Smart Detection of Interfering Signals in Powerline Communication Networks

Powerline communication (PLC) has gained a lot of interest in the last decade. Transmitting data over the ubiquitous power cable grid of build-ings, vehicles, factories and the Smart Grid instead of deploying dedicated communication wires is cost effective and provides the ability to reduce a vehicle’s weight. Unfortunately the power wires also act as good antennas at the frequencies used for powerline communications. That means alien radio frequency transmissions need to be taken into account when designing PLC systems. Currently deployed PLC modems do not transmit data in certain frequency bands to avoid interference with services which could operatie in them. However, this also means they are wasting potential throughput if there is no foreign transmission at the particular location and time of the system. There are different methods to analyze and detect ongoing transmissions. The student’s task is to get an overview of current approaches and analyse the most promising one in further detail. For this purpose, the given refer