Design of Systems on Silicon
DS2
PLC Technology
Juan Carlos Riveiro
System Architecture Manager
26/06/2001
Index
• DS2 Profile and Strategy
• DS2 PLC Technology
26/06/2001
DS2 Profile and Strategy
26/06/2001
DS2 Profile
• Fabless silicon design house
• Mission: to become the leading supplier of IPR
(silicon and software) for high speed Powerline
Communications (PLC)
• Experienced in advanced communications
chipsets: QAM, OFDM, FFT, IFFT, FEC, ADCs,
DACs, etc.
26/06/2001
DS2 Profile
• Incorporated 1998/February/15
• Key shareholder: ENDESA (the largest electricity
utility in Spain and South America)
• Experienced management and key personnel:
IBM, HP, Philips, Matra-MHS, Telefónica, EC-
R&D programs, INITEC, etc.
• Experience in state-of-the-art large critical
projects
26/06/2001
DS2 Strategy
... and
DS2 is aturn them
fabless into design
silicon Networkhouse.
Service Providers...
Utility
DS2 DS2’s...customers
to whom are
DS2OEMs who
...Head
sells and for aEnds
Customer
SUPPORTS3000Premises
million
which are
Equipment
installed inwhich
each
integrate DS2 chipsets in theirEnd-Users …
market
is placed
MV/LV and Home
in user’s
transformer Gateways
devices in
OEMsEnd-User
supply DS2 PLC and telecomallowing in-home LAN
systems worldwide households
equipment to utilities service
Selected foundries produce DS2 HE CPE
chipsets
Foundry OEM
Home
OEMs produce...
Gateway
26/06/2001
DS2 Strategy
• Capitalize on company skills (communications, DSP,
electronic design, silicon,etc.)
• Alliances and joint developments with customers:
– Router and Telecom manufacturers:
• CISCO, Ascom, PACE, Nokia, Mitsubishi, Vayris...
– Silicon foundries, core providers:
• Samsung, AMS,...
– Electricity utilities:
• Endesa, EDF, ENEL, Sydkraft, TEPCO, EnBW...
– Electrical equipment supply:
• Schneider, Schlumberger, ABB...
26/06/2001
DS2 PLC Technology
26/06/2001
DS2 Powerline Topology
26/06/2001
Powerline advantages
• Lowest cost equipment compared to competitors
technologies
• Ubiquitous due to electricity grid capillarity
• No new cabling is needed
• Shared bus means shared cost
• New business opportunities diversifying activities
• In-home LAN allowing multiple new applications
• Real broadband access to home at the lowest cost
26/06/2001
Powerline problems
• Different cables used:
– Underground cable.
– Twisted overhead cable.
– Bare overhead line.
• Unstable medium, designed to carry power signal not communications
signal.
– Time-Variant (plug and unplug).
– Noisy medium (power supplies).
• Input impedance is a function of frequency and time, not flat and
invariant.
• Different topology per country, distance up to 1km.
• Point to Multipoint, with lots of taps and mismatching.
26/06/2001
Communications
characteristics
• Impulse Response: Time Spread and Variation.
• Slow frequency selective channel.
• Noise: Background, Ingress and Impulsive.
• Attenuation is a function of frequency, distance and time.
26/06/2001
Wideband characteristics
• Multipath propagation
– Dispersion of the received signal in time domain. (Time spread, Ts)
– Frequency selectivity in frequency domain.
• If Tsignal < Ts Intersymbol interference (ISI)
– Limits the maximum usable symbol rate (data rate).
QAM constellations
26/06/2001 with (a) no ISI, (b) 3% ISI and (c) 10% ISI
Wideband modulation
• Single carrier with an equalizer:
– High complexity and cost (silicon area)
– The channel must be known ( or accurately estimated).
– High bit-rate signal Time spread >>> symbol time.
• DS-SS (CDMA direct sequence spread spectrum):
– Using high bit-rate signal to achieve a high processing gain, a very
large bandwidth is required.
– In PLC environment, an equalizer is required too.
• OFDM:
– The technique for high bit-rate applications.
– High bit-rate signal Time spread <<< symbol time.
26/06/2001
OFDM Modulation
• Imperative need for speed. Competing against or
complementing ADSL, Cable modem and LMDS.
• Imperative need for adaptiveness. Every Powerline is
different, with lots of taps and multipath propagation.
• Imperative need for low cost.
Solution OFDM
Transmission medium shared in time and
in frequency
26/06/2001
OFDM Introduction
• The tx bandwidth is divided into many narrow subchannels which are
transmitted in parallel.
• Each subchannel is narrow enough so that the fading it experiences is
flat no ISI.
• OFDM increases the spectral efficiently by allowing subchannels to
overlap
a) FD system
b) OFDM system
26/06/2001
OFDM Introduction II
• Guard interval is added to each OFDM symbol to eliminate ISI.
• Adaptive loading
– More bits/subchannel where SNR is sufficient.
– Could also adapt transmit power in each subchannel.
• Orthogonality:
– Carrier spacing is a multiple of 1/T.
– Carriers are linearly independent.
26/06/2001
OFDM Modulation
• Ideal for slow changing multipath channels with high time
spread (Powerline case):
• No need for time equalization (complex FIR Filters).
• Simple frequency equalization (phase correction)
• Best Bps/Hz performance
• Spectrally dense signal
• Large number of carriers makes things easier:
• Synchronization is more robust and simple
• Easier to adapt to notches and ingress
• Better immunity to impulsive noise
• Increase the robustness against frequency selective fading
channels
26/06/2001
DS2 OFDM
• 1280 OFDM carriers
• Data rate :
• Up to 27 Mbps in downstream channel
• Up to 18 Mbps in upstream channel
• Data rate per subcarrier adaptable according SNR detected
• Nº bits per carrier : 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8
• Different carriers transmit at different data rates
• Modulation efficiency up to 7,25 bps/Hz
26/06/2001
Low Cost Implementation
• Low cost digital implementation:
– Only two major components:
• FFT processor
• FEC encoder/decoder
– 0.25 µm Process
– 304 plastic BGA package
• Low cost analogue implementation
– One ASIC (DSS7500) + Line Driver + Filters
– ASIC implements LNA, PGA, Buffer, CPLD DAC, ADC
– 0.6 µm Process
– 64 plastic QFP package
26/06/2001
Access and In-home LAN
• Three different frequency ranges are used:
– LINK 1: Low frequency band for ACCESS service
– LINK 2: High frequency band for IN-HOME service
– LINK LAN: IN-HOME service for xDSL, cable or wireless
service
• Frequency bands are fully programmable
• Hardware needed will be:
– HE: Manager in LINK1, LINK LAN
– CPE: LINK1/2 and LINK LAN
– Home Gateway: Manager in LINK2
26/06/2001
Summary Performance
• Highest bit rates (up to 45 Mbps)
• Highest efficiency (7,25 bps/Hz)
• OFDM with 1280 carriers
• Adaptive bpc depending on SNR
• Lowest cost per bit (high integration)
• Adaptive QoS (users and services needs)
• IP and SNMP 100% compatible
• Access and In-Home service
• IN-HOME service for xDSL, cable or wireless service
26/06/2001
Product Description
• HEs, CPEs and Home Gateways have the
same block diagram.
• DS2 chipsets integrate these different
blocks.
26/06/2001
DIGITAL INTERFACE Product Description
Data processing Analog Front
Digital Front End
block End
Line
Coupler
Data processing Analog Front
Digital Front End
block End
DISTRIBUTION
POWER LINE
Protection
Interaction
Digital
Packets
OFDM and
Interface
are
digital
with
filter
builtpowerline
modulation
power
interacts
addingsignal
error
in
with
isthe
with
26/06/2001
maximum
incoming
correction
analogue
implemented
power
andand
outgoing
other
transmission
field data
data
