Evaluation of Channel Modeling Techniques for Indoor Power Line Communication Shashidhar Kasthala 1 , G.K.D.Prasanna Venkatesan 2 1 Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, India shashi_kb4u@rediffmail.com 2 SNS College of Engineering, Coimbatore, India prasphd@gmail.com Abstract. Communication over existing electrical wiring has attracted many researchers as a last mile solution due its reduced cost of installation. To make this medium as a feasible alternative to other communication medium, it is important to evaluate the performance of indoor electrical wiring. In this paper, an attempt is made to analyze and compare the various types of power line channel modeling techniques. The importance of modeling the cable parameters is also discussed. A sample residential power line network is considered and the channel frequency response and the channel capacity are compared for the various channel modeling techniques. Keywords: Channel capacity, multipath propagation, scattering parameters model, transfer function, transmission matrix model. 1 Introduction Recently, communication over indoor electrical wiring has drawn attention of both industry and academia for its huge scope in network connectivity. In fact, it can be a viable alternative to wireless communication considering the deployment cost and the extent of power line network. However, for a full scale commercial deployment, power line communication has a long way to go. This is primarily due to the challenges in understanding the critical channel parameters viz. noise, multipath effect and attenuation. Unfortunately, these three parameters vary with time, location and topology and thus making it further complicated [1]. To understand the behavior of these highly unpredictable power lines, extensive research has been carried out and various models have been developed. These models are primarily classified into top-down approach or bottom-top approach [10],[11]. The top-down approach of channel modeling is generally based on the multipath propagation model. In this model, the channel parameters are obtained largely by measurements. The developed models are easy to use but are of little flexibility. The bottom-top approach is an analytical method which requires thorough knowledge of power line network. Though this approach is tedious, it gives the flexibility to model the power line in various scenarios [12]. These two models are achieved either in time or in frequency domain. The choice in between these two modeling techniques is made based upon the size and complexity