-1934, Apr. 2006.
Simulations are run to examine the efffect on BER of [8] J. H. Manton, "Dissecting OFDM: thee independent roles of the cyclic
increasing the FFT period from 512 to 10244, 1536 and 2048. prefix and the IDFT operations," IEEE E Commun.. Letters, vol. 5, pp.
474-476, Dec. 2001.
Fig. 13 shows the simulation result. [9] T.M. Schmidl and D.C. Cox, R Robust frequency and timing
synchronization for OFDM, IEEE Tra ans. Commun., vol. 45, no.12, pp.
BER Versus Number of Subcarriers (500 kHz Carrier)
0.25 1613-1621, 1997.
DQPSK
DBPSK [10] J.R. Marti, Accurate modeling of freequency dependent transmission
D8PSK
0.2
lines in electromagnetic transient sim mulations, IEEE Trans. Pow,
App.and Sys., vol. PAS-101, Issue 1, Jann. 1982.
[11] P. de Arizon and H.W Dommel, Co omputation of cable impedances
0.15
based on subdivision of conductors, IEEEE Trans. Power Delivery., vol.
PWRD-2, no. 1, Jan. 1987.
BER

0.1 [12] R.H. Galloway, W.B. Shorrocks, L.M M. Wedopohl, Calculation of

electrical parameters for short and long polyphase transmission lines,
0.05
Proc. IEEE, vol. 111, pp. 2051-2059, Dec. 1964.
[13] United Kingdom Generic Distribution n Network (UKGDS). [Online].
Available: http://monaco.eee.strath.ac.uk/ukgds/.
0
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
0 2000 2200 [14] H. Minn, M. Zeng, V.K. Bhargava, "On timing offset estimation for
Number of Subcarriers
OFDM systems," IEEE Commun.. Lettters, vol. 4, issue 7, pp. 242-244,
Fig. 12. Effect on BER of increasing the FFT period for DBPSK, DQPSK Jul. 2000.
and D8PSK. The channel from A to B is used and the sampling frequency is [15] R. Van Nee and R. Prasad, OF FDM for wireless multimedia
333 kHz. communications, 1st ed., Artech house, Inc,.
I Norwood, MA, 2000.

S. Robson obtained d the MEng degree in Electrical

V. CONCLUSION and Electronic engiineering from Cardiff University
in 2007 and is curreently pursuing the Ph.D degree as
A simulation scheme able to simulate OF FDM modulation a PNRA scholar at the same University. His current
on an ATP-EMTP network has been demonsstrated. For the 11 interests include applications of Power Line
kV rural overhead network, it has been foundd that the channel Communications on n distribution networks, network
is extremely frequency selective. For frrequency domain modeling and modu ulation. Mr. Robson is a student
member of the IET.
differential PSK, the BER varies dependinng on the phase
rotation between the adjacent subcarriers. IIt has been found
that the degree to which the multipath channnel degrades BER
is frequency dependent. Positioning on tthe network was A. Haddad obtained the degree of Ingnieurr dEtat in Electrical Engineering
observed to affect BER less than frequenncy, provided the in 1985 and then a Ph.D., degree in High h Voltage Engineering in 1990.
Following graduation, he took up a Research h Associate position. In 1995, he
cyclic prefix exceeded the RMS delay spreadd of the channel. was appointed a Lecturer, and, in 2006, Proffessor in electrical engineering at
The presented simulation scheme is ablee to assess OFDM Cardiff University, with responsibility for th
he High Voltage Energy Systems
modulation on an arbitrary network. The m main caveat when Group (HIVES). His research interests are in overvoltage protection,
using the simulation scheme is the uncertaintty in the accuracy insulation systems, insulation coordination and
a earthing of electrical energy
systems. He has co-authored over 100 publiccations, with three paper awards.
of the line models at high frequencies. Further work is He has recently published an IET-Power Serries Book on Advances in High
required to test the model against empiriical results. It is Voltage Engineering. He is a member of IET T and CIGRE. He is chairman of
proposed that this study be extended to includde channel coding the IET South Wales Power Specialist, and member of the British Standard
techniques, adaptive modulation schemes and a sensitivity Institution committees on overvoltage proteection of low and high voltage
systems BSI PEL1 and PEL2, the Internatio onal Electrotechnical committees
analysis for different network types incorpporating differing IEC TC37 MT4 and MT10, and a member of o the Steering Committee of the
conductor resistances and the inclusion of undderground cables. International Universities Power Engineering g Conference (IUPEC). He is also
a founding member and current chairman n of the UK Universities High
VI. REFERENCES Voltage network (UHVnet).

[1] J. T. Tengdin, "Distribution line carrier: a historiccal perspective," IEEE H. Griffiths joined the UK electricity indu ustry in 1978 as an engineering
Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 2, pp. 321-329, Apr. 1987. apprentice and obtained a B.Sc. degree fro om the Polytechnic of Wales in
[2] A. Treytl, T. Sauter, and G. Bumiller, "Real timee energy management 1982. Between 1983 and 1990, he worked d at the South Wales Electricity
over power-lines and internet," in Proc. 8th Int. Symp. on Powerline Board and the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) as an engineer in
Communications and its Applications, Zaragosa, Spain, 2004, pp. 306- distribution and transmission system design. In 1990, he was appointed to the
311. lecturing staff at Cardiff University, where hee obtained the Ph.D. degree. He is
[3] M. Zimmerman and K. Dostert, "A multi-path signal model for the currently a Senior Lecturer in the HIVES S Group. His research interests
power line," IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 50, pp. 5553-559, Apr. 2002. include earthing systems and transients. Hee is currently a member of BSI
[4] I.S. Xiaoxian, Z. Tao, Z. Baohui, H. Zonghong, C. Jian and G. Zhiqiang, PEL/99 and chair of BSI GEL/600. He is a chartered
c engineer and a member
Channel model and measurement methods for 100-kV medium-voltage of IET.