Virtual-MIMO Cooperation communication based on integrated power
line and wireless communication system
Wang Yi
1, 2
, Zhen shan
1
, Hou Xingzhe
1
, Sun Hongliang
1
, Luo Kaibo
1
,
Zhou Tanjie
1
1,
Chong Qing Electric Power Research Institute, Chong Qing, China
2,
Postdoctoral Workstation of the Chongqing Electric Power Corporation, Chong Qing, China
wangyi81@cqupt.edu.cn
Keywords: PLC, wireless, virtual MIMO, outage probability, capacity, simulation
Abstract. Power line communication (PLC) is a competitive technology in broad band access
services and smart grids considering it widely distribution and low infrastructure built cost. This
paper proposes a new PLC virtual MIMO cooperation system merged with the wireless
communication to improve the reliability and capacity performance of conventional PLC system. A
wireless interface is integrated in the conventional PLC modems. The nearby PLC modems constitute
a V-MIMO module to share their transmitting information via the wireless link. The PLC modem in
different V-MIMO module can communicate with each other through power line. The outage
probability and capacity simulation results prove that new system can significantly increase the PLC
system throughput and the link reliability.
Introduction
Power line communication (PLC) has a long story used as voice communication, automation and
control from 1920s. In recent years, PLC is gaining great attention in broad band access services and
smart grids since it allow exploiting the widely distributed existing infrastructure without the need of
new wires [1]. The power line network is considered to be a harsh communication medium for its
complicated noise and multi-path effect that seriously affects the reliability and stability of the PLC
system. In fact, parallel transmission on the power line channel is suppressed as the bandwidth
limitation.
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques have been demonstrated to greatly improve
the capacity and spectrum efficiency for wireless communication [2,3]. However, due to the size and
power limitation, multiple antennas installed is difficult to implement and one antenna is more
practical on only one user terminal. Therefore, researcher proposed the Virtual multiple-input
multiple-output (V-MIMO) system. In the V-MIMO system, every single antenna terminal has one or
more cooperation partners shared each other's antenna to transmit data that makes only a single
antenna user system can still provide transmit or receive diversity. Current study results show that
cooperative diversity can expand the system capacity, improve the quality of network service, and
improve the system performance [4,5,6].
The application of MIMO methods to PLC promises significantly higher data rates and better
system capacity compared to today’s Single Input Single Output (SISO) systems. The Home-Plug
Power line Alliance considers MIMO technique as the key element of next generation PLC modems.
However, so far the application of the MIMO techniques over power line only focuses on using the
multi-phase power cables as antenna array to implement the MIMO by Antenna selection algorithm
and space-time coding technology [7]. The hostile channel environment on the power lines is still not
changed. For example, the noise and multi-path effect can seriously interfere all phase of power lines,
which leads to the communication failure in all MIMO channels.
To overcome the aforementioned problem and improve the reliability of the PLC, in this paper we
propose a new PLC system based on the V-MIMO cooperative diversity. A wireless interface is
integrated in the conventional PLC modems. The adjacent PLC modems constitute a V-MIMO
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 986-987 (2014) pp 2086-2090
Online available since 2014/Jul/18 at www.scientific.net
© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.986-987.2086
All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP,
www.ttp.net. (ID: 118.144.165.142-22/07/14,10:01:19)