Channel capacity statistical analysis for indoor power line transmissions

This paper aims at presenting capacity as well as maximal data rate computation results for Power Line Communications (PLC). These computations are fulfilled using channel measurements that were carried out by France Telecom Research and Development in different residential sites. The transfer function and the stationary noise serve for determining the signal to noise ratio (SNR) from which the capacity or the maximal data rate can be calculated. The obtained results constitute mainly a theoretical upper bound given by the channel. This upper bound is unrelated to the used techniques for PLC transmissions. The influence of different implementation parameters is presented in this paper. Statistical capacity computations allowed evaluating minimal and maximal capacity values under different conditions.