MIMO-OFDM Based Broadband Power Line Communication Using Antenna and Fading Diversity

We present multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) based broadband power line communication (BPLC) using antenna and fading diversity. We evaluate the proposed MIMO-OFDM system over multi-conductor power line channels, with or without cross-talk between the antenna paths. The proposed scheme employs maximum ratio combining (MRC) that effectively combines both the multiple antenna diversity gain and the multipath fading diversity gain over 3phase (2 ́2 MIMO, outdoor) power line channels. Simulation results prove that the proposed scheme improves the bit error rate performance over the existing schemes, irrespective of whether cross-talk exists. KeywordsMIMO; OFDM; broadband power line communication (BPLC); maximum ratio combining (MRC)