Power line communication front-ends based on ADSL technology

The practical implementation of communication over power lines (PLC) using an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) front-end is discussed. Both PLC and ADSL modems are based on the same principle of using their respective transmission medium in a frequency range they were never originally designed for. One property both technologies share is the large power that is required when transmitting signals onto the communication medium. The frequency ranges are also comparable. Therefore, ADSL front-ends are evaluated as a power line interface. This paper presents the front-end topology and discusses the signal-to noise measurements that were performed to determine, using Shannon's theorem, the theoretical data throughput.