ABSTRACT
Power line communication (PLC) systems available use only one transmission path between two outlets. It is the differential-mode (DM) channel between the phase (or live) and neutral contact of the mains. These systems are called single input single output (SISO). In contrast, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) PLC systems make use of the third wire, protective earth (PE), which provides several transmission combinations for feeding and receiving signals into and from the low-voltage distribution network (LVDN). A first important feature representative of the PLC CTF is the median channel gain, since it governs the overall signal attenuation to be expected by a transmission system. The purpose of the model is to capture the main physical features of the transmission channel, including its median attenuation, its frequency domain path loss characteristics, its multipath and frequency fading structure and the correlation between different MIMO paths. Once the median channel gain is settled, the focus is placed on the modelling of the frequency domain path loss.
