research paper on telecommunication system

Renewing U.S. Telecommunications Research (2006)

Chapter: 1 the importance of telecommunications and telecommunications research, 1 the importance of telecommunications and telecommunications research.

How important is telecommunications as an industry, and how important is telecommunications research to the overall health of that industry? Underlying these questions are several others. How important is telecommunications to the U.S. economy and society? To what extent are U.S. consumers likely to benefit directly from telecommunications research in terms of new products and services that enhance their lives or improve their effectiveness or productivity? How much scope for innovation is there left in telecommunications, or has telecommunications matured to the point that it is merely a commodity service or technology?

The core findings of this study—which are supported throughout this report—are that the telecommunications industry remains of crucial importance to the United States as a society, that a strong telecommunications research capability continues to be essential to the health and competitiveness of this U.S. industry internationally, and that the health of this industry strongly affects the U.S. economy in many ways.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS—AN EVOLVING DEFINITION

Before the emergence of the Internet and other data networks, telecommunications had a clear meaning: the telephone (and earlier the telegraph) was an application of technology that allowed people to communicate at a distance by voice (and earlier by encoded electronic signals), and telephone service was provided by the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Much of the U.S. network was owned and operated by American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T); the rest consisted of smaller independent companies, including some served by GTE.

Then in the 1960s, facsimile and data services were overlaid on the PSTN, adding the ability to communicate documents and data at a distance—applications still considered telecommunications because they enabled new kinds of communication at a distance that were also carried over the PSTN. More recently, of course, communication at a distance has ex-

panded to include data transport, video conferencing, e-mail, instant messaging, Web browsing, and various forms of distributed collaboration, enabled by transmission media that have also expanded (from traditional copper wires) to include microwave, terrestrial wireless, satellite, hybrid fiber/coaxial cable, and broadband fiber transport.

Today consumers think of telecommunications in terms of both products and services. Starting with the Carterphone decision by the Federal Communications Commission in 1968, 1 it has become permissible and increasingly common for consumers to buy telecommunications applications or equipment as products as well as services. For example, a customer-owned and customer-installed WiFi local area network may be the first access link supporting a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, and a consumer may purchase a VoIP software package and install it on his or her personally owned and operated personal computer that connects to the Internet via an Internet service provider.

The technologies used for telecommunications have changed greatly over the last 50 years. Empowered by research into semiconductors and digital electronics in the telecommunications industry, analog representations of voice, images, and video have been supplanted by digital representations. The biggest consequence has been that all types of media can be represented in the same basic form (i.e., as a stream of bits) and therefore handled uniformly within a common infrastructure (most commonly as Internet Protocol, or IP, data streams). Subsequently, circuit switching was supplemented by, and will likely ultimately be supplanted by, packet switching. For example, telephony is now routinely carried at various places in the network by the Internet (using VoIP) and cable networks. Just as the PSTN is within the scope of telecommunications, so also is an Internet or cable TV network carrying a direct substitute telephony application.

Perhaps the most fundamental change, both in terms of technology and its implications for industry structure, has occurred in the architecture of telecommunications networks. Architecture in this context refers to the functional description of the general structure of the system as a whole and how the different parts of the system relate to each other. Previously the PSTN, cable, and data networks coexisted as separately owned and operated networks carrying different types of communications, although they often shared a common technology base (such as point-to-point digital communications) and some facilities (e.g., high-speed digital pipes shared by different networks).

How are the new networks different? First, they are integrated, meaning that all media— be they voice, audio, video, or data—are increasingly communicated over a single common network. This integration offers economies of scope and scale in both capital expenditures and operational costs, and also allows different media to be mixed within common applications. As a result, both technology suppliers and service providers are increasingly in the business of providing telecommunications in all media simultaneously rather than specializing in a particular type such as voice, video, or data.

Second, the networks are built in layers, from the physical layer, which is concerned with the mechanical, electrical and optical, and functional and procedural means for managing network connections to the data, network, and transport layers, which are concerned with transferring data, routing data across networks between addresses, and ensuring end-to-end

connections and reliability of data transfer to the application layer, which is concerned with providing a particular functionality using the network and with the interface to the user. 2

Both technology (equipment and software) suppliers and service providers tend to specialize in one or two of these layers, each of which seeks to serve all applications and all media. As a consequence, creating a new application may require the participation and cooperation of a set of complementary layered capabilities. This structure results in a horizontal industry structure, quite distinct from the vertically integrated industry structure of the Bell System era.

All these changes suggest a new definition of telecommunications: Telecommunications is the suite of technologies, devices, equipment, facilities, networks, and applications that support communication at a distance .

The range of telecommunications applications is broad and includes telephony and video conferencing, facsimile, broadcast and interactive television, instant messaging, e-mail, distributed collaboration, a host of Web- and Internet-based communication, and data transmission. 3 Of course many if not most software applications communicate across the network in some fashion, even if it is for almost incidental purposes such as connecting to a license server or downloading updates. Deciding what is and is not telecommunications is always a judgment call. Applications of information technology range from those involving almost no communication at all (word processing) to simple voice communications (telephony in its purest and simplest form), with many gradations in between.

As supported by the horizontally homogeneous layered infrastructure, applications of various sorts increasingly incorporate telecommunications as only one capability among many. For example telephony, as it evolves into the Internet world, is beginning to offer a host of new data-based features and integrates other elements of collaboration (e.g., visual material or tools for collaborative authoring). Another important trend is machine-to-machine communication at a distance, and so it cannot be assumed that telecommunications applications exclusively involve people.

THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY

Like telecommunications itself, the telecommunications industry is broader than it was in the past. It encompasses multiple service providers, including telephone companies, cable system operators, Internet service providers, wireless carriers, and satellite operators. The industry today includes software-based applications with a communications emphasis and intermediate layers of software incorporated into end-to-end communication services. It also includes suppliers of telecommunications equipment and software products sold directly to consumers and also to service providers, as well as the telecommunications service providers

themselves. It includes companies selling components or intellectual property predominately of a communication flavor, including integrated circuit chip sets for cell phones and cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) modems.

No longer a vertically integrated business, the telecommunications industry is enabled by a complex value chain that includes vendors, service providers, and users. The telecommunications value chain begins with building blocks such as semiconductor chips and software. These components are, in turn, incorporated into equipment and facilities that are purchased by service providers and users. The service providers then, in turn, build networks in order to sell telecommunications services to end users. The end users include individuals subscribing to services like telephony (landline and cellular) and broadband Internet access, companies and organizations that contract for internal communications networks, and companies and organizations that operate their own networks. Some major end-user organizations also bypass service providers and buy, provision, and operate their own equipment and software, like a corporate local area network (LAN) or a U.S. military battlefield information system. Software suppliers participate at multiple points in the value chain, selling directly not only to equipment vendors but also to service providers (e.g., operational support systems) and to end users (e.g., various PC-based applications for communications using the Internet).

An implication of defining telecommunications broadly is that every layer involved in communication at a distance becomes, at least partially, part of the telecommunications industry. The broad range and large number of companies that contribute to the telecommunications industry are evident in the following list of examples:

Networking service providers across the Internet and the PSTN, wireless carriers, and cable operators. Examples include AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and DirecTV.

Communications equipment suppliers that are the primary suppliers to service providers. Examples include Cisco, Lucent, and Motorola.

Networking equipment suppliers selling products to end-user organizations and individuals. Examples include Cisco’s Linksys division and Hewlett-Packard (local area networking products).

Semiconductor manufacturers , especially those supplying system-on-a-chip solutions for the telecommunications industry. Examples include Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and STMicroelectronics.

Suppliers of operating systems that include a networking stack. Microsoft is an example.

Software suppliers , especially those selling infrastructure and applications incorporating or based on real-time media. Examples include IBM, RealNetworks (streaming media), and BEA (application servers).

Utility or on-demand service providers selling real-time communications-oriented applications. Examples include AOL and Microsoft (instant messaging) and WebEx (online meetings).

Consumer electronics suppliers with communications-oriented customer-premises equipment and handheld appliances. Examples include Motorola and Nokia (cell phones), Research in Motion (handheld e-mail appliances), Polycom (videoconferencing terminals), Microsoft and Sony (networked video games), and Panasonic (televisions).

What is striking about this list is how broad and inclusive it is. Even though many of these firms do not specialize solely in telecommunications, it is now quite common for firms in the

larger domain of information technology to offer telecommunications products or to incorporate telecommunications capability into an increasing share of their products.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Telecommunications and society.

The societal importance of telecommunications is well accepted and broadly understood, reflected in its near-ubiquitous penetration and use. Noted below are some of the key areas of impact:

Telecommunications provides a technological foundation for societal communications . Communication plays a central role in the fundamental operations of a society—from business to government to families. In fact, communication among people is the essence of what distinguishes an organization, community, or society from a collection of individuals. Communication—from Web browsing to cell phone calling to instant messaging—has become increasingly integrated into how we work, play, and live.

Telecommunications enables participation and development . Telecommunications plays an increasingly vital role in enabling the participation and development of people in communities and nations disadvantaged by geography, whether in rural areas in the United States or in developing nations in the global society and economy.

Telecommunications provides vital infrastructure for national security . From natural disaster recovery, to homeland security, to communication of vital intelligence, to continued military superiority, telecommunications plays a pivotal role. When the issue is countering an adversary, it is essential not only to preserve telecommunications capability, but also to have a superior capability. There are potential risks associated with a reliance on overseas sources for innovation, technologies, applications, and services.

It is difficult to predict the future impact of telecommunications technologies, services, and applications that have not yet been invented. For example, in the early days of research and development into the Internet in the late 1960s, who could have foreseen the full impact of the Internet’s widespread use today?

Telecommunications and the U.S. Economy

The telecommunications industry is a major direct contributor to U.S. economic activity. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that just over 3 percent of the U.S. gross domestic income (GDI) in 2003 was from communications services (2.6 percent) and communications hardware (0.4 percent)—categories that are narrower than the broad definition of telecommunications offered above. At 3 percent, telecommunications thus represented more than a third of the total fraction of GDI spent on information technology (IT; 7.9 percent of GDI) in 2003. In fact, the fraction attributable to telecommunications is probably larger relative to that of IT than these figures suggest, given that much of the GDI from IT hardware (particularly semiconductors) could apply to any of several industries (computing, telecommunications, media, and electronics, for example). If one assumes IT to be the sum of computers (calculating), computers (wholesale), computers (retail), and software and services, the total GDI for IT is

$440 billion, compared to the total for telecommunications (communications hardware plus communications services) of $335 billion, making telecommunications’ contribution to GDI just under 80 percent of IT’s contribution to GDI. 4

The telecommunications-related industries are also a major employer—communications services employed 1 million U.S. workers in 2002, representing 1.1 percent of the total private workforce, and communications equipment companies employed nearly 250,000 people. 5 Moreover, telecommunications is a high-tech sector, with many highly skilled employees.

Telecommunications is a growth business. Although markedly reduced investment in some parts of the sector (following the bubble years of the late 1990s) may have given an impression of low growth in the long run, a longer-term view taking into account the need for humans and machines to communicate suggests that telecommunications will continue to grow apace, as evidenced by the ongoing expansion of wireless and broadband access services throughout the world.

Telecommunications is also a key enabler of productivity across the U.S. economy and society. 6 Not only is telecommunications an industry in itself, but it also benefits nearly every other industry. In the 1990s the U.S. GDP grew rapidly, and the U.S. economy was among the strongest in the world. It is widely believed that the Internet economy played a significant role in this success.

Today, however, new wireless applications, low-cost manufacturing innovations, and handset design are some of the areas in which the Asian countries are outinvesting the United States in R&D and are seeing resulting bottom-line impacts to their economies. For the United States to compete in the global marketplace—across industries—it needs the productivity that comes from enhancements in telecommunications. If the telecommunications infrastructure in the United States were to fall significantly behind that of the rest of the world, the global competitiveness of all other U.S. industries would be affected. Conversely, the growth in U.S. productivity has been based in part on a telecommunications infrastructure that is the most advanced in the world.

U.S. leadership in telecommunications did not come by accident—success at the physical, network, and applications levels was made possible by the U.S. investment in decades of research and the concomitant development of U.S. research leadership in communications-related areas. Telecommunications has been and likely will continue to be an important foundation for innovative new industries arising in the United States that use telecommunications as a primary technological enabler and foundation. Recent examples of innovative new businesses leveraging telecommunications include Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, and Google. Telecom-

munications is also specifically a key enabler for other industries in which the United States has important competitive advantages and a positive balance of trade, such as financial services and entertainment (e.g., movies and music).

Finally, telecommunications is an important component of the broader IT industry, which is sometimes viewed as having three technology legs: 7 processing (to transform or change information), storage (to allow communication of information from one time to another), and communications (to transmit information from one place to another). The boundaries between these areas are not very distinct, but this decomposition helps illustrate the breadth of IT and the role that telecommunications plays. Increasingly IT systems must incorporate all three elements to different degrees, 8 and it is increasingly common for companies in any sector of IT to offer products with a communications component, and often with a communications emphasis. The IT industry’s overall strength depends on strength across communications, processing, and storage as well as strength in all layers of technology—from the physical layer (including communications hardware, microprocessors, and magnetic and optical storage), to the software infrastructure layers (operating systems and Web services), to software applications.

Telecommunications and Global Competitiveness

In this era of globalization, many companies are multinational, with operations—including R&D—conducted across the globe. For example, IBM, HP, Qualcomm, and Microsoft all have research facilities in other countries, and many European and Asian companies have research laboratories in the United States. Increasing numbers of businesses compete globally. Every company and every industry must assess the segments and niches in which it operates to remain globally competitive.

Both Asian and European nations are continuing to pursue strategies that exploit perceived U.S. weakness in telecommunications and telecommunications research as a way of improving their competitiveness in telecommunications, as well as in information technology more broadly. Leapfrogging the United States in telecommunications has, in the opinion of the committee, been an explicit and stated strategy for a number of Asian (in broadband and wireless) and European (in wireless) nations for the past decade, with notable success. These efforts have aimed to stimulate the rapid penetration of physical-layer technologies for residential access (broadband access, especially in Asia) and wireless and mobile access (cellular networks, especially in Europe).

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUING INVESTMENT IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH: SUMMARY COMMENTS

Telecommunications research is best understood as a seed that germinates, developing into lasting value for the U.S. economy. Figure 1.1 depicts the research ecosystem and the

FIGURE 1.1 Impact of telecommunications research.

benefits it enables, many of which are built up recursively over time as a result of interactions among the various levels. The picture is, to be sure, simplified—the interactions between the different elements are more complex than can be reasonably characterized by the diagram— but Figure 1.1 does provide a realistic view of the impacts of research.

Shown at the top of Figure 1.1 is the research enabled by available funding. Level 1 shows the direct results : Researchers conduct exploratory studies, achieving technical breakthroughs and developing their expertise and their basic understanding of the areas studied. Talent is thus nurtured that will be expressed in the future in industry and academia. None of these results of research can be characterized as end benefits. Rather, the development of talent and the achievement of breakthroughs build a capability for later revolutionary advances.

At Level 2 the benefits of research begin to become evident. Researchers collaborate, and individual insights and results begin to fit together. The university talent generated in Level 1 develops competence—not simply low-level job skills that can be easily transported anywhere, but rather the next-generation expertise needed to ensure a skilled U.S. telecommunications workforce. The United States has access to this skilled workforce first and can thus benefit directly from the talent and knowledge base generated in Level 1 that are fundamental to continuing technological advances and being able to perform in the best future jobs.

Also at Level 2 comes the maturing of fundamental breakthroughs and their transition to usable, deployable technology for next-generation telecommunication systems and the development of roadmaps to help guide research investments.

The major benefits to the economy obtained at Level 3 are the coalescence of Level 1 and 2 elements. Skilled workers, a competence to understand the new technology, the availability of the technology, and shared goals are the ingredients required to create a healthy telecommunications industry and, more broadly, a capable telecommunications infrastructure.

Interestingly, not all of the research performed affects telecommunications alone. Because telecommunications touches multiple industries, the technology base it provides also often enables the creation of entirely new industries. The success of the iPod and other portable digital music players, for example, rests in part on earlier telecommunications-inspired work on how to compress audio for efficient transmission over limited-bandwidth channels.

At Level 4, an indirect benefit of research is a telecommunications infrastructure that provides advantages to all industries that use telecommunications. There are also end-user or consumer benefits that accrue to having an outstanding infrastructure, such as enhanced education, entertainment, and personal convenience. Finally, new companies also emerge from these new industries.

Level 5 aggregates the key benefits of research in broad areas of national concern. Concerning economic impact, the strong telecommunications industry, new spin-off industries, and more competitive industries (across the board) result in a higher GDP for the country, as well as job creation. Technological leadership and economic strength also help ensure strong leadership and capability in national defense and homeland security.

The full benefits of the process depicted in Figure 1.1 develop over an extended period of time, with a long-term buildup over several years between the seed investments in research and realization of the ultimate bottom-line benefits. Each step takes time: from innovation to mass deployment and impact. Investments by both government and industry in research by academia and industry lead to both short- and long-term contributions.

Over the years, CSTB studies have documented this phenomenon across multiple areas of information technology and telecommunications research. In particular, its 1995 report Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to Support the Nation’s Information Infrastructure 9 and a 2003 update 10 illustrate how long-term investments in research across academia and industry have led to the creation of many new, important U.S. industry segments with revenues that came to exceed $1 billion.

In closing, it is worth noting the perils of losing leadership in telecommunications. Because of the time lag, the nation may continue to exhibit leadership at Levels 4 and 5 (and possibly Level 3) even as it is failing to renew capability at Levels 1 and 2. Since Levels 3 through 5 are most visible to policy makers and the public, there is a potential to perceive the situation as less dire than it really is. If Levels 1 and 2 are left to atrophy, serious problems will occur at Levels 3 through 5. If that happens, then recovery will take a long time—or even prove impossible.

The modern telecommunications infrastructure—made possible by research performed over the last several decades—is an essential element of the U.S. economy. The U.S. position as a leader in telecommunications technology, however, is at risk because of the recent decline in domestic support of long-term, fundamental telecommunications research. To help understand this challenge, the National Science Foundation asked the NRC to assess the state of telecommunications research in the United States and recommend ways to halt the research decline. This report provides an examination of telecommunications research support levels, focus, and time horizon in industry, an assessment of university telecommunications research, and the implications of these findings on the health of the sector. Finally, it presents recommendations for enhancing U.S. telecommunications' research efforts.

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Introduction to Telecommunication Systems

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Part of the book series: The International Series in Engineering and Computer Science ((SECS,volume 533))

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This chapter gives a perspective on telephone networks, local area networks and computer communication networks. We define a number of technical terms pertinent to the understanding of the structure and operation of telephone and computer communication networks. A telecommunication network can be viewed as a communication network which consists of a transmission subnetwork, a switching subnetwork, and a signaling subnetwork. These three subnetworks interact and function in a specific and cooperative way to provide good quality of service for communications.

To simplify network operation and management, two types of hierarchical telephone networks, the AT & T and the ITU-T (or CCITT) networks, were established to serve all the countries in the world. Modern trends in telecommunications are to establish a universal communication network known as the broad band integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) which can handle voice, data, video and image traffic. The international standard for this network is named asynchronous transfer mode (ATM).

It is well known that the call arrival process to a telephone network is a Poisson process with a constant arrival rate and that the data traffic is bursty. However, the bursty nature of data traffic is not well understood and requires much research.

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(2002). Introduction to Telecommunication Systems. In: Performance Analysis of Telecommunications and Local Area Networks. The International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, vol 533. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47312-7_1

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Current state of communication systems based on electrical power transmission lines

• Antony Ndolo   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7049-8153 1 , 2 &
• İsmail Hakkı Çavdar 1  

Journal of Electrical Systems and Information Technology volume  8 , Article number:  9 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Power line communication technology is a retrofit alternative technology for last mile information technology. Despite several challenges, such as inadequate standards and electromagnetic compatibility, it is maturing. In this review, we have analysed these obstacles and its current application status.

Introduction

Indeed, advancements in communication engineering and technology have brought in revolution in the telecommunication industry. One great impact has been in information and service delivery during the last decades of the twentieth century to date. This is due to the high demand for information created by the huge human population. Better methods and channel models  for signal  transmission have been researched and developed. For instance, fibre optics has provided waveguide for numerous services at higher speed while inheriting other advantages such immunity to electromagnetic interferences amongst others [ 1 , 2 ]. Despite all the positive attractions  towards fibre communication, it is expensive to install and it is limited to certain areas.  That is, remote, rural and mountainous areas. This has necessitated the search for alternative information transmission methods. Power line communication (PLC) is one such alternative.

Power line communication technology is the basically a technology that uses pre-existing and installed electrical power cables for transmission of information [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Traditionally, such electrical lines were designed exclusively for distribution and transmission of electricity at lower frequency. This frequency varies from country to country, mainly, 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Upon generation of electricity, it is distributed and transmitted through different voltage network. Firstly, electricity is transmitted over high voltage lines,   then distribution is done over medium voltage lines, and  lastly, it is converted/scaled down using transformers for the end-user consumption in the low-voltage lines. Figure  1 gives summary of PLC structure. This technology is therefore retrofit and economically cheaper compared to other methods. There is no need for new cable installations. Secondly, electrical power network is the most developed, covers large areas and reaches many homesteads. At distribution lines, they are majorly used for the control signals, remote data acquisition and IP telephony services [ 7 ].

Structure of power line communication network

Power line communication is divided into three categories, namely ultra-narrowband, narrowband and broadband as summarised in Table 1 . The first two are commonly grouped together and termed as narrowband PLC. We will characterise these categories in the next section in details.

Classification of power line communication

The initial idea to use electrical power line for communication purposes was first put foward in the early 1900s. Schwartz in [ 8 ] gives comprehensive history regarding the technology. In the paper, PLC evolution in upto the early 2000s is also reviewed. According to [ 9 ], we have three categories of PLC as mentioned in the previous section. They are classified based on frequency band of operation and application areas. In Table 1 , we give a brief summary of each class. Each category varies in application areas. For instance, ultra-narrowband PLC has been applied in automatic metre reading technology, while the second type has found its application in advance metre reading [ 10 ], electric vehicles [ 11 ], smart grid [ 9 , 12 ] and street lighting [ 13 , 14 ].

Broadband PLC has penetrated to high-speed internet access and home area network applications including audio, HDTV, online gaming  and others in [ 17 , 18 ].

PLC regulation standards

For universal functionality, there is need for proper standards to regulate communication quality and as well as to cater for minimal, if not zero, interference to human health. In telecommunication, such standards aid in designing an optimal communication system. The parameters that require governing and continuous check include signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and bit-error-rate (BER).  There has been an ever-rising interest in PLC technology in the last two decades. Therefore, researchers and non-governmental bodies have come up with set of rules and requirements to improve optimality and interoperability. This is of course to make electrical power lines more compatible and secure for transmission of different varieties of signals.

Internationally, the following organisations are responsible for setting and governing standards in the telecommunication industry; International Telecommunication Union (ITU), European Committee for Electro-technical Standardisation (CENELEC), International Electro-technical Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and lastly, Federal Communication Commission's (FCC). All these organisations have set standards for both broadband and narrowband PLC. Nonetheless, ITU favours the latter to be implemented within 3–490 kHz frequency for low speed transmission as mentioned in Table 1 .

In order to work efficiently, CENELEC has several internal groups performing specific tasks. For instance, EN50065-1 is focussed on general requirements, frequency bands and electromagnetic disturbances for signalling on low-voltage electrical lines. EN50065-1 has subgroups which deal mainly with narrowband PLC, whereas EN55022 standard works on high-speed PLC in the spectrum of  frequency between 150 to 500 kHz. While IEEE 1901.1 standard focuses on access communication systems as patented by IEEE. IEEE 1901.1 is designed for control transmissions of frequencies less than 15 MHz in smart grid applications [ 3 , 16 ] and [references therein].

These standards also specify signal coding and modulation techniques. IEEE 1901.2 is a revised version of the first one that advocates for use of Reed Solomon (RS) and convolutional codes (CC). The latter is also compatible with Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) [ 18 ]. ITU and

IEC have also contributed widely in developing some of these standards for narrowband PLC. Tables 2 and 3 provide summary lists of regulatory standards with regard to electrical power line communication technology and respective modulation techniques.

Challenges facing PLC network

Electrical power supply networks do offer an economical opportunity to realise info-communication network at no extra cost of laying new communication cable lines. They also cover large areas thus increasing the size of  communication network.

However, electrical lines are by design not meant for communication purposes. Such lines have unconducive features for transmission of signals. At the same time, power cables are the most asymmetrical network with many irregular connections extending between end-users and communication backbone lines [ 17 , 41 ]. Continuous connection or disconnection of electrical appliances, such as, all switching changes, may change the topology [ 41 ].Each load switched and connected to the network operate at varying frequencies thereby injecting noises and imbalance impendance. Noise is discussed in the next section.

Güzelgöz et al. in [ 42 ] have comprehensively compared wireless and PLC transmission channel. From their comparison, it is evident that PLC is characterised by multipath propagation. These paths are caused by the presence of reflection points with different characteristic impedances. In [ 43 ], other factors that affect signal transmission such as frequency- selectivity of PLC channel, mismatched connections and branches have been reported.

Attenuation which increases with frequency is another factor that hinders full exploitation of PL for communication use. Attenuation in this case depends on the length of branches, the material of the line and varying characteristic impedance too [ 44 ], and [references herein].

Electromagnetic compatibility is another challenge. From Maxwell's equation and electromagnetic theories  [ 45 , 46 ], and [references herein] electrical power lines, by extension PLC, act as antenna that excite electromagnetic waves. Therefore, use of frequency spectrum ranging to 30 MHz which is reserved for radio communication may be interfered with by power line communication networks. As discussed under standards, there regulations have been set to minimise PLC electromagnetic interference on other services. Additionally, electromagnetic compatibility restrictions limit transmission power which in turn leads to low SNR at the receiver. Works on the latter are also ongoing. 

The other major factor that degrades signal transmission in PL channels is non-Gaussian noise. This noise will be discussed in a section below. Before that, we describe PLC channel briefly.

PL transmission channel

In both [ 42 ] and [ 43 ], and [references herein] have compared power line communication channel as a multipath transmission medium. This is because of numerous reflection points, discrete and mismatched electrical loads in the PLC network. The channel load is either varying periodically or aperiodically due to connection or disconnection of electrical loads at varying times.

Understanding the channels behaviour is very vital in designing communication systems. Therefore, engineers and researchers apply channel models in order to characterise PLC transmission channel. Generally, there are two models: bottom-up and up-bottom approaches [ 43 ] and [references herein]. These approaches are iterative. Their approach includes both measurements and CAD simulations. Both approaches are either applied in time or frequency domain. The bottom-up model approach involves the use of mathematical model to define electrical power line channel. Model's parameters are calculated followed by simulation. To validate simulation results, measurements must be carried. The difference is that, the second approach starts with measurements. Thus, there is need for comprehensive information of the network and its physical topology. It also requires knowledge on impedances and features of cables. Up-bottom approach is practical and realistic. It is therefore the frequently used model by communication engineers. Mathematical models for both approaches are available in [ 19 ] and [references herein] for the reader to explore.

Berger et al. in [ 5 ] introduce the concept of MIMO PLC model. This is another technique that can be used to study the channel's feature in order to improve PL communication system's performance. Intensive studies of various models are focussed on possible exploitation of adaptive filters and scheduling, development of efficient PLC code, widening the bandwidth amongst others. Other models of study are mentioned in [ 47 ].

Noise in PL communication system

This noise can be defined based on its magnitude, origin and its representation main in time domain. Electrical power networks are heavy loaded in the so-called “last mile” and in-door areas. At these points, electrical appliances are the main source of noise in PL systems.

Noise in PL communication systems is non-Gaussian as opposed to traditional data communication channels which can be expressed in terms of additive white Gaussian noise [ 48 , 49 ], and [references therein]. Several researches have grouped noise in PLC as background noise and impulsive noises. Background noise is subdivided into coloured background and narrowband noises, while impulsive noise, namely periodic asynchronous impulsive noise to the main lines frequency, periodic impulsive noise synchronous to the main lines frequency and aperiodic impulsive noise. The sources and forms of these noises have been widely studied and documented in [ 19 ] and [references therein]. Figures  2 and 3 show PLC system and noise in the channel.

PL Communication system

PL Communication noise

Modulation techniques for PLC systems

Impulsive noise has great negative effect on transmitted signal. Therefore, in order to combat its effect multicarrier modulation techniques such as OFDM have superiority over single-carrier types.

Hrasnica et al. in [ 17 ] and Guzelgoz et al. in [ 42 ] have detailed explanations how other modulation used in wireless communication can be applied in PL communication system. Such modulation techniques include frequency hopping of spread spectrum family and random packet modulations. All these modulation techniques advocate for interleaving that spreads bit and symbol errors [ 50 ], and [references herein]. There is need though to keep guard with regard to intercarrier interferences.

Coding techniques such as turbo codes [ 51 ] and Solomon Reeds amongst others are also used to improve channel capacity. In [ 19 ], a brief and clear explanation on modulation and coding techniques has been presented. In Tables 2 and 3 , recommended modulation techniques used in PLC are presented. In Table 4 , we tabulate history of OFDM which has shown resistance to the effects of impulsive noise.

As human population continues to increase, the thirst and demand for data information and education will always be on the rise. The emergence of COVID19 has also put pressure on the existing communication systems as many organisations shift to "work from home". This calls for alternative signal transmission technology. Electrical power lines for communication have proven to be this option. With roughly 80% of the world population connected to the electric grid, this technology ready infrastructure to connect millions to info-communication network for business, education and other purposes.    Thus, geographical communication coverage is increased.  Despite the tremendous work done in both research industries and universities, there is need  for  more to be done to improve this technology.

In order for PLC to reach optimal maturity and mass implementation, the challenging obstacles discussed above must be tackled scientifically, properly and effectively. Additionally, there is need for adequate research funding and implementation of national regulation standards to comply with the international ones for uniformity across the globe. The latter issues affect developing countries such as Kenya and Türkiye.

In this paper, we have provided a detailed overview on the current state of PL Communication. We have summarised classes of PLC, regulation standards, transmission channel models, noises and tabulated modulation techniques. Although this field of research is maturing slowly and is fairly recent, it has become a promising one for near-future applications  especially in Access Mode “Last mile” implementation. We hope this work will motivate researchers further to advance the penetration of PLC technology in developing countries' remote areas where electricity access is available but with rugged terrains.

Availability of data and materials

The paper presents original review work not previously published in similar form and not currently under consideration by another Journal.

Abbreviations

Power line communication

International Telecommunication Union

European Committee for Electro-technical Standardisation

International Electro-technical Commission

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer

International Organisation for Standardisation

Federal Communication Commission

Reed Solomon

Convolutional codes

Internet Protocol version 6

Computer-aided design

Multiple-input and multiple-output

Signal-to-noise ratio

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

Binary phase shift keying

Quadrature amplitude modulation

Frequency shift keying

Discrete Fourier transform

Konnex protocol

Wireless local area network

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Ndolo, A., Çavdar, İ.H. Current state of communication systems based on electrical power transmission lines. Journal of Electrical Systems and Inf Technol 8 , 9 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43067-021-00028-9

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Technique improves the reasoning capabilities of large language models

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Large language models like those that power ChatGPT have shown impressive performance on tasks like drafting legal briefs, analyzing the sentiment of customer reviews, or translating documents into different languages.

These machine-learning models typically use only natural language to process information and answer queries, which can make it difficult for them to perform tasks that require numerical or symbolic reasoning.

For instance, a large language model might be able to memorize and recite a list of recent U.S. presidents and their birthdays, but that same model could fail if asked the question “Which U.S. presidents elected after 1950 were born on a Wednesday?” (The answer is Jimmy Carter.)

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have proposed a new technique that enables large language models to solve natural language, math and data analysis, and symbolic reasoning tasks by generating programs.

Their approach, called natural language embedded programs (NLEPs), involves prompting a language model to create and execute a Python program to solve a user’s query, and then output the solution as natural language.

They found that NLEPs enabled large language models to achieve higher accuracy on a wide range of reasoning tasks. The approach is also generalizable, which means one NLEP prompt can be reused for multiple tasks.

NLEPs also improve transparency, since a user could check the program to see exactly how the model reasoned about the query and fix the program if the model gave a wrong answer.

“We want AI to perform complex reasoning in a way that is transparent and trustworthy. There is still a long way to go, but we have shown that combining the capabilities of programming and natural language in large language models is a very good potential first step toward a future where people can fully understand and trust what is going on inside their AI model,” says Hongyin Luo PhD ’22, an MIT postdoc and co-lead author of a paper on NLEPs .

Luo is joined on the paper by co-lead authors Tianhua Zhang, a graduate student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Jiaxin Ge, an undergraduate at Peking University; Yoon Kim, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); senior author James Glass, senior research scientist and head of the Spoken Language Systems Group in CSAIL; and others. The research will be presented at the Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics.

Problem-solving with programs

Many popular large language models work by predicting the next word, or token, given some natural language input. While models like GPT-4 can be used to write programs, they embed those programs within natural language, which can lead to errors in the program reasoning or results.

With NLEPs, the MIT researchers took the opposite approach. They prompt the model to generate a step-by-step program entirely in Python code, and then embed the necessary natural language inside the program.

An NLEP is a problem-solving template with four steps. First, the model calls the necessary packages, or functions, it will need to solve the task. Step two involves importing natural language representations of the knowledge the task requires (like a list of U.S. presidents’ birthdays). For step three, the model implements a function that calculates the answer. And for the final step, the model outputs the result as a line of natural language with an automatic data visualization, if needed.

“It is like a digital calculator that always gives you the correct computation result as long as the program is correct,” Luo says.

The user can easily investigate the program and fix any errors in the code directly rather than needing to rerun the entire model to troubleshoot.

The approach also offers greater efficiency than some other methods. If a user has many similar questions, they can generate one core program and then replace certain variables without needing to run the model repeatedly.

To prompt the model to generate an NLEP, the researchers give it an overall instruction to write a Python program, provide two NLEP examples (one with math and one with natural language), and one test question.

“Usually, when people do this kind of few-shot prompting, they still have to design prompts for every task. We found that we can have one prompt for many tasks because it is not a prompt that teaches LLMs to solve one problem, but a prompt that teaches LLMs to solve many problems by writing a program,” says Luo.

“Having language models reason with code unlocks many opportunities for tool use, output validation, more structured understanding into model's capabilities and way of thinking, and more,” says Leonid Karlinsky, principal scientist at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab.

“No magic here”

NLEPs achieved greater than 90 percent accuracy when prompting GPT-4 to solve a range of symbolic reasoning tasks, like tracking shuffled objects or playing a game of 24, as well as instruction-following and text classification tasks. The researchers found that NLEPs even exhibited 30 percent greater accuracy than task-specific prompting methods. The method also showed improvements over open-source LLMs. 

Along with boosting the accuracy of large language models, NLEPs could also improve data privacy. Since NLEP programs are run locally, sensitive user data do not need to be sent to a company like OpenAI or Google to be processed by a model.

In addition, NLEPs can enable small language models to perform better without the need to retrain a model for a certain task, which can be a costly process.

“There is no magic here. We do not have a more expensive or fancy language model. All we do is use program generation instead of natural language generation, and we can make it perform significantly better,” Luo says.

However, an NLEP relies on the program generation capability of the model, so the technique does not work as well for smaller models which have been trained on limited datasets. In the future, the researchers plan to study methods that could make smaller language models generate more effective NLEPs. In addition, they want to investigate the impact of prompt variations on NLEPs to enhance the robustness of the model’s reasoning processes.

This research was supported, in part, by the Center for Perceptual and Interactive Intelligence of Hong Kong. 

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• Hongyin Luo
• Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)
• Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Related Topics

• Computer science and technology
• Artificial intelligence
• Programming
• Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs)

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