EN IEC 62488-1:2025

Power line communication systems for power utility applications - Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over HV electricity grids

IEC 62488-1:2025 applies to the planning of analogue (APLC), digital (DPLC) and hybrid analogue-digital (ADPLC) power line carrier communication systems operating over HV electric power networks. The object of this document is to establish the planning of the services and performance parameters for the operational requirements to transmit and receive data efficiently and reliably. Such analogue and digital power line carrier systems are used by the different electricity supply industries and integrated into their communication infrastructure using common communication technologies such as radio links, fibre optic and satellite networks This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2012. This edition constitutes a technical revision. This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition: a) Complete revision of this edition with respect to the previous edition with the main focus on planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over HV power networks; b) A general structure of a bidirectional point-to-multipoint APLC, DPLC or ADPLC link has been introduced; c) Introduction of a new approach for global frequency planning.

Systeme zur Kommunikation über Hochspannungsleitungen für Anwendungen der elektrischen Energieversorgung - Teil 1: Planung von Systemen zur analogen und digitalen Nachrichtenübertragung über Hochspannungsleitungen

Systèmes de communication sur lignes d'énergie pour les applications des compagnies d'électricité - Partie 1: Conception des systèmes à courants porteurs de lignes d'énergie analogiques et numériques fonctionnant sur des réseaux d'électricité HT

IEC 62488-1:2025 s’applique à la conception des systèmes de communication par courant porteur sur ligne d’énergie analogiques (APLC), numériques (DPLC) et hybrides analogiques/numériques (ADPLC, Analogue-Digital Power Line Carrier) installés sur des réseaux d’alimentation électrique HT. Le présent document a pour objet de définir la conception des services et des paramètres de performance relatifs aux exigences opérationnelles en matière d’émission et de réception efficaces et fiables des données. Ces systèmes à courant porteur sur ligne d’énergie analogiques et numériques sont utilisés par les différentes compagnies d’électricité et sont intégrés à leur infrastructure de communication à l’aide des technologies de communication habituelles (les liaisons radioélectriques, la fibre optique et les réseaux satellite, par exemple). Cette deuxième édition annule et remplace la première édition parue en 2012. Cette édition constitue une révision technique. Cette édition inclut les modifications techniques majeures suivantes par rapport à l’édition précédente: a) Révision complète de la présente édition par rapport à l'édition précédente, portant principalement sur la conception des systèmes à courants porteurs de lignes d’énergie analogiques et numériques fonctionnant sur des réseaux d’électricité HT; b) Une structure générale d’une liaison bidirectionnelle point à multipoint APLC, DPLC ou ADPLC a été introduite; c) Introduction d’une nouvelle approche en matière de planification globale des fréquences.

Sistemi komunikacij po elektroenergetskih vodih za elektroenergetska podjetja - 1. del: Načrtovanje analognih in digitalnih nosilnih frekvenc na elektroenergetskih vodih, ki obratujejo na visokonapetostnih (HV) električnih omrežjih (IEC 62488-1:2025)

Ta del standarda IEC 62488 se uporablja za načrtovanje analognih (APLC), digitalnih (DPLC) in hibridnih analogno-digitalnih (ADPLC) nosilnih frekvenc na elektroenergetskih vodih, ki obratujejo na visokonapetostnih (HV) električnih omrežjih. Cilj tega dokumenta je določiti načrtovanje storitev in parametrov uspešnosti za obratovalne zahteve za učinkovito in zanesljivo oddajanje in prejemanje podatkov.
Takšne analogne in digitalne nosilne frekvence na elektroenergetskih vodih se uporabljajo v različnih panogah za oskrbo z električno energijo ter so integrirane v njihovo komunikacijsko infrastrukturo z uporabo skupnih komunikacijskih tehnologij, kot so radijske povezave, optična vlakna in satelitska omrežja.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 11-Sep-2025
• ICS: 33.200 - Telecontrol. Telemetering
• Technical Committee: CLC/TC 57 - Power systems management and associated information exchange
• Drafting Committee: IEC/TC 57 - IEC_TC_57
• Current Stage: 6060 - Document made available - Publishing
• Start Date: 12-Sep-2025
• Due Date: 16-Sep-2024
• Completion Date: 12-Sep-2025
• Ref Project: SIST EN IEC 62488-1:2025 - Power line communication systems for power utility applications - Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over HV electricity grids (IEC 62488-1:2025 (EQV)

Relations

• Replaces: EN 62488-1:2013 - Power line communication systems for power utility applications - Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over EHV/HV/MV electricity grids
• Effective Date: 09-Nov-2021

Overview

EN IEC 62488-1:2025 - “Power line communication systems for power utility applications - Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over HV electricity grids” - is the updated European adoption of IEC 62488-1 (Edition 2, 2025). It provides planning guidance for analogue (APLC), digital (DPLC) and hybrid (ADPLC) power line carrier systems used on high-voltage (HV) electricity networks. This edition replaces the 2012 version and introduces a revised planning approach, a bidirectional point-to-multipoint link structure and a new method for global frequency planning.

Key Topics

• Scope and objectives: Framework for planning services and performance parameters to ensure efficient, reliable transmission over HV power lines.
• System architecture: Definitions and topologies for APLC, DPLC and ADPLC, including bidirectional point-to-point and point-to-multipoint link structures.
• Coupling and line equipment: Guidance on coupling devices, capacitive coupling, line traps and blocking impedance characteristics for HV overhead lines.
• Frequency planning: Channel plans, spectral characteristics, maximum PLC signal power, channeling, frequency allocation and the new global frequency planning approach.
• Modulation and physical layer: Coverage of modulation schemes used in HV PLC (AM-SSB, QAM, OFDM, echo cancellation and other schemes).
• Transmission channel parameters: Characteristic impedance, overall link attenuation, frequency/impulse responses, noise and interference considerations.
• Link and network planning: APLC/DPLC link budgets, frequency plans for co‑routing links, redundancy and integration with other media (radio, fibre, satellite).
• Performance metrics: BER, BLER, throughput, latency, sync loss/recovery, and test recommendations (e.g., IETF‑RFC 2544 for Ethernet).
• Operational concerns: Cybersecurity references (IEC 62443, IEC 62351), management systems and application-specific requirements (teleprotection, SCADA, telephony).

Applications and Users

EN IEC 62488-1:2025 is intended for:

• Power utility planners and engineers designing PLC links over HV transmission lines.
• Telecom engineers integrating PLC with fibre, microwave or satellite backhaul.
• System integrators and vendors of PLC equipment (APLC/DPLC/ADPLC).
• Regulatory bodies and frequency managers responsible for interference mitigation and spectrum planning.
• SCADA/telecontrol and teleprotection specialists assessing PLC suitability and performance for critical grid applications.

Practical uses include designing link budgets, specifying coupling hardware and line traps, developing frequency allocation plans to avoid interference, and establishing performance and test criteria for operational HV PLC deployments.

Related Standards

• IEC 62488-2, IEC 62488-3 (terminals/implementation)
• IEC 60358 series, IEC 62443 series, IEC 62351 series (security and compatibility)
• IEC 60870-5-101 / 104 (SCADA interfaces)

For implementation details, equipment specs and regulatory compliance, consult the full EN IEC 62488-1:2025 standard.

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-november-2025
Nadomešča:
SIST EN 62488-1:2013
Sistemi komunikacij po elektroenergetskih vodih za elektroenergetska podjetja - 1.
del: Načrtovanje analognih in digitalnih nosilnih frekvenc na elektroenergetskih
vodih, ki obratujejo na visokonapetostnih (HV) električnih omrežjih (IEC 62488-
1:2025)
Power line communication systems for power utility applications - Part 1: Planning of
analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over HV electricity grids (IEC
62488-1:2025 (EQV)
Systeme zur Kommunikation über Hochspannungsleitungen für Anwendungen der
elektrischen Energieversorgung - Teil 1: Planung von Systemen zur analogen und
digitalen Nachrichtenübertragung über Hochspannungsleitungen (IEC 62488-1:2025)
Systèmes de communication sur lignes d'énergie pour les applications des compagnies
d'électricité - Partie 1: Conception des systèmes à courants porteurs de lignes d'énergie
analogiques et numériques fonctionnant sur des réseaux d'électricité HT (IEC 62488-
1:2025)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN IEC 62488-1:2025
ICS:
29.240.01 Omrežja za prenos in Power transmission and
distribucijo električne energije distribution networks in
na splošno general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD EN IEC 62488-1

NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM September 2025
ICS 33.200 Supersedes EN 62488-1:2013
English Version
Power line communication systems for power utility applications
- Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier
systems operating over HV electricity grids
(IEC 62488-1:2025)
Systèmes de communication sur lignes d'énergie pour les Systeme zur Kommunikation über Hochspannungsleitungen
applications des compagnies d'électricité - Partie 1: für Anwendungen der elektrischen Energieversorgung - Teil
Conception des systèmes à courants porteurs de lignes 1: Planung von Systemen zur analogen und digitalen
d'énergie analogiques et numériques fonctionnant sur des Nachrichtenübertragung über Hochspannungsleitungen
réseaux d'électricité HT (IEC 62488-1:2025)
(IEC 62488-1:2025)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2025-08-07. CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC
Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre or to any CENELEC member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation
under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the
same status as the official versions.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2025 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. EN IEC 62488-1:2025 E

European foreword
The text of document 57/2773/FDIS, future edition 2 of IEC 62488-1, prepared by TC 57 "Power
systems management and associated information exchange" was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC
parallel vote and approved by CENELEC as EN IEC 62488-1:2025.
The following dates are fixed:
• latest date by which the document has to be implemented at national (dop) 2026-09-30
level by publication of an identical national standard or by endorsement
• latest date by which the national standards conflicting with the (dow) 2028-09-30
document have to be withdrawn
This document supersedes EN 62488-1:2013 and all of its amendments and corrigenda (if any).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national committee. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CENELEC website.
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 62488-1:2025 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standard indicated:
IEC 62488-2 NOTE Approved as EN 62488-2
IEC 62488-3 NOTE Approved as EN IEC 62488-3
IEC 60358-1:2012 NOTE Approved as EN 60358-1:2012 (not modified)
IEC 60358 series NOTE Approved as EN IEC 60358 series
IEC 62443 series NOTE Approved as EN IEC 62443 series
IEC 62351 series NOTE Approved as EN IEC 62351 series
IEC 62351-8:2020 NOTE Approved as EN IEC 62351-8:2020 (not modified)
IEC 60870-5-101 NOTE Approved as EN 60870-5-101
IEC 60834-1 NOTE Approved as EN 60834-1
IEC 60870-5-104 NOTE Approved as EN 60870-5-104

IEC 62488-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2025-07
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Power line communication systems for power utility applications –
Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating
over HV electricity grids
ICS 33.200  ISBN 978-2-8327-0507-0

IEC 62488-1:2025-07(en)
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 6
INTRODUCTION . 8
1 Scope . 9
2 Normative references . 9
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 9
3.1 Terms and definitions . 9
3.2 Abbreviated terms. 15
4 Power line carrier communication systems . 16
4.1 General . 16
4.2 High voltage electricity power lines . 18
4.3 Electricity power lines as transmission medium . 19
4.3.1 Coupling system . 19
4.3.2 Coupling configuration for overhead HV lines . 24
4.3.3 Connecting cable . 26
4.4 Analogue and digital PLC systems. 27
4.4.1 APLC terminals . 27
4.4.2 DPLC terminals . 28
4.5 Modulation schemes in HV PLC . 30
4.5.1 General. 30
4.5.2 AM-SSB . 31
4.5.3 QAM . 31
4.5.4 OFDM . 32
4.5.5 Other modulation schemes. 32
4.5.6 Echo cancellation . 34
5 Frequency bands for PLC systems . 35
5.1 General . 35
5.2 Channel plans . 35
5.2.1 General. 35
5.2.2 HV narrowband PLC channel plan . 35
5.3 Spectral characteristics of PLC transmission signals . 36
5.4 Selection of the frequency bands for HV PLC systems . 36
5.4.1 General. 36
5.4.2 Maximum power of PLC signal . 37
5.4.3 Channeling . 38
5.4.4 Frequency allocation . 38
5.4.5 Paralleling . 38
6 Media for DPLC and APLC systems . 39
6.1 General . 39
6.2 Transmission parameters of electricity power line channel . 39
6.2.1 General. 39
6.2.2 Characteristic impedance of power line . 40
6.2.3 Overall link attenuation . 43
6.2.4 Channel frequency and impulse response. 52
6.2.5 Noise and interference . 53
7 DPLC and APLC link and network planning . 60
7.1 General . 60
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
7.2 APLC link budget . 62
7.3 DPLC link budget . 65
7.4 Frequency plan. 70
7.4.1 General. 70
7.4.2 Links over the same HV line between two substations . 70
7.4.3 Global frequency planning . 71
7.4.4 Other considerations . 72
7.5 Network planning . 73
7.5.1 General. 73
7.5.2 Redundancy . 73
7.5.3 Integration with other transmission technologies . 74
7.6 Cyber security . 74
7.6.1 General. 74
7.6.2 IEC 62443 . 74
7.6.3 IEC 62351 . 74
7.6.4 Cyber security aspects of PLC systems . 75
7.7 Management system . 77
8 Performance of PLC systems . 77
8.1 System performance . 77
8.2 APLC link layer performance . 77
8.3 DPLC link layer performance . 79
8.4 Bit error ratio (BER) . 80
8.5 Block error ratio (BLER) . 81
8.6 Transmission capacity . 81
8.7 Sync loss and recovery time . 81
8.8 Link latency. 82
8.9 IETF-RFC 2544 Ethernet performance parameters . 82
8.10 BER and BLER testing recommendations . 83
8.10.1 General. 83
8.10.2 Serial synchronous interface . 83
8.10.3 Ethernet interface . 83
8.11 Overall link quality for serial data transmission . 84
9 Selected requirements for applications using PLC systems . 86
9.1 General . 86
9.2 Telephony . 86
9.3 Speech quality . 87
9.3.1 General. 87
9.3.2 Measuring intelligibility (clarity) . 87
9.4 Analogue telephony . 88
9.5 Digital telephony . 88
9.6 VoIP applications . 88
9.7 Data transmission . 88
9.8 Telecontrol . 89
9.8.1 IEC 60870-5-101 SCADA-RTU communication . 89
9.8.2 IEC 60870-5-104 SCADA-RTU communication . 89
9.8.3 Teleprotection . 89
9.8.4 Teleprotection signal . 90

IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
Annex A (informative) HF modulated power signal . 91
A.1 General . 91
A.2 HF modulated bandwidth and power signal . 95
Annex B (informative) Bandwidth efficiency . 99
Annex C (informative) Power line noise measurement . 103
Bibliography . 104

Figure 1 – PLC link . 17
Figure 2 – General structure of a bidirectional point-to-point APLC, DPLC or ADPLC
link (in phase to ground configuration) . 17
Figure 3 – General structure of a bidirectional point-to-multipoint APLC, DPLC or
ADPLC link (in phase to ground configuration). 18
Figure 4 – HV typical coupling capacitor . 20
Figure 5 – Example of HV capacitive coupling system (single phase conductor to earth) . 20
Figure 6 – Line trap electrical scheme . 21
Figure 7 – HV line trap . 21
Figure 8 – Line trap impedance versus frequency . 21
Figure 9 – Blocking impedance characteristic of a narrowband line trap . 22
Figure 10 – Blocking impedance characteristic of a double band line trap . 22
Figure 11 – Blocking impedance characteristic of a broadband line trap . 22
Figure 12 – Example of coupling device components and electric scheme . 23
Figure 13 – Coupling device characteristics with a coupling capacitor of 4 000 pF . 24
Figure 14 – Phase-to-earth coupling . 25
Figure 15 – Phase-to-phase coupling . 25
Figure 16 – Generic architecture of an APLC terminal acc. to IEC 62488-2 . 28
Figure 17 – Generic architecture of a DPLC terminal acc. to IEC 62488-3 . 29
Figure 18 – Generic structure of an ADPLC terminal . 30
Figure 19 – Signal space for a 16-QAM constellation . 31
Figure 20 – Echo cancellation method for a DPLC link. 34
Figure 21 – An example of a APLC narrowband channel plan. 36
Figure 22 – Minimum frequency gap . 38
Figure 23 – GMR of conductor bundles . 41
Figure 24 – Terminating network for a three-phase line . 42
Figure 25 – Optimum coupling arrangements and modal conversion loss a . 46
c
Figure 26 – Optimum phase to earth and phase to phase coupling arrangements for
long lines with transpositions . 47
Figure 27 – Junctions of overhead lines with power cables . 50
Figure 28 – Example of HV H(f) and h(t) channel response . 53
Figure 29 – Attenuation versus frequency of a real HV power line channel . 53
Figure 30 – Background noise . 54
Figure 31 – Background noise over frequency . 56
Figure 32 – Example of the background noise spectrum variations over time . 56
Figure 33 – Example of an isolated pulse . 57
Figure 34 – Example of a transient pulse . 57
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
Figure 35 – Example of net-synchronous periodic pulses . 58
Figure 36 – Example of burst pulses . 58
Figure 37 – Typical PLC network topologies base on APLC, DPLC or ADPLC links in
HV power network . 61
Figure 38 – Example for a signal arrangement in two 4 kHz channels . 63
Figure 39 – Example for a DPLC channel arrangement. . 66
-6
Figure 40 – Typical DPLC bandwidth efficiency for a BER of 10 . 68
Figure 41 – Example of the HV line voltage ranges under considered conditions . 69
Figure 42 – Example for DPLC system with automatic data rate adaptation . 70
Figure 43 – Example of frequency planning based on cellular frequency channel
clustering. 72
Figure 44 – Limits for overall loss of the circuit relative to that at 1 020 Hz
(ITU-T M.1020) . 79
Figure 45 – Limits for group delay relative to the minimum measured group delay in the
500 Hz – 2 800 Hz band (ITU-T M.1020) . 79
Figure 46 – Some theoretical BER curves . 80
Figure 47 – DPLC "C/SNR" characteristic in comparison to the Shannon limit efficiency
for BER = 1E-4 and 1E-6 and Shannon limit . 81
Figure 48 – Ethernet standard structure of frame format . 83
Figure 49 – Example of unavailability determination (ITU-T G.826) . 85
Figure 50 – Example of the unavailable state of a bidirectional path (ITU-T G.826) . 85
Figure 51 – Quality performance estimation based on ITU-T G.821 and G.826. 85
Figure 52 – Relationship between clarity, delay, and echo with regards to speech
quality . 87
Figure A.1 – Power concepts . 91
Figure A.2 – Single tone . 93
Figure A.3 – Two tones . 94
Figure A.4 – Example of noise equivalent bands for different services . 95
Figure A.5 – Noise equivalent band for different services. 96
Figure B.1 – 8-PAM signal constellation . 99
Figure B.2 – SNR gap of DPLC efficiency to Shannon limit . 101
–4 –6
Figure B.3 – DPLC efficiency for BER = 10 and 10 and Shannon limit . 102

Table 1 – Characteristics of typical DPLC modulation schemes . 33
Table 2 – Single- and multicarrier QAM DPLC modulation scheme characteristics . 33
Table 3 – Power line carrier communication techniques and frequencies . 35
Table 4 – HF spectrum allocated for PLC systems . 36
Table 5 – Range of characteristic impedances for PLC circuits on HV overhead lines . 42
Table 6 – Additional loss a [dB] for various line configurations and optimum
add
coupling arrangements . 48
Table 7 – Typical power of corona noise power levels, referring to a 4 kHz bandwidth
for various HV system voltages . 55
Table 8 – Typical average impulse-type noise levels, measured at the HF-cable side of
the coupling across 150 Ω in a bandwidth of 4 kHz . 59
Table 9 – Signal parameters . 63
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
Table 10 – Link budget. 64
Table 11 – Signal and allowed noise levels at the receiver input . 64
Table 12 – Possible solutions for the example of Figure 39 . 67
Table 13 – Main cyber security threats and security risks related to PLC systems . 77
Table 14 – Quality mask objectives (sample) . 86

IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
Power line communication systems for power utility applications -
Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier
systems operating over HV electricity grids

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
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9) IEC draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). IEC takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in
respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, IEC had not received notice of (a) patent(s), which
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the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at https://patents.iec.ch. IEC
shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC 62488-1 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 57: Power systems management
and associated information exchange. It is an International Standard.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2012. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) Complete revision of this edition with respect to the previous edition with the main focus on
planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over HV power
networks;
b) A general structure of a bidirectional point-to-multipoint APLC, DPLC or ADPLC link has
been introduced;
c) Introduction of a new approach for global frequency planning.
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
57/2773/FDIS 57/2794/RVD
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.
A list of all parts of IEC 62488 series, under the general title Power line communication systems
for power utility applications, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn, or
• revised.
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
INTRODUCTION
The complexity and extensive size of present-day electricity generation, transmission and
distribution systems are such that it is possible to control them only by means of an associated
and often equally large and complex telecommunication system having a high order of reliability.
The simultaneous use of the power distribution network for both energy transmission and data
communication is unique and reduces the costs of installing two services over one transmission
path. This communication technology is called generically power line carrier (PLC)
communications.
Therefore, by using either analogue power line carrier communication (APLC) or digital power
line carrier communication (DPLC) or a combination of both types of system (ADPLC), seamless
efficient communication can be maintained throughout the power network.
The development of digital techniques for communications in the HV electrical power networks
is now very widespread along with other applications in electronics. This is especially relevant
for the electrical distribution network where many of the PLC devices use analogue to digital
converters together with digital signal processing techniques enabling higher flexibility and HW
efficiency.
The development of the technical report "Planning of power line carrier systems" was first
produced by the International Electrotechnical Commission through publication IEC 60663 [1]
in 1980 entitled Planning of (single sideband) power line carrier systems. In 1993, the
International Electrotechnical Commission produced IEC 60495 [2], "Single sideband power-
line carrier terminals". In the intervening years, electronic systems and the associated
communications systems for electronic devices evolved and developed considerably. The
introduction of digital communication techniques improved the quality of transmission and
reception PLC signals within electronic devices, enabling them to provide more detailed quality
analysis and control of the data being communicated throughout the electricity distribution
network, from control centre to service provider.
Both of these standards, IEC 60663 and IEC 60495, are being updated and replaced by the
following: IEC 60663 is replaced by IEC 62488-1 and IEC 60495 is replaced by IEC 62488-2 [3]
and IEC 62488-3 [4] covering respectively analogue, digital and hybrid analogue-digital power
line carrier terminals.
These documents apply to power line carrier (PLC) terminals used to transmit information over
HV power networks. Both analogue and digital modulation systems will be considered.
The IEC 62488 series consists of the following parts under the general title: Power line
communication systems for power utility applications:
Part 1: Planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over HV power
networks;
Part 2: Analogue power line carrier terminals or APLC;
Part 3: Digital power line carrier (DPLC) terminals and hybrid ADPLC terminals.

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Numbers in square brackets refer to the Bibliography.
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
1 Scope
This part of IEC 62488 applies to the planning of analogue (APLC), digital (DPLC) and hybrid
analogue-digital (ADPLC) power line carrier communication systems operating over HV electric
power networks. The object of this document is to establish the planning of the services and
performance parameters for the operational requirements to transmit and receive data
efficiently and reliably.
Such analogue and digital power line carrier systems are used by the different electricity supply
industries and integrated into their communication infrastructure using common communication
technologies such as radio links, fibre optic and satellite networks.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
NOTE Other terms used in this document and not defined in this clause have the meaning attributed to them
according to the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV).
3.1.1
amplitude modulation
AM
modulation technique in which information is transmitted through amplitude variation of a carrier
wave
3.1.2
analogue interface
interface dedicated to the processing of voiceband analogue signals
3.1.3
attenuation
power reduction along a transmission line for the mode or modes under consideration,
quantitatively expressed either by the ratio or the logarithm of the ratio of an input power at the
initial point to the corresponding output power at the final point
3.1.4
availability
time or fraction of time a system is operational over a given time interval
3.1.5
background noise
noise present over all real high voltage power-line channels, due mainly to corona and partial
discharges and electromagnetic interference with other PLC equipments operated over the
same electricity grid and other interferences due to radio stations working in the same radio
frequency spectrum
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
3.1.6
bit error ratio
BER
ratio of the number of bit errors received divided by the total number of bits sent
3.1.7
carrier-frequency range
bandwidth available for a specific power line carrier communication technology
Note 1 to entry: In Europe, the typical carrier-frequency range for narrowband HV PLC is 3 kHz to 148,5 kHz or for
broadband PLC is 1,6 MHz to 30 MHz. For the USA IEEE PLC standard the frequency range is 45 kHz to 450 kHz.
Parts of the range may be barred by national regulations.
3.1.8
channelling
elementary subdivision of the carrier frequency range or part thereof allocated to a single PLC
transmit and receive channel (bidirectional)
3.1.9
coloured gaussian noise
non-white gaussian noise or any wideband noise whose spectrum has a non-flat shape
Note 1 to entry: Also called non-white noise; examples are pink noise, brown noise and autoregressive noise.
3.1.10
corona noise
noise caused by partial discharges on insulators and in air surrounding electrical conductors of
overhead power lines
Note 1 to entry: Discharges occur on the three different phase conductors at different times. The corona noise level
is considerably dependent on weather conditions. The effect of the corona noise is particularly strong under foul
weather conditions.
3.1.11
coupling capacitor
capacitor used for the coupling of the carrier signal to the power line in a PLC system
3.1.12
coupling device
unit which interfaces the HV side of power line with the PLC equipment (also known as line
matching unit (LMU))
Note 1 to entry: It usually consists of a box mounted near the coupling capacitor. Its characteristics are normalized
by IEC 60481.
3.1.13
coupling system
group of devices used to couple the PLC high frequency signals to the power line
Note 1 to entry: Usually a coupling system consists of an line trap, a coupling capacitor and a coupling device.
3.1.14
defect
large discrepancy between the data actually received and the data desired
Note 1 to entry: Defects cause interruptions of the applications using the transmitted data and are used as input
for performance monitoring, the control of consequent actions, and the determination of fault causes. Examples are:
loss of signal, sync loss, alarm indication signal, slip, loss of frame alignment.
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
3.1.15
distribution line carrier
DLC
system for communication over the distribution power lines
Note 1 to entry: The DLC systems can be narrowband high speed communication systems on the medium voltage
distribution network, or broadband/narrowband communication systems on the low voltage distribution network.
3.1.16
environment
external conditions in which a system operates
Note 1 to entry: Different classes of constraints and limits for EMC/EMI are defined for environment classes such
as industrial, commercial, domestic.
3.1.17
error free second
EFS
one second period without bit error
3.1.18
errored second
ES
one-second period in which one or more bits are in error
3.1.19
errored second ratio
ESR
ratio of errored seconds ES to total seconds in available time during a fixed measurement
interval
3.1.20
Ethernet interface
interface dedicated to the processing of data signals in accordance with IEEE 802.3
3.1.21
frame check sequence
FCS
extra bits or characters added to a data frame for error detection
3.1.22
frame loss rate
the number of frames that never reached the destination divided by the number of frames
transmitted successfully by the source
Note 1 to entry: It is usually expressed as a percentage.
3.1.23
frequency division multiplexing
FDM
multiplexing technique in which several transmitters are allotted separate frequency bands for
transmission over a common channel
3.1.24
frequency shift keying modulation
FSK
a frequency modulation technique in which coded information is transmitted through discrete
frequency changes of a carrier wave
IEC 62488-1:2025 © IEC 2025
3.1.25
group delay
propagation time of a narrowband signal from input to output of a linear system
Note 1 to entry: Mathematically, group delay equals the negative derivative of the phase shift in radians between
input and output of a linear system versus angular frequency.
3.1.26
impulsive noise
noise consisting of short-duration pulses of random amplitude and random duration
3.1.27
jitter
short-term variations of the significant instants of a timing signal from their ideal positions in
time (where short-term implies that these variations are of frequency greater than or equal to
10 Hz)
3.1.28
latency
time from the source sending a packet into a packet switched network to the destination
receiving it
Note 1 to entry: One-way latency is distinguished from round trip latency, which is the one-way latency from source
to destination plus the one-way latency from the destination back to the source. Round-trip latency is more often
quoted, because it can be measured from a single point. Note that round trip latency excludes the amount of time
that a destination system spends processing the packet.
3.1.29
line trap
a device presenting high impedance at the carrier frequency band while introducing negligible
impedance at the power frequency
Note 1 to entry: The high impedance limits the power of the carrier signal within the power system. Line traps are
connected in series with transmission lines. In most cases the line trap is mounted directly on top of the coupling
capacitor. Its characteristics are normalized by IEC 60353[1].
3.1.30
modulation scheme
technique used to convert a baseband signal into a high frequency carrier signal suitable for
transmission over power line
Note 1 to entry: Examples are: AM-SSB, Spread Spectrum, QAM, OFDM.
3.1.
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