FCC Moves Forward with Work on Broadband Power Line Technology
02/13/2004
The FCC yesterday took what the United Power Line Council calls the next step toward the mass-market deployment of broadband power line (BPL) systems by proposing technical rules for BPL deployment. BPL is a technology that delivers broadband connections over electric companies’ local power grids.
"If broadband courses through every outlet in America, the public policy goals of universal service would be substantially advanced, and for that reason alone it is right that the Commission empowers this technology," FCC Commissioner Michael Powell was quoted as saying in a UPLC document. The UPLC is a unit of the United Telecom Council, an information technology trade association for electric and gas utilities, water companies, energy pipelines, and other critical infrastructure companies.
The Office of Engineering and Technology outlined four main points for the proposed rules, according to the UPLC. Existing emission limits for carrier current systems will continue to apply, and that BPL must comply with the FCC Part 15 general requirement that unlicensed operations avoid causing interference to other authorized users. BPL must enable adaptive interference mitigation techniques on a dynamic and remote basis to shut down specific frequencies in response to an interference complaint. BPL providers are subject to notification requirements similar to those rules that apply under FCC Part 15 to power line carrier systems that utilities use to monitor and control the electric transmission infrastructure. The notification process will be administered by an industry-sponsored entity that has a publicly available database. This notification database would serve to identify where systems are deployed and the frequency bands in which they operate. Guidelines for measuring RF emissions are proposed to ensure consistent repeatable results.
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