Performance Evaluation of Power-Line Communication Systems for LIN-Bus Based Data Transmission

Powerline communication (PLC) is a versatile method that uses existing infrastructure such as power cables for data transmission. This makes PLC an alternative and cost-effective technology for the transmission of sensor and actuator data by making dual use of the power line and avoiding the need for other communication solutions; such as wireless radio frequency communication. A PLC modem using DSSS (direct sequence spread spectrum) for reliable LIN-bus based data transmission has been developed for automotive applications. Due to the almost complete system implementation in a low power microcontroller; the component cost could be radically reduced which is a necessary requirement for automotive applications. For performance evaluation the DSSS modem was compared to two commercial PLC systems. The DSSS and one of the commercial PLC systems were designed as a direct conversion receiver; the other commercial module uses a superheterodyne architecture. The performance of the systems was tested under the influence of narrowband interference and additive Gaussian noise added to the transmission channel. It was found that the performance of the DSSS modem against singleton interference is better than that of commercial PLC transceivers by at least the processing gain. The performance of the DSSS modem was at least 6 dB better than the other modules tested under the influence of the additive white Gaussian noise on the transmission channel at data rates of 19.2 kB/s.