Powerline data communication

• US 6,956,906 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2001
• Issued: 10/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Polytrax Information Technology AG
• Original Assignee: Polytrax Information Technology AG
• Inventors: Pohl, Stephan, Tager, Wolfgang, Stoger, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US09/838,565
• Publication Number:
  US 20030016123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,643 Days
• Field of Search: 375/260, 375/288, 375/295, 375/299, 370/468, 370/480, 370/538
• US Class Current: 375/260
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5495 having measurements and testing channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/54 Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems

Abstract

Data communication between two devices (11, 12) over the public powerline network (13) uses a multi carrier technology wherein a communication channel is divided into a plurality of subchannels by frequency division multiplexing. A partial power as part of the total transmission power and a partial rate as a fraction of the total data rate are assigned to each subchannel as follows:

Initially, the same partial power is assigned to each subchannel and the S/N ratio of each subchannel is obtained. Starting with the subchannel of the lowest S/N ratio and proceeding to that of the highest S/N ratio, the following steps are performed for each subchannel:

Firstly, the partial rate is assigned in accordance with the respective S/N ratio such as to result in a predetermined transmission error rate. The assigned partial rate is then quantised to an integral value. If the quantising corresponds to a rounding down, the initially assigned partial power is reduced such that the transmission error rate remains the same as before quantisation. Further, the partial power of other subchannels with higher S/N ratio is increased such that the sum of all partial powers remains constant. Eventually, the increased S/N ratio resulting from increasing the partial power for these subchannels is calculated so that, when the present steps are conducted for them, an optimum partial rate can be assigned to them.

This method maximises the total data rate of the entire communication channel while the error rate of each subchannel and the sum of all partial powers remain constant.

Claims

1. A method for data communication over a powerline network, wherein a transmission channel is divided into a plurality of subchannels each having a partial power as its part of a predetermined total transmission power and a partial rate as its data rate,

wherein initially a partial power is fixed and a signal to noise ratio is obtained for each subchannel and the subchannels are then processed one after the each other with the following steps:

(a) calculating the partial rate of the present subchannel in accordance with its signal to noise ratio so as to result in a predetermined transmission error rate,

(b) quantising said calculated partial rate, and

(c) adapting the partial power of the present subchannel to a change of the partial rate due to said quantistion, so that said predetermined transmission error rate of the present subchannel is maintained;

determining the partial power of another subchannel anew based on the adapted partial power of the present subchannel so that the said predetermined total transmission power of all subchannels is maintained; and

obtaining a signal to noise ratio of said other subchannel in adaptation to its newly determined partial power.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the subchannels are processed one after the other starting with the one having the lowest signal to noise ratio, to that one having the highest signal to noise ratio, and the steps of (a) to (c) are conducted for each processed subchannel,

said quantisation in step (b) includes a lowering of the partial rate of the presently processed subchannel to an integer value, and

into step (c), the partial power of the presently processed subchannel is lowered and the partial powers and the signal to noise ratios of those other subchannels are increased accordingly, which have not yet been processed.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the subchannels are processed one after the other starting with the one having the highest signal to noise ratio to the one having the lowest signal to noise ratio, and steps (a) and (c) are conducted for each processed subchannel,

said quantisation in step (b) includes increasing the partial rate of the processed subchannel to an integer value,

and

in step (c), the partial power of the processed subchannel is increased and the partial powers and the signal to noise ratios of those other subchannels which have not yet been processed are decreased accordingly.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the subchannels are sorted in descending order of their signal to noise ratios and are thus stored into a table held in a memory.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the initially determined partial power is the same for each subchannel and the initial signal to noise ratio for each subchannel is obtained by repeatedly transmitting as signal on each subchannel with the same partial power, receiving said signal, measuring for each repetition the deviation of the received signal from the transmitted signal and calculating the signal to noise ratio from an average deviation.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined transmission error rate is the same for all subchannels.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein user data are subsequently communicated while repeatedly measuring the actual transmission error rate, and wherein upon a certain difference between the measured transmission error rate from said predetermined transmission error rate, the signal to noise ratio is again obtained for each subchannel and steps (a) to (c) are again executed for each subchannel.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein data transmission on each subchannel is made by quadrature amplitude modulation.

9. An apparatus for data communication over a powerline network wherein a transmission channel is divided into a plurality of subchannels each having a partial power as its part of a predetermined total transmission power and having a partial rate as its data rate, comprising:

means for initially determining a partial power and obtaining a signal to noise ratio for each subchannel and for then processing the subchannels one after the other with;

a processor for;

calculating the partial rate of the presently processed subchannel in accordance with its signal to noise ratio so as to result in a predetermined transmission error rate;

quantising the calculated partial rate;

adapting the partial power of the present subchannel in accordance with a change in the partial rate due to said quantisation, so that said predetermined transmission error rate of the present subchannel is maintained;

newly determining the partial power of another subchannel in accordance with said adapted partial power of the present subchannel so that said predetermined total transmission power of all subchannels is maintained; and

obtaining a signal to noise ratio of said other subchannel in adaptation to its newly determined partial power.