Four TI Designs created by the Smart Grid & Energy team at TI were recently awarded Platform Certification status by the G3-PLC Alliance. The TI solutions for G3-PLC were among the very first to achieve this status since the G3-PLC Alliance opened certification testing on September 1. These TI Designs combine both Analog and Embedded Processing components along with TI-developed firmware to provide a complete, production-ready solution for OEMs in the smart grid and other industrial markets.
G3-PLC is an ITU standard (G.9903) using OFDM modulation to improve the reliability and performance of power line communications across Medium Voltage and Low Voltage transmission lines in electric grids around the world. The G3-PLC Alliance has defined a certification process which rigorously tests component chipsets and software for conformance to the G3-PLC standard and for interoperability.
TI’s PLC developer’s kits for G3-PLC in the CENELEC-A (35 kHz to 90 kHz) frequency band (TMDSPLCKITV4-CEN) and the ARIB (154 kHz to 403 kHz) frequency band (TMDSPLCKITV4-ARIB) achieved certification from the G3-PLC Alliance and are available for purchase from the TI Store.
Each kit is complete with a pair of modems, PC tools, and firmware for G3-PLC. Developers working with these kits will be able to quickly test the performance of G3-PLC in their specific environment, write host microcontroller (MCU) applications to control the PLC modem and send data across AC power lines.
Complete design information for each of the PLC kits are available as part of the TI Designs reference design library. The TI Designs for the CENELEC-A kit are TIDM-SOMPLC-F28PLC83 and TIDA-00192. The TI Designs for the ARIB kit are TIDM-SOMPLC-F28M35 and TIDA-00192. Each TI Design includes complete schematics, bills of material, PCB design data, performance test data, and documentation.
The TI PLC Data Concentrator EVM (TMDSDC3359) was also certified for use in the CENELEC markets. Complete reference design details for the data concentrator are also available from TI Design TIDEP0006. This TI Design was earlier recognized by EETimes and EDN as the Best Reference Design winner for 2014.
