TY - JOUR
T1 - The Effect of EMI Generated from Spread-Spectrum-Modulated SiC-Based Buck Converter on the G3-PLC Channel
AU - El Sayed, Waseem
AU - Lezynski, Piotr
AU - Smolenski, Robert
AU - Moonen, Niek
AU - Crovetti, Paolo
AU - Thomas, Dave
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This paper is part of two projects that have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 812391-SCENT and No. 812753-ETOPIA.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/6/12
Y1 - 2021/6/12
N2 - Power line communication (PLC) is increasingly emerging as an important communication technology for the smart-grid environment. As PLC systems use the existing infrastructure, they are always exposed to conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) from switching mode power converters, which need to be tightly controlled to meet EMC regulations and to ensure the proper operation of the PLC system. For this purpose, spread-spectrum modulation (SSM) techniques are widely adopted to decrease the amplitude of the generated EMI from the power converters so as to comply with EMC regulations. In this paper, the influence of a spread-spectrum-modulated SiC-based buck converter on the G3-PLC channel performance is described in terms of channel capacity reduction using the Shannon–Hartley equation. The experimental setup was implemented to emulate a specific coupling path between the power and communication circuits and the channel capacity reduction was evaluated by the Shannon–Hartley equation in several operating scenarios and compared with the measured frame error rate. Based on the obtained results, SSM provides the EMI spectral peak amplitude reduction required to pass the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) tests, but results in increased EMI-induced channel capacity degradation and increased transmission error rate in PLC systems.
AB - Power line communication (PLC) is increasingly emerging as an important communication technology for the smart-grid environment. As PLC systems use the existing infrastructure, they are always exposed to conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) from switching mode power converters, which need to be tightly controlled to meet EMC regulations and to ensure the proper operation of the PLC system. For this purpose, spread-spectrum modulation (SSM) techniques are widely adopted to decrease the amplitude of the generated EMI from the power converters so as to comply with EMC regulations. In this paper, the influence of a spread-spectrum-modulated SiC-based buck converter on the G3-PLC channel performance is described in terms of channel capacity reduction using the Shannon–Hartley equation. The experimental setup was implemented to emulate a specific coupling path between the power and communication circuits and the channel capacity reduction was evaluated by the Shannon–Hartley equation in several operating scenarios and compared with the measured frame error rate. Based on the obtained results, SSM provides the EMI spectral peak amplitude reduction required to pass the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) tests, but results in increased EMI-induced channel capacity degradation and increased transmission error rate in PLC systems.
U2 - 10.3390/electronics10121416
DO - 10.3390/electronics10121416
M3 - Article
SN - 2079-9292
VL - 10
JO - Electronics
JF - Electronics
IS - 12
M1 - 1416
ER -