Circuital and Modal Characterization of the Power-Line Network in the PLC Band

With present day measurement techniques, it is very difficult to accurately model the power-line network (PLN), as seen from its power-line terminals, both in terms of impedance and noise. In this paper, a new circuital model (that considers line-ground and neutral-ground signals) and a new modal model (that considers common and the differential mode signals) for characterizing the low voltage PLN are presented. These models, which treat impedance and noise in a unified way, are composed by a three-impedance pi-network and two voltage sources. These models, which are complete and rigorous, are very interesting to desing PLC modems matched to the PLN for maximal power transfer, to compute the energy conversion between common mode and differential mode produced by asymmetries in the PLN, and to know the levels of differential mode noise that will affect a PLC receiver. These models have been experimentally validated.