Precoded Turbo Equalizer for Power Line Communication Systems

Abstract

Power line communication continues to draw increasing interest by promising a wide range of applications including cost-free last-mile communication solution. However, signal transmitted through the power lines deteriorates badly due to the presence of severe inter-symbol interference (ISI) and harsh random pulse noise. This work proposes a new precoded turbo equalization scheme specifically designed for the PLC channels. By introducing useful precoding to reshape ISI, optimizing maximum a posteriori (MAP) detection to address the non-Gaussian pulse noise, and performing soft iterative decision refinement, the new equalizer demonstrates a gain significantly better than the existing turbo equalizers.