SIST 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

IEC 62488-1:2012 applies to the planning of analogue and digital power line carrier systems operating over EHV/HV/MV electricity grids. The object of this standard is to establish the planning of the services and performance parameters for the operational requirements to transmit and receive data efficiently over power networks. The transmission media used by the different electricity supply industries will include analogue and digital systems together with more common communication services including national telecommunications authorities, radio links and fibre optic networks and satellite networks. With the developments in communication infrastructures over the last two decades and the ability of devices connected in the electricity communications network to internally and externally communicate, there is a variety of architectures to use in the electricity distribution network to provide efficient seamless communications.

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 EHT/HT/MT

La CEI 62488-1:2012 s'applique à la conception des systèmes à courants porteurs de lignes d'énergie analogiques et numériques fonctionnant sur des réseaux d'électricité EHT/HT/MT. Elle 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 efficace des données sur les réseaux électriques. Le support de transmission utilisé par les différentes compagnies d'électricité comprend des systèmes analogiques et numériques accompagnés de services de communication plus courants, tels que les autorités de télécommunications nationales, les liaisons radio, les réseaux à fibres optiques et les réseaux par satellite. Grâce aux développements des infrastructures de communication au cours des deux dernières décennies et à la capacité des dispositifs connectés au réseau de communication électriques à communiquer en interne et en externe, il existe une grande variété d'architectures utilisables dans le réseau de distribution d'électricité pour fournir des communications sans raccord efficaces.

Sistemi komunikacij po elektroenergetskih vodih za elektroenergetska podjetja - 1. del: Načrtovanje analognih in digitalnih nosilnih frekvenc na elektroenergetskih vodih, ki obratujejo na najvišjenapetostnih (EHV), visokonapetostnih (HV) in srednjenapetostnih (MV) električnih omrežjih (IEC 62488-1:2012)

Cilj teh standardov je določiti načrtovanje uporabe in parametrov uspešnosti za obratovalne zahteve za učinkovito oddajanje in prejemanje podatkov prek električnih omrežij.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 19-Mar-2013
• ICS: 29.240.01 - Power transmission and distribution networks in general
• Technical Committee: PSE - Power systems management
• Current Stage: 6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 06-Mar-2013
• Due Date: 11-May-2013
• Completion Date: 20-Mar-2013
• Ref Project: 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

Relations

• Replaced By: 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)
• Effective Date: 01-Nov-2025
• Revised: SIST EN 60495:1997 - Single sideband power-line carrier terminals
• Effective Date: 06-May-2014

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-april-2013
1DGRPHãþD
SIST EN 60495:1997
6LVWHPLNRPXQLNDFLMSRHOHNWURHQHUJHWVNLKYRGLK]DHOHNWURHQHUJHWVNDSRGMHWMD
GHO1DþUWRYDQMHDQDORJQLKLQGLJLWDOQLKQRVLOQLKIUHNYHQFQDHOHNWURHQHUJHWVNLK
YRGLKNLREUDWXMHMRQDQDMYLãMHQDSHWRVWQLK(+9YLVRNRQDSHWRVWQLK+9LQ
VUHGQMHQDSHWRVWQLK09HOHNWULþQLKRPUHåMLK,(&
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
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 EHT/HT/MT
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 62488-1:2013
ICS:
29.240.01 2PUHåMD]DSUHQRVLQ Power transmission and
GLVWULEXFLMRHOHNWULþQHHQHUJLMH distribution networks in
QDVSORãQR general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD
EN 62488-1
NORME EUROPÉENNE
March 2013
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 33.200 Supersedes EN 60495:1994

English version
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
(IEC 62488-1:2012)
Systèmes de communication sur lignes Systeme zur Kommunikation über
d'énergie pour les applications des Hochspannungsleitungen für
compagnies d'électricité - Anwendungen der elektrischen
Partie 1: Conception des systèmes à Energieversorgung -
courants porteurs de lignes d'énergie Teil 1: Planung von Systemen zur
analogiques et numériques fonctionnant analogen und digitalen
sur des réseaux d'électricité EHT/HT/MT Nachrichtenübertragung über
(CEI 62488-1:2012) Hochspannungsleitungen
(IEC 62488-1:2012)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2013-01-03. 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, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung

Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B - 1000 Brussels

© 2013 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.
Ref. No. EN 62488-1:2013 E
Foreword
The text of document 57/1279/FDIS, future edition 1 of IEC 62488-1, prepared by IEC/TC 57 "Power
systems management and associated information exchange" was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC
parallel vote and approved by CENELEC as EN 62488-1:2013.
The following dates are fixed:
(dop) 2013-10-03
• latest date by which the document has
to be implemented at national level by
publication of an identical national
standard or by endorsement
• latest date by which the national (dow) 2016-01-03
standards conflicting with the

document have to be withdrawn
This document supersedes EN 60495:1994.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CENELEC [and/or CEN] shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights.
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 62488-1:2012 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 standards indicated:
CISPR 22:2008 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 55022:2010 (modified).
IEC 60038:2009 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60038:2011 (modified).
IEC 60044-1:1996 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60044-1:1999 (modified).
IEC 60255-5:2000 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60255-5:2001 (not modified).
IEC 60255-22-1:2007 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60255-22-1:2008 (not modified).
IEC 60255-151:2009 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60255-151:2009 (not modified).
IEC 60358-1:2012 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60358-1:2012 (not modified).
IEC 60721-3-1:1987 + NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60721-3-1:1993 (not modified).
A1:1991
IEC 60721-3-2:1997 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60721-3-2:1997 (not modified).
IEC 60721-3-3:1994 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60721-3-3:1995 (not modified).
IEC 60721-3-4:1995 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60721-3-4:1995 (not modified).
IEC 60834-1:1999 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60834-1:1999 (not modified).
IEC 60870-5-101 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60870-5-101.
IEC 60870-5-104 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 60870-5-104.
IEC 61000-4-1 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 61000-4-1.
IEC 61000-4-2 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 61000-4-2.
IEC 61000-4-3 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 61000-4-3.
IEC 61000-4-4 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 61000-4-4.
IEC 61000-4-5 NOTE  Harmonised as EN 61000-4-5.

IEC 62488-1 ®
Edition 1.0 2012-11
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
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

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

EHT/HT/MT
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
CODE PRIX XF
ICS 33.200 ISBN 978-2-83220-517-4

– 2 – 62488-1 © IEC:2012
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 7
INTRODUCTION . 9
1 Scope . 11
2 Terms, definitions and abbreviations . 11
2.1 Terms and definitions . 11
2.2 Abbreviations . 19
3 Power line communication systems . 21
3.1 Introduction to PLC . 21
3.2 PLC usage . 21
3.3 PLC telecommunication system . 22
3.4 Analogue and digital PLC systems (APLC & DPLC) . 23
3.4.1 APLC systems . 23
3.4.2 DPLC systems . 24
3.5 PLC modulation schemes . 27
3.5.1 General . 27
3.5.2 AM-SSB (Refer to Table 1) . 27
3.5.3 QAM (Refer to Table 1) . 27
3.5.4 OFDM (Refer to Table 1) . 28
3.5.5 Other modulation schemes . 28
3.5.6 Echo cancellation . 30
4 Frequency bands for PLC systems . 31
4.1 Introduction to the characteristics of PLC systems for EHV, HV and MV
networks. 31
4.2 Frequency bands for power line systems . 33
4.3 Channel plans . 35
4.3.1 General . 35
4.3.2 EHV/HV/MV narrowband PLC channel plan . 35
4.3.3 MV/LV narrowband DLC channel plan. 35
4.4 High frequency spectral characteristics . 36
4.5 Regulation and emission limits for PLC . 36
4.5.1 Extra high voltage, high voltage for narrowband systems . 36
4.5.2 Medium voltage and low voltage narrowband systems . 37
4.5.3 Medium voltage and low voltage broadband systems . 37
4.6 Selection of the frequency bands for HV PLC systems . 37
4.6.1 General . 37
4.6.2 Maximum power of PLC signal . 37
4.6.3 Channelling . 38
4.6.4 Frequency allocation . 38
4.6.5 Paralleling . 39
5 Media for DPLC and APLC systems . 39
5.1 General . 39
5.2 The electricity grid . 39
5.3 Extra and high voltage electricity power lines . 40
5.4 Medium voltage electricity power lines. 40
5.5 Electricity power lines as transmission media . 41
5.5.1 Coupling system . 41
5.5.2 Coupling configuration for overhead cables EHV/HV/MV . 48

62488-1 © IEC:2012 – 3 –
5.5.3 Connecting cable . 50
5.6 Transmission parameters of electricity power line channel . 51
5.6.1 General . 51
5.6.2 Characteristic impedance of power line . 51
5.6.3 Overall link attenuation . 54
5.6.4 Channel frequency and impulsive response . 62
5.6.5 Noise and interference . 64
6 Planning DPLC and APLC links and networks. 71
6.1 General . 71
6.2 APLC link budget . 72
6.3 DPLC link budget . 76
6.4 Frequency plan . 81
6.4.1 General . 81
6.4.2 Links over the same HV line between two substations . 81
6.4.3 Global frequency planning . 82
6.4.4 Other considerations . 82
6.5 Network planning . 83
6.5.1 General . 83
6.5.2 Redundancy . 83
6.5.3 Integration with other transmission technologies . 83
6.6 Introduction to Internet numbering . 84
6.6.1 Internet protocol numbering . 84
6.6.2 IP addresses . 84
6.6.3 Private IP addresses . 86
6.6.4 Subnetting . 86
6.7 Security . 89
6.8 Management system . 89
7 Performance of PLC systems . 89
7.1 System performance . 89
7.2 APLC link layer performance . 90
7.3 DPLC link layer performance . 92
7.4 Bit error ratio (BER). 93
7.5 Transmission capacity . 93
7.6 Slip. 94
7.7 Phase jitter . 94
7.8 Sync loss and recovery time . 95
7.9 Link latency . 95
7.10 IETF-RFC2544 Ethernet performance parameters . 95
7.11 Bit error testing setup . 96
7.12 Serial synchronous interface . 96
7.13 Ethernet interface . 96
7.14 Overall quality link performance . 97
8 Applications carried over PLC systems . 99
8.1 General . 99
8.2 Telephony . 99
8.3 Speech quality . 100
8.3.1 General . 100
8.3.2 Measuring intelligibility (clarity) . 101
8.4 Analogue telephony . 101

– 4 – 62488-1 © IEC:2012
8.5 Digital telephony . 101
8.6 VoIP applications . 102
8.7 Data transmission. 102
8.8 Internetworking. 102
8.9 Telecontrol . 102
8.9.1 IEC 60870-5-101 SCADA-RTU communication . 102
8.9.2 IEC 60870-5-104 SCADA-RTU communication . 102
8.9.3 Teleprotection . 102
8.9.4 Teleprotection signal . 103
Annex A (informative) Environmental conditions . 104
Annex B (informative) Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) . 105
Annex C (informative) HF modulated power signal . 107
Annex D (informative) Bandwidth efficiency . 115
Annex E (informative) Noise measurements . 119
Bibliography . 121

Figure 1 – Smart grid vision . 21
Figure 2 – Smart grid players . 22
Figure 3 – Complex PLC telecommunication system . 22
Figure 4 – PLC telecommunication link . 23
Figure 5 – Typical structure of an APLC terminal equipment . 24
Figure 6 – Typical structure of a DPLC terminal equipment . 25
Figure 7 – APLC/DPLC terminal equipment structure . 26
Figure 8 – APLC/DPLC link carrying telecontrol, teleprotection and telephony services . 26
Figure 9 – Signal space for a 16-QAM constellation . 27
Figure 10 – Echo cancellation method for a DPLC link . 31
Figure 11 – APLC narrowband channel plan . 35
Figure 12 – DLC narrowband channel plans Europe vs. North America . 36
Figure 13 – Minimum frequency gap . 38
Figure 14 – PLC communication system . 39
Figure 15 – Capacitive coupling system . 41
Figure 16 – PLC link exploiting inductive coupling system . 42
Figure 17 – Principle of inductive coupling system . 42
Figure 18 – EHV/HV typical coupling capacitor (CVT) . 43
Figure 19 – EHV/HV typical capacitive coupling system (single phase to earth) . 43
Figure 20 – MV capacitive coupling system . 44
Figure 21 – MV coupling inductor . 44
Figure 22 – Line trap electrical scheme . 45
Figure 23 – HV line trap . 45
Figure 24 – Line trap impedance versus frequency . 45
Figure 25 – Blocking impedance characteristic of a narrowband line trap . 46
Figure 26 – Blocking impedance characteristic of a double band line trap . 46
Figure 27 – Blocking impedance characteristic of a broadband line trap. 46
Figure 28 – LMU components and electric scheme . 47

62488-1 © IEC:2012 – 5 –
Figure 29 – LMU characteristics with a coupling capacitor of 4 000 pF . 47
Figure 30 – Phase-to-earth coupling . 48
Figure 31 – Phase-to-phase coupling . 49
Figure 32 – GMR of conductor bundles . 53
Figure 33 – Terminating network for a three-phase line . 53
Figure 34 – Optimum coupling arrangements and modal conversion loss a . 57
c
Figure 35 – Optimum phase to earth and phase to phase coupling arrangements . 58
Figure 36 – Junctions of overhead lines with power cables . 60
Figure 37 – EHV H(f) and h(t) typical channel response . 63
Figure 38 – MV H(f) and h(t) typical channel response . 63
Figure 39 – Attenuation versus frequency of a real HV power line channel. 64
Figure 40 – Background noise . 65
Figure 41 – Background noise over frequency . 66
Figure 42 – Variations of the background noise spectrum over time . 67
Figure 43 – Isolated pulse . 67
Figure 44 – Transient pulse . 68
Figure 45 – Periodic pulses. 68
Figure 46 – Burst pulses . 69
Figure 47 – APLC equipment architecture . 72
Figure 48 – Example for a signal arrangement in two baseband channels . 73
Figure 49 – DPLC equipment architecture . 76
Figure 50 – Example for a DPLC channel arrangement . 78
-6
Figure 51 – Typical DPLC bandwidth efficiency for a BER of 10 . 79
Figure 52 – HV line voltage ranges . 80
Figure 53 – Example for DPLC system with automatic data rate adaptation . 81
Figure 54 – Example of subnetting . 87
Figure 55 – ISO/OSI reference model . 90
Figure 56 – Limits for overall loss of the circuit relative to that at 1 020 Hz (ITU-T
M.1020) . 92
Figure 57 – Limits for group delay relative to the minimum measured group delay in
the 500 Hz – 2 800 Hz band (ITU-T M.1020) . 92
Figure 58 – Some theoretical BER curves . 93
Figure 59 – DPLC “C/SNR” characteristic in comparison to the Shannon limit
efficiency for BER = 1E-4 and 1E-6 and Shannon limit . 94
Figure 60 – Ethernet standard structure of frame format . 97
Figure 61 – Example of unavailability determination (ITU-T G.826) . 98
Figure 62 – Example of the unavailable state of a bidirectional path (ITU-T G.826) . 98
Figure 63 – Quality performance estimation based on ITU-T G.821 and G.826 . 99
Figure 64 – Relationship between clarity, delay, and echo with regards to speech
quality . 100
Figure C.1 – Power concepts . 107
Figure C.2 – Single tone . 109
Figure C.3 – Two tones . 110
Figure C.4 – Example of noise equivalent bands for different services . 111

– 6 – 62488-1 © IEC:2012
Figure C.5 – Noise equivalent band for different services . 112
Figure D.1 – 8-PAM signal constellation. 115
Figure D.2 – SNR gap of DPLC efficiency to Shannon limit . 117
– –
4 6
Figure D.3 – DPLC efficiency for BER = 10 and 10 and Shannon limit . 118

Table 1 – Characteristics of DPLC modulation schemes . 29
Table 2 – QAM and OFDM DPLC modulation scheme characteristics . 29
Table 3 – Early power communications techniques and frequencies . 33
Table 4 – Parameters of power communications systems . 34
Table 5 – Frequency bands in power line communication systems . 34
Table 6 – HF spectrum allocated for PLC systems . 35
Table 7 – HF spectrum allocation for narrowband PLC . 36
Table 8 – Range of characteristic impedances for PLC circuits on EHV/HV overhead
lines . 54
Table 9 – Additional loss a [dB] for various line configurations and optimum
add
coupling arrangements. 59
Table 10 – Typical power of corona noise power levels, referring to a 4 kHz bandwidth
for various EHV/HV system voltages . 66
Table 11 – Typical average impulse-type noise levels, measured at the HF-cable side
of the coupling across 150 Ω in a bandwidth of 4 kHz . 70
Table 12 – Signal parameters . 74
Table 13 – Link budget . 74
Table 14 – Signal and allowed noise levels at the receiver input . 75
Table 15 – Typical corona noise levels for AC overhead lines . 75
Table 16 – Possible solutions for the example of Figure 50 . 78
Table 17 – IP address definitions . 85
Table 18 – Quality mask objectives (sample) . 99
Table B.1 – Permitted conducted emissions on the mains port of class A equipment . 105
Table B.2 – Permitted conducted emissions on the mains port of class B equipment . 106

62488-1 © IEC:2012 – 7 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
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

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 in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This International Standard has been prepared by IEC technical committee 57: Power
systems management and associated information exchange.
This first edition of IEC 62488-1 cancels and replaces the relevant parts of IEC 60663 and
IEC 60495, which will be withdrawn at a later date.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
57/1279/FDIS 57/1298/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.

– 8 – 62488-1 © IEC:2012
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
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 publication will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct
understanding of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a
colour printer.
62488-1 © IEC:2012 – 9 –
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 control of electrical networks and transmission and reception of data are through a
combination of analogue and digital communication systems controlling devices and systems
distributed throughout the electrical network.
The emergence of digital communication systems for controlling the devices of the electrical
distribution network enables faster data transmission. The ability to represent the various
electrical parameters as an analogue signal and or digital signal ensures the quality and
quantitative aspects of seamless communication to be maintained throughout the electrical
power network.
Therefore, by using either analogue power line communication (APLC) or digital power line
communication (DPLC) or a combination of both types of system, seamless efficient
communication may be maintained throughout the power network.
The development of digital techniques for communications in the electrical distribution
networks is now very widespread along with other applications in electronics. This is
especially relevant for the electrical distribution network where many of the devices have built
into them analogue to digital converters, together with digital signal processing enabling them
to perform many functions and offer fast seamless communication. The conversion of the
analogue signal into a binary signal requires the binary digits to be formed into a code for the
transmission of the information. These codes take different forms to represent the information
to be transmitted. However, the main advantage for this is that digital signals compared with
analogue signals provide for virtually error free transmission and the minimum errors that do
arise may be detected and corrected by using suitable data encoding techniques. Further,
digital transmission circuits generally are compatible with the digital devices in the
communications circuit. The most commonly used multiplex systems are frequency division
multiplex (FDM) and time division multiplex (TDM).
The development of the technical report “Planning of power line carrier systems” was first
produced by the International Electrotechnical Commission through publication IEC 60663 in
1980 entitled Planning of (single sideband) power line carrier systems. In 1993, the
International Electrotechnical Commission produced IEC 60495 “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 transmission and reception techniques improved the quality of
transmission and reception 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,
IEC 62488-3, IEC 62488-4, covering respectively analogue, digital power line carrier and
broadband power line terminals.
The first part of this series is IEC 62488-1. Following this standard, parts IEC 62488-2,
IEC 62488-3, IEC 62488-4 will follow. During the development of the above mentioned
standards, the existing standards IEC 60663 and IEC 60495 will be maintained in use. They
will be subsequently phased out at a date to be agreed by the International Electrotechnical
Commission in conjunction with IEC technical committee 57.

– 10 – 62488-1 © IEC:2012
These international standards apply to power line carrier (PLC) terminals used to transmit
information over power networks including extra high, high and medium voltage (EHV/HV/MV)
power lines. Both analogue and digital modulation systems will be included.
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
EHV/HV/MV electricity grids;
Part 2: Analogue power line terminals or APLC;
Part 3: Digital power line carrier terminals or DPLC;
Part 4: Broadband power line systems or BPL.

62488-1 © IEC:2012 – 11 –
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

1 Scope
This part of IEC 62488 applies to the planning of analogue and digital power line carrier
systems operating over EHV/HV/MV electricity grids. The object of this standard is to
establish the planning of the services and performance parameters for the operational
requirements to transmit and receive data efficiently over Power Networks.
The transmission media used by the different electricity supply industries will include
analogue and digital systems together with more common communication services including
national telecommunications authorities, radio links and fibre optic networks and satellite
networks. With the developments in communication infrastructures over the last two decades
and the ability of devices connected in the electricity communications network to internally
and externally communicate, there is a variety of architectures to use in the electricity
distribution network to provide efficient seamless communications.
These series of standards for the planning of power line carrier systems will also be an
integral part of the development of the overall architecture, standard IEC 61850 developed
within IEC TC57 which provides the fundamental architecture for the formation of the smart
grid.
2 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
2.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
NOTE Other terms used in this standard and not defined in this clause have the meaning attributed to them
according to the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV).
2.1.1
amplitude modulation
AM
modulation technique in which information is transmitted through amplitude variation of a
carrier wave
2.1.2
analogue interface
interface dedicated to the processing of voiceband analogue signals
2.1.3
anomaly
small discrepancy between the actually received and the desired data
Note 1 to entry: The occurrence of a single anomaly does not cause interruptions of the applications using the
transmitted data.
– 12 – 62488-1 © IEC:2012
2.1.4
attenuation
power reduction along a transmission line for the mode or modes under consider
...