[Swprograms] VoA Speaks Up on BPL

["Sergei S." <radonezh@xxxxxxxxx>]

Internet Access Over Power Lines Creates Radio
Interference
Greg Flakus, Houston
08 May 2004, 13:37 UTC

The Federal Communications Commission is looking into
complaints from amateur radio operators about the use
of electrical power lines for providing broadband
internet service, a concept known as BPL, for
Broadband over Power Lines. Many power companies and
some members of the commission see this as a promising
technology that could be especially useful in getting
such service to remote rural areas at a reasonable
price. But the cost could be high in terms of radio
interference.

The promise of Broadband over Power Lines is an
effective and relatively inexpensive way of providing
high-speed internet service to homes and businesses
through the power lines that already exist. 

Power lines can be viewed as large pipes bringing
energy into an area where other lines branch off to
buildings and houses. Not all the frequency range in
the line - or space in the pipe - is used, thereby
leaving open the possibility of sending signals back
and forth over the line. 

Matt Oja is Director of Emerging Technology for North
Carolina-based Progress Energy, which has been trying
BPL service in a limited area for about a year. He
says his company is closely monitoring the system to
see how well it works and what problems need to be
addressed.

"Utilities today are trying to figure out if this is
the type of thing we can deliver with the right
partners in an effective and efficient manner," he
said. "That is going to take some more checking out to
make sure that we are able to do that."

But power lines can also be viewed as long antennas.
The energy running through them transmits signals out
around the lines. In cases where the signals interfere
with other services that rely on the same frequencies
there can be what the FCC terms harmful interference. 

This is not permitted under the FCC rules, but Matt
Oja says Progress Energy, working with a consultant
company, has been able to identify such problems and
solve them by notching, that is modifying the
frequencies so as not to create interference.

"Given a situation where interference does occur to
somebody who has a legitimate claim and has a
legitimate interference concern and has experienced,
quote-unquote, harmful interference, can this be
mitigated around that particular frequency? That is
what the company we have been working with here has
been able to do, that is, notch out and get away from
those bands when, indeed, that situation does occur,"
said Matt Oja.

But the success of this approach is questioned by
amateur radio operators and others who rely on radio
signals that could be interrupted by the power lines. 

Tests of Broadband over Power Lines in Japan and
Europe found interference that was deemed
unacceptable. U.S. amateur radio operators say the
measures employed by Progress Energy and other
companies to mitigate interference have not been
satisfactory because of signal noise produced by the
transmitters that need to be placed, at intervals,
along a power line to keep the signal flowing. 

American Radio Relay League President Jim Haynie,
speaking to VOA from his home in Dallas, Texas, says
this presents a problem for amateur radio aficionados,
police and emergency radios, and even short-wave
receivers.

"If you can imagine having this in your power line,
these little transmitters all up and down the power
line and you try to listen to Voice of America or BBC
or any of the other short-wave stations, you are going
to hear that short-wave noise that is on the power
line right by your house because it is going to be a
whole lot stronger than the signal you are trying to
listen to," he said.

Progress Energy and many other companies experimenting
with BPL tout broadband access to remote neighborhoods
and rural areas as one of the potential benefits of
the technology. Progress Energy's Matt Oja says it
might not be cost effective to put in a special line
or cable to some remote areas, but power lines usually
go to those places already and could be utilized to
provide broadband service.

"This is one of the great opportunities that BPL does
have is that it is possible to bring in a signal to a
point, and carry it down a road and carry it into
neighborhoods where the population cannot get access,
where there are not enough homes or something to that
effect," he said. "We think BPL might provide some
real benefits out there."

But Mr. Haynie says he and other amateur radio
operators see this is as a false promise because power
companies would still have to invest in transmitters
to boost signals to those remote areas, making it too
expensive to be practical.

"Why don't they have DSL [Digital Subscriber Line]
now? Why don't they have cable now? It is because it
costs too much to serve a rural area," said Jim
Haynie. "Ten, 20 people in a square mile and say three
or four of them sign up for the service at $30 a
month, it is not going to offset an investment of
$10,000 or $20,000, $25,000 to bring it out there."

The dispute is not likely to disappear any time soon.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell has called Broadband over
Power Lines a "monumental breakthrough in technology."
The commission has permitted further testing and
development of the technology as long as there are
appropriate measures to mitigate interference with
radio signals. 

Full Audio at:
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=FBA95803-F602-4917-8A8BDA000DB17713



	
		
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