Potential threats to radio services from PLT systems

Mike Barraclough has spotted the following on the EBU website:

Article in the latest EBU Technical Review:
Potential threats to radio services from PLT systems 
Jonathan Stott (527 KB pdf)

Power-Line Transmission (PLT) is a means of transmitting data along an existing, ubiquitous infrastructure: mains-electricity wiring.

You might be forgiven for thinking "So what?  What has this to do with broadcasting?" The answer is: "More than you might wish!", since PLT systems have a demonstrated the ability to interfere with radio reception, which of course includes traditional over-the-air broadcasting.

This article tries to explain some of how this comes about, what the threats are and what is or isn't being done about it.

The occurrence of this interference is contrary to the general
principles of regulating radio systems, but many of the detailed regulations in force, or proposed, do not provide adequate protection for broadcasting. "Notching" the PLT signals has been offered as a palliative measure but many requirements must be met for this to become a "cure".

One promising possible extension to the notching technique is described here. If it were properly adopted, it might provide a constructive solution to the inevitable stalemate in the standards process.

http://www.ebu.ch/en/technical/trev/trev_home.html

Latest news stories..

• Get our news headlines for your website • Submit your news story