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Power and Signal Dual Transmission over DC networks

Power Line Communication (PLC) has become an indispensable technology for data transmission across numerous sectors, including automotive, aerospace, railway, energy monitoring, and smart metering. Its primary advantage is the utilization of existing electrical lines for simultaneous power and data transfer, offering cost and installation efficiency.

However, PLC faces challenges due to power line noise and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) from power electronic devices like Switched-Mode Power Supplies (SMPS). Ensuring reliable data transmission necessitates precise channel characterization to avoid signal integrity issues. Mitigation strategies, such as frequency diversity, are employed to prevent EMI overlap with PLC signals. When frequency bands do overlap, advanced modulation and error correction are crucial for signal integrity.

A notable trend in PLC is integrating it into power electronics, using a technique known as Power And Signal Dual Modulation (PSDM). PSDM, aiming to enhance PLC's cost-efficiency and simplify system design, has been tested in various converter topologies for low-speed, latency-tolerant applications using low switching frequencies. However, its main drawback is the limited bit rate.

To increase bit rates in PSDM converters, higher switching frequencies should be used, exceeding 1 MHz for rates over 1 Mbit/s.

This research aims to merge “Power Electronics” and “PLC”, traditionally competing technologies. It proposes data transmission methods and bit encoding approaches, including both hard-switching and soft-switching techniques, that exploit the inherent switching noise of power converters as carrier frequencies for data transmission over power lines. Specifically, the focus is on developing triple-functional PSDM converters that concurrently provide power conversion, EMI noise reduction, and high bit rate PSDM-PLC capability. With the growing availability of GaN and SiC semiconductors, this approach is feasible in the MHz range, particularly beneficial in systems where a DC-power system powered by an SMPS also requires data input.