Capacity Performance of Overhead Transmission Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Broadband over Power Lines Networks: The Insidious Effect of Noise and the Role of Noise Models

Extending the analysis already presented in [1], this paper considers broadband potential of overhead (OV) transmission multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) broadband over power lines (BPL) networks when different noise conditions occur and different well-proven noise models are adopted. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. First, the broadband potential of a great number of indicative OV high-voltage (HV) BPL topologies and of MIMO transmission schemes is studied in terms of appropriate capacity metrics. The relevant numerical results reveal the significant dependence of ΜΙΜΟ capacity metrics on noise conditions. Second, various well-known BPL noise models from the literature are compared on the basis of their achieved OV HV MIMO BPL capacity. Through the careful study of the capacity results of noise models, it is demonstrated that spectrally flat additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) may be comfortably assumed as an efficient noise model in transmission MIMO BPL networks. Also in MIMO BPL networks, the comparative capacity analysis of noise models shows small differences among them in the 3-88MHz frequency range.