IEEE International Symposium on Power Line Communications and its Applications
11-13 May 2020 // Virtual Conference

Program

Initial program for the virtual event

Virtual IEEE ISPLC 2020 includes:

  • Live sessions consisting of a keynote speech, industry speeches and an industry & standardization panel. These will be interactive sessions where registrants will be able to participate just by using a web browser. Sessions will be recorded for all registrants to view afterwards. A chat/forum for each industrial speech to allow offline questions/comments will be also available.
  • Technical sessions with paper presentations consisting of slides with voice narration plus a chat for off line questions & answers. These will be available from May 11 to May 15.

Additional details are given below. All times in CET (Central European Time).

Live events program advance

All times are in CEST.

Keynote

We are pleased to announce that the program of the IEEE ISPLC 2020 will include a technical keynote speech that will be given by the distinguished speaker:

Prof. Ron Dabora, Ben-Gurion University, Israel

Title: Information theoretic aspects of communications over PLC channels

Short bio :
Ron Dabora received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Tel-Aviv University, Israel, in 1994 and 2000, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Cornell University, USA, in 2007, all in electrical engineering.
From 1994 to 2000, he was with the Engineering Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, and from 2000 to 2003, he was with the Algorithms Group, Millimetrix Broadband Networks, Israel, working on broadband modems for wireless backhaul links. From 2007 to 2009, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, USA.

Since 2009, he has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His research interests include network information theory, wireless communications, and power line communications. He served as a TPC member of multiple international conferences, including, among others, WCNC, PIMRC, Globecom, and ICC. From 2012 to 2014, he served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Signal Processing Letters, and from 2014 to 2019 he served as a Senior Area Editor for the IEEE Signal Processing Letters.

Industry speeches

Monday, 11 May 2020, 10:00-10:40: Life Network Revolution -Starting from Outlets-
Michimasa (Mitch) Aramaki (Panasonic)

Mitch Aramaki is General Manager of  IoT PLC Project, Technology Division at Panasonic Corporation and Senior Advisor as Past President , HD-PLC Alliance.

Mr. Michimasa (Mitch) Aramaki joined to Panasonic in 1994. He devoted himself to the development of information and communication products at R&D division.

After assignment to R&D Center of Panasonic North America in 2002, he has contributed to the development of IEEE Standards, especially for IEEE 802.11, 802.15 and IEEE 1901. He served as Director of Panasonic R&D Center of North America in 2004. He had served as President and Chairman of HD-PLC Alliance from 2009 to 2018. Since 2019, he has been General Manager of the IoT PLC Project, at Technology division of Panasonic Corporation. He keeps contributing to the technology standardization mainly in IEEE, IEC, and ITU-T. He now leads the new market creation of IoT PLC for both industry and home use, using the 4th Generation HD-PLC (IoT PLC) complying to IEEE 1901a standard published 2019.
Monday, 11 May 2020, 11:00-11:40: The G3-PLC Alliance Hybrid PLC/RF Solution
Cédric Lavenu (G3-PLC)

Cédric Lavenu is WS1 Chairperson at the G3-PLC Alliance. Expert Research Engineer at EDF-R&D.

 

After graduation at ESIEE (Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs en Electrotechnique et Electronique) engineering school, France, Cédric joined EDF’s research and development division as Research Engineer in 2008 to contribute to EDF group’s activities in the smart grid domain such as Enedis’s smart metering Linky project. Cédric has developed an expertise in the field of powerline communication and IoT standards and has also been actively participating in various standard development organizations. He is currently active in CENELEC SC205A, IEC SC77A and in the G3-PLC Alliance, where he chairs the technical working group.
Tuesday, 12 May 2020, 10:00-10:40: Communications for Utilities, Network Operators and More
Eugen Mayer (Power Plus Communications)

Eugen Mayer is Chief Operations Officer of PPC, the leading provider of communications technology for Smart Metering and Smart Grids. Mayer is responsible for the strategic expansion of PPC’s portfolio from its broadband powerline speciality, towards the full range of communication solutions for Smart Metering and Smart Grid applications. He also played a leading role in PPC’s expansion into European, Middle Eastern and African markets. Mayer jointly founded PPC as a subsidiary of MVV Energie AG with Ingo Schönberg in 2001.

As VP of Project Management and Operations, he was responsible for the daily operations of the company until 2005 when he took on the role of COO. He holds several patents in Broadband Powerline Technology and Smart Grid solutions. In 2019 Mayer accepted an award for Interdisciplinary Research and Application from the IEEE, in recognition of PPC’s leadership in the field of broadband powerline communications. Mayer (Dipl. Ing. (FH)) graduated in Electrical Power Supply and Automation Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Konstanz (Germany) as well as in European Engineering Studies from Coventry University (UK).
Tuesday, 12 May 2020, 11:00-11:40: PRIME hybrid PLC-RF solution
Miguel Ángel Sánchez (PRIME Alliance)

Former Director of Smart Grids in IBERDROLA (reporting to Global Networks CEO).

Graduated in Electrical Engineering (ICAI Universidad de Comillas) in 1974. M.I.T. (U.S.A.) Nuclear safety degree in 1977. Several positions in Generation, Transmission and Distribution business of Iberdrola.

In 1991, he was entrusted with Iberdrola’s telecommunications, involving himself in all its business aspects. Since 2,003 he also became responsible for real time Control Systems in Networks. Former member of the UTC (US Utilities telecommunications Council) Board of Directors and President of its European division. Member of the Board Committee of the European Technology Innovation platform “SMART NETWORKS FOR ENERGY TRANSITION”(ETIP SNET). Co-chair of its WG4 “Digitalization”. Member of the Advisory Committee of the M.I.T. Future of the Electric Grid Study and the M.I.T. Utility of the Future project. General Secretary of PRIME Alliance. He is currently Research affiliate and professor in the University Comillas, ICAI School of Engineering IIT and visiting professor in the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Director of the Master Degree “SMART GRIDS” University Comillas.
Alfredo Sanz (PRIME Alliance)

Alfredo Sanz is Technical Fellow on Smart Energy Systems & Software of Microchip.

Alfredo is also a founding member of the BoD of the PRIME Alliance on behalf of Microchip. He is member of the IEEE communication society and of UNE and CENELEC standardization committees in the PLC area. Alfredo is professor at the University of Zaragoza and, for more than thirty years, he has published dozens of articles focused on PLC and collaborated in the TPC of ISPLC.

Wednesday, 13 May 2020, 10:00-10:40: G.hn Technology for Industrial and Smart Grid Applications. ITU-T Roadmap and HomeGrid Forum Certification Update
Marcos Martínez (HomeGrid Forum)

Marcos Martínez is the Chair of Contributions Working Group at the HomeGrid Forum. He is Standards and External Cooperation Manager at MaxLinear Semiconductors.

 

He has been involved in the microelectronics industry for more than 15 years, working for companies like Alcatel Microelectronics, ST Microelectronics, Design of Systems on Silicon (DS2) and Marvell Semiconductors. In these companies, he specialized in the design of advanced broadband systems, including xPON, xDSL and home networking systems. In addition to his role in HomeGrid Forum, he is also associate rapporteur of ITU-T Q18/15 (WP1/15) and participates in different R&D projects in the field of broadband communications.

Industry & standardization panel

 

Andrea Tonello (chair), professor of embedded communication systems at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria)

Andrea Tonello is professor of embedded communication systems at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. He has been associate professor at the University of Udine, Italy, technical manager at Bell Labs-Lucent Technologies, USA, and managing director of Bell Labs Italy where he was responsible for research activities on cellular technology.

He received the PhD from the University of Padova, Italy (2002) and several awards including the Lucent Bell Labs Recognition of Excellence Award (1999), the RAENG (UK) Distinguished Visiting Fellowship (2010), the IEEE VTS Distinguished Lecturer Award (2011-15), the IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer Award (2018-19), the IEEE Comsoc TC-PLC Interdisciplinary and Research Award (2019), the IEEE Comsoc TC-PLC Outstanding Service Award (2019), and the Chair of Excellence from UC3M (2019-20). He also received 9 best paper awards. He was the chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on PLC. He is currently serving as the chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Smart Grid Communications, and as director of Industry Outreach in the IEEE ComSoc BoG.
Cédric Lavenu, WS1 Chairperson at the G3-PLC Alliance. Expert Research Engineer at EDF-R&D.
See short bio above.
Marcos Martínez (HomeGrid Forum), Chair of Contributions Working Group at the HomeGrid Forum. Standards and External Cooperation Manager at MaxLinear Semiconductors.
See short bio above.
Markus Rindchen – Head of Technology Management at Power Plus Communications

Markus Rindchen has been Head of Technology Management at Power Plus Communications (PPC) since 2008. PPC is the leading European provider of Broadband Powerline Communications (BPL) technology for Smart Metering and Smart Grids. As head of Technology Management, Markus is responsible for committee work and the inclusion of  innovative BPL and Communication technologies. Markus graduated in electrical engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim and holds an MBA in Engineering Management.

Markus Rindchen is an active member in several national and international standardisation committees including the DKE, CENELEC, ITU and IEEE, and has made significant contributions to the development of powerline standards. Currently, he is the active vice-chair of the IEEE PLC-SC, convenour of DKE UK 716.1 and a speaker of the board of BITKOM AK Smart Grids.
Alfredo Sanz (PRIME Alliance), Technical Fellow on Smart Energy Systems & Software of Microchip.

See short bio above.

Jean-Philippe Faure (HD-PLC Alliance), CEO of Progilon.

Jean-Philippe Faure is a world-class expert in power-line communications (PLC). He was a pioneer of broadband PLC activities in IEEE and IEC-CISPR. As founding chair of the working groups, he led the development of IEEE 1901-2010, first global broadband powerline communication MAC/PHY standard and the development of an EMC draft standard that was approved as harmonized standard CENELEC EN 50561-1 in 2013. In 2016-2018, he was chair of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board, continuously overseeing 650+ standards development projects involving 20,000+ developers worldwide. He currently serves as member of the IEEE-SA Board of Governors. He received his master’s degree in engineering from Ecole Centrale Marseille in France in 1987.

 

Technical sessions for the virtual event

Technical session 1 : Channel characterization and modelling
Channel Modeling for Overhead Line Equipment for Train Communication, by Waled Gheth; Khaled M. Rabie; Bamidele Adebisi; Muhammad Ijaz; Georgina D. Harris
Methodology and Power Spectral Density Limits Proposal for Non Intentional Emissions in Frequencies Below 150 kHz, by Noelia Uribe Pérez; Ibon Arechalde; Alberto Sendin; Iker Urrutia; Juan Sebastián Gómez; Marta Castro
Noise Emission Investigations of Power Electronic Devices as Input Data for Planning of BPL Access Networks, by Philipp Lutat; Marcel Kurth; Axel Staubach; Holger Hirsch; Malte Peikenkamp; Matthias Lorenz; Tobias Pletzer; George Hallak; Benedikt Klaer
Technical session 2 : Machine Learning applications in PLC
Advanced Smart Grid Monitoring: Intelligent Cable Diagnostics Using Neural Networks, by Yinjia Huo; Gautham Prasad; Lutz Lampe; Victor C.M. Leung
Supervised Fault Detection in Energy Grids Measuring Electrical Quantities in the PLC Band, by Nunzio Letizia; Andrea M Tonello
Learning to Synthesize Noise: The Multiple Conductor Power Line Case, by Nunzio Letizia; Andrea M Tonello; Davide Righini
Technical session 3 : Modulation and signal processing for PLC
Exploring Joint Voltage and Impedance Modulation in Wired Networks, by Andrea M Tonello; Marco De Piante
PLC Channel Selection Schemes for OFDM-based NB-PLC Systems, by Aymen Omri; Javier Hernández Fernández; Alfredo Sanz; Mariem Fliss
PLC Networks with In-Band Full-Duplex Relays, by Francisco J. Cañete; Gautham Prasad; Lutz Lampe
Sampling Frequency Error Estimators for PRIME V1.4 Systems, by Javier Giménez; José Antonio Cortés; Alfredo Sanz; Luis Díez
Technical session 4 : Layer 2 and above in PLC
Planning Approach Towards Optimal Performance and Cost of G.hn Broadband PLC Access Networks, by George Hallak; Marcel Berners; Anil Mengi
Discovering Routing Anomalies in Large PLC Metering Deployments from Field Data, by Francesco Marcuzzi; Andrea M Tonello; Nunzio Letizia
Security Concepts Based on IEEE 802.1X for G.hn Broadband PLC Access Networks, by George Hallak; Tobias Frauenrath; Anil Mengi
Technical session 5 : Emerging applications
Power Line Communications in Automotive Traction Batteries: A Proof of Concept, by Thomas F. Landinger; Guenter Schwarzberger; Matthias Rose; Stefan Dollhaeubl; Günter Hofer; Arash Pake Talei; Andreas Jossen
Development of Smart Battery Cells Through Sensor Instrumentation and In-Vehicle Power Line Communication, by Timothy Vincent; James Marco, Marco
Belief Condensation Filtering for Voltage-Based State Estimation in Smart Grids, by Shervin Mehryar; Moe Z. Win
Technical session 6 : Dissemination
Low-Complexity Joint Time Synchronization and Channel Estimation for OFDM-Based PLC Systems, by Martín Colombo, Álvaro Hernández, Jesús Ureña
MIMO-OFDM NB-PLC Designs in Underground Medium-Voltage Networks, by M. Elgenedy, T. A. Papadopoulos, S. Galli, A. I. Chrysochos, G. K. Papagiannis and N. Al-Dhahir
Technical session 7 : Impedance analysis for PLC systems
Measurement of Differential Mode Impedance and Longitudinal Conversion Loss for In-Factory High-Speed PLC System Using Three-Phase Power Distribution System, by Toshiyuki Wakisaka; Tohlu Matsushima; Hiroyuki Okumura; Hisao Koga; Nobuo Kuwabara; Yuki Fukumoto
Non Intrusive Network Impedance Estimation with State of the Art PLC Modems, by Davide Righini; Andrea M Tonello
Impedance Measurement System for Actively Transmitting Loads on Power Line, by Christoph Nieß; Gerd Bumiller
Technical session 8 : Industry & Recent Results
Relationship Between the Material of Power Cable and the Communication Distance for HD-PLC, by Kazumasa Oshikawa; Toshiyuki Wakisaka; Tohlu Matsushima, Nobuo Kuwabara and Yuki Fukumoto
Heterogeneous SoC Architecture for a FBMC Receiver with Channel Estimator and Channel Equalizer in PLC, by Rubén Nieto, Raúl Mateos and Álvaro Hernández