This paper analyzes the characteristics of narrowband power line communication (NB-PLC) channels and assesses\ntheir performance when used for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) communications. This medium has been\ntraditionally considered too hostile. However, the research activities carried out in the last decade have shown that it\nis a suitable technology for a large number of applications. This work provides a statistical characterization of NB-PLC\nchannels in the CENELEC-A band. The presented results have been obtained from a set of 106 links measured in\nurban, suburban, and rural scenarios. The study covers the input impedance of the power line network, the channel\nresponse and the noise. The analysis of the channel response examines the delay spread, the coherence bandwidth,\nand the attenuation, while the assessment of the noise considers both its spectral and temporal characteristics. Since\nlow voltage (LV) distribution networks consists of several conductors, they can be simultaneously used to set up\nmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication links. This paper investigates the correlation between the\nMIMO streams. The bit rates that can be attained both in the single-input single-output (SISO) and in the MIMO cases\nare estimated and discussed.
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