Abstract
M.Ing. (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)
This research project sets out to investigate passive L-C coupling circuits as an alternative
to transformer-capacitor couplers, with the prime intention to reduce the cost of coupling
in power-line communications, hence the title “Compact, Economical Coupling Circuits
for Low-Voltage Power-line Communications”.
This chapter first presents a short introduction to Power-Line Communications, and then
briefly reviews relevant topics surrounding this project. Also discussed, in general, are the
standards and regulations for power-line communications i.e. the CENELEC EN50065.1
Standard and the IEEE 1901.2 Standard. This information intends to give the reader
guidelines and relevant protocols and/or rules when designing and building
communication devices for PLC. This information will also help us in our designs and
experimental set-ups as we proceed with this project.
The reader will also be introduced to the concept of filtering and impedance matching in
communication systems. Emphasis will be laid on the required output signal frequency
profile of a coupling band-pass filter. The chapter will define filtering in terms of
communications and also discuss the more significant and important parameters in filter
circuits. The last section of this chapter will touch on impedance matching and the concept
of maximum power transfer, so as to attain maximum signal transfer to the receiver-end.