Capacity Analysis of Broadband Relaying Systems for Low-Voltage Powerline Communications

—Low-Voltage Powerline Communications (LV PLC) is a favorable information exchange scheme for many Smart Grid (SG) applications. In this paper we focus on the broadband dual-hop relaying systems over LV PLC channel in which the relay node operates in either Amplify-and-Forward (AF) or Decode-and-Forward (DF) relaying protocol. The closed-form expressions of capacities for non-cooperative and cooperative relaying systems are derived. Numerical simulations reveal the performances in AF and DF modes in terms of the system capacity, which are complying with Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) regulations in the United States, European Union and Germany respectively. It’s shown that relaying LV PLC systems can obtain significant capacity improvement compared with Direct Transmission (DT) when the transmission distance is greater than a certain threshold. In addition, the effect of the relay locations to the relaying system capacity is analyzed in this paper.