Windowed orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and wavelet OFDM have been proposed as medium access techniques for broadband communications over the power line network by the standard IEEE 1901. Windowed OFDM has been extensively researched and employed in different fields of communication, while wavelet OFDM, which has been recently recommended for the first time in a standard, has received less attention. This work is aimed to show that wavelet OFDM, which basically is an Extended Lapped Transform-based multicarrier modulation (ELT-MCM), is a viable and attractive alternative for data transmission in hostile scenarios, such as in-home PLC. To this end, we obtain theoretical expressions for ELT-MCM of: 1) the useful signal power, 2) the inter-symbol interference (ISI) power, 3) the inter-carrier interference (ICI) power, and 4) the noise power at the receiver side. The system capacity and the achievable throughput are derived from these. This study includes several computer simulations that show that ELT-MCM is an efficient alternative to improve data rates in PLC networks.
Index TermsPower line communications (PLC), orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), Extended Lapped Transform-based multicarrier modulation (ELT-MCM), multicarrier transceiver, multicarrier modulation (MCM), filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), discrete cosine transform, discrete sine transform, prototype filter, IEEE 1901. DRAFT Channel partitioning methods have become part of several standards for broadband wireless and wireline communications. The idea behind these techniques is to convert a broadband frequency channel into a set of overlapping and (nearly) orthogonal frequency-flat subchannels [1]. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), with or without windowing, is the most widely recommended technique and employs cyclic prefix (CP) or zeros as redundant samples to carry out the channel partition [2]. Recently, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) systems have attracted a great deal of research attention, with the difference that the partitioning is performed by means of pulse shaping, with good properties in time and frequency, with no additional redundant samples [3]. FBMC system is now proposed as an attractive alternative to OFDM as the modulation scheme of the fifth generation of wireless networks (5G) [4]-[9] . The popularity of power line communications (PLC) for smart grids, and for outdoors and in-home communication systems, has grown a great deal [10]-[17]. It can be a good solution for the 'last mile' problem, since it provides broadband communication to isolated places where other communication systems are not in place, and for the 'last inch' problem, since it implements indoor high-speed networks [18]. IEEE Std 1901 [19] defines a standard for broadband over power line (BPL) devices via electric power lines. All classes of BPL devices are considered for the use of this standard, including BPL devices used for smart energy applications or applications in transportation platforms (vehicles).As medium...