Power Line Communication as Alternative for Data

Communication Channel for BRT

CAIO FERNANDO FONTANA*1, CLEDSON AKIO SAKURAI*1; CLAUDIO LUIZ MARTE*2;

JOSE ROBERTO CARDOSO*2; ANTONIO GIL DA SILVA ANDRADE*3

*1 Departamento Ciências do Mar (DCMAR)

Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

Av. Almirante Saldanha da Gama, 89 – Santos/SP, BRAZIL

public transportation in relation to safety, usability, mobility, quality and productivity through the use of

information and communication technology and one of the main problems is to ensure that which elements of

ITS such as buses, sensors, actuators, traffic lights, among others are exchanging data with them, due to the size

of this environment, the infrastructure of communication between the transportation management system

(TMS) and ITS components is extremely important in this context, this work proposes the use of

communication technologies called Power Line Communication (PLC) system, which consists of data

communication through the grid network that is available in urban center. Another characteristic of ITS for

BRT is that the environment will exchange small data packages, so it is possible to use narrow band

technologies. In this paper was considered the evaluation of two initiatives on narrow band PLC, PRIME and

G3, which have similar physical layer, and the PRIME privileges the high data rates during favorable

1 Introduction

implement a fast and efficient urban transport

system to meet the population's needs and offer a

cost-effective and quality service in this context

several Brazilian cities have implemented a solution

called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). [1]

based on exclusive bus lanes with stations with

lot of planning because of the various components

that influence the process such as the layout of

the communication for ITS base on Power Line

Communication, because it is possible to use the

exiting infrastructure of energy network.

2 Smart Grid

infrastructure for ITS, because in both cases there is

a centralized management system that needs to

communicate bi-directionally with the elements that

infrastructure communication through the PLC,

reducing communication costs of their ITS. This

paper focuses on evaluation of data communication

technology that is common for the Smart Grid and

ITS.

3 Telecommunications Technologies

The following communications technologies

can be used to ITS:

based on the communication of data over

radio waves, where the frequencies used

worldwide are controlled by the ITU

(International Telecommunication Union)

and ANATEL (National Agency of

Telecommunication) in Brazil. The

frequency spectrum is divided into tracks

where each track has a well-defined

characteristics, the free track frequencies are

the ranges of 2.4 GHz and 915 MHz. The

an problem. The radio could be a point-to-

low power operation.

Communications) or GPRS (General Packet

Radio Service) is an alternative due to

installation cost and coverage area, however

there is a strong operator dependent

services. The GSM is a mobile technology

that is be used in over 200 countries and

more than one billion of people. At GSM

the signal and the voice channels are digital,

Kbit/s, so there is a limited bandwidth. The

GPRS is a technology that increases the rate

of data transfer in GSM infrastructure. This

allows the transport of packet data, so it

provides a higher transfer rate (56 to 114

Kbit/s) than previous technologies, because

it uses circuit switching. The GPRS has as

main advantage the huge infrastructure of

the telephone network operator, but has

disadvantages such as cost and small and

regulatory policies.

communications via broadband to power utility

stations some elements may be needed as blocking

elements to be cancelled in the interference

frequency-division multiplexing), open and

non-proprietary with focus on

interoperability among equipment and

systems from different manufacturers.

open standard for smart grid

implementation. The G3 PLC is a standards-

based power line communications

specification promoting interoperability in

smart grid implementations.

Reed Solomon (RS) outer code defined and uses

repetition rate code 1 / 4 convolutional end code in

output.

entire package of physical layer in only one symbol

(CENELEC A)

(Orthogonal frequency-division

IEC61334 -4-32 LLC

as host for data transmission

analyzed the behavior of different scenarios in

modem connection settings for the equipment and

modulation, gain and different packet size.

connected to each other via a cable of 100

between the modems was made linking

them in electrical grid of 110 volts present

in the laboratory. They were ligated in two

places near the same phase.

the modem to the different situations was used PLC

application Quality Monitor, used to change the

modem settings when using PRIME. The settings

are varied to check the behavior of the PLC are:

can changed and there are 8 different levels

ranging from 3db gain among themselves.

Control): The receiver can be set to use

automatic gain control that adjusts the gain

of the receiver to present less variation and

better output signal. Furthermore it is

possible to adjust the receiver gain manually

to choosing among eight levels ranging

from 6dB to each other.

TECHNOLOGYPRIME A WONDERFUL

TECHNOLOGY) with no space between

them.

zero error rate for the three modulations even

without the FEC. It can only observe non-zero

values of bit error rate with earnings below MOL

(Maximum Output Level) -15dB when the FEC is

not enabled, and when using the FEC transmission

is low and the need for data transfer rate is low,

which allows the PLC in minimal configuration.

The study evaluated the PRIME and G3 projects

that have similar physical layer, and PRIME is more

favorable for high data transfer, and G3 delivers

better performance in interference and noise

conditions, but both projects can be used as a

installing equipment in the field. In the field tests

will evaluate the quality of services and

performance parameters of PLC technology in real

conditions of use.

5 Acknowledge

José dos Campos - SP - Brazil which enabled this

research. The survey results are being applied in city