A power line communication modem based on adaptively received signal detection for networked home appliances

Power line communications provide a convenient and cost-effective solution for data transmission, because power mains are the most popular and widely distributed medium in the world. However, the time-variant and unpredictable channel environment for communication poses a major challenge. In this regard, we propose a robust power line modem based on adaptively signal detection techniques for networked home appliances. The modulation scheme used in this research is a chirped spread spectrum with a separate matched filter based on an adaptive threshold decision technique. In addition, we propose an adaptive retransmission technique based on flexible carrier frequency selection using a ram based look-up table (LUT) for improving carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) media access protocol. The proposed power line transceiver is realized in 0.35um CMOS technology and verified with networked various consumer electronic devices. The results show that the proposed power line communication modem is well qualified as a communication device for home automation. Index Terms--Home automation, power line communication, spread-spectrum, adaptive detection.