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Power Line Communication

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: AFE031, AFE032

Hi,

Whether or not TI provides any ICs for  Power Line Communication (PLC)? It can be a PLC Modem, AFE Transceiver, Line driver. Let me know if you support any IC for these requirements of PLC.

Regards,

Vijetha

  • Vijetha,

    In terms of discretes we have AFE/line drivers for the PLC space here

    http://www.ti.com/product/AFE031  

    http://www.ti.com/product/AFE032

    There is not a one chip soln for PLC, but we do have a FSK based example using a C2000 MCU to control the AFE031 mentioned above. The FW is open source so it could be adapted to a different modulation scheme if desired.

    The application note/FW: http://www.ti.com/lit/sprac94c 

    Best regards,
    Matthew

  • Hi Matthew,

    Thank you for the breakthrough.

    I am looking for answers for below 3 questions :

    1. If we use C200 MCU + AFE031 or AFE032 what would be the maximum data rate we can achieve over PLC line for data signals?

    2. We are looking for PLC communication over AC voltage of upto 480V. Can we use this combo (C200+AFE03x) for AC voltage of upto 480V?

    3. What is the maximum AC voltage at which you ha tested this solution ?

    Regards,

    Vijetha 

  • Vijetha,

    For the FSK open source example this is communicating at 200bps, but this was a product of the target comms standard of SunSpec.  With different message lengths and/or shorter switching times this could be higher.  This also doesn't account for trying to do any convolution of tones, which is possible given the C2000 MCUs DSP/VCU engine.

    In terms of bus voltage, the kit that is designed around the FW above http://www.ti.com/tool/tida-060001 is set up for a DC bus, but can be changed for AC bus.  In terms of max voltage, I know that in previous designs the AFE031 was interfaced to EU AC power at 220V, not sure if getting above that is a matter of the coupling or a hard number.

    I'm going to switch the forum for this post to the analog side of the house, so the AFE031 team can look into this more closely for you.

    Best,
    Matthew

  • Hi,

    Thank you for the details. I dont see any major concerns in designing for 480V. What I am concerned is about the speed. We have requirement of maximum 4Mbps on Power Line Communication. I am not very sure whether this will be possible using C2000 as MODEM.

    Regards,
    Vijetha
  • Hi Vijetha,

    The AFE031 maximum DAC update rate is 1.5MSPS so, unfortunately, you will not be able to achieve a 4Mbps data rate with a C2000 + AFE03x solution.