<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<font face="Verdana"><small>Then again the devil is in the details<br>
<br>
ABB in Europe does a lot of ( Broadband sic ) over power line
especially in Switzerland. We worked with ABB when they did multiple
tests and demonstrations of with US clients especially Duke power to
determine feasibility of BPL ( Then called PLC - PLT - PLN ) especially
targeted at better and faster transfers of information within the power
company.<br>
<br>
When you look at a power company like PNM you are actually looking at
three different operating entities<br>
<br>
a) The power plants that produce the electricity<br>
b) The transmission lines that carry the load over the primary high
power grid network </small><br>
<small>c) The local stepped down lines that eventually supply power to
your home and its additional services <br>
<br>
If you are targeting last / first mile you look at the group ( c ), if
you are targeting backbone you look at group ( b ).<br>
This is essential because you will find totally deferent management
systems, objectives, laws needs requirements in each sector.<br>
<br>
As a very astute post linked to TVA pointed out recently the efficiency
of major power companies operations is way beyond pathetic<br>
<br>
For those of you interested<br>
<br>
a) = 40%<br>
b) = 45%<br>
c) = 30%<br>
<br>
The group (c) block is home to senor management the guys who tell the
PRC how much money is needed to operate and run the utility and these
characters are past masters at manipulating data to justify anything (
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/299213opinion04-09-08.htm">http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/299213opinion04-09-08.htm</a>
) and unfortunately as we found with many utilities good fast ACCURATE
information transfer is the last thing they want and thats eventually
where all this leads<br>
<br>
What the ABB tests over the US found is this ( the major points the
list is quite long ) <br>
<br>
1. In both groups ( b ) and (c ) the transmission system infrastructure
in the US is way beyond bad as a result line quality deterioration only
achieved signal strength 20 - 30% of what was being achieved in the
European operations<br>
<br>
2. High speed signal and smart networks are essential for the next
generation in group ( b ) but no utility expressed interest ( PNM have
stated on the record that this is not their problem ) <br>
<br>
3. BPL / PLC networks opened up the door to uncontrolled network data
exchange this made many utilities nervous<br>
<br>
4. BPL / PLC in group (c) opened up the doorway to power on smart
demand designs with power over Ethernet this terrifies most power
companies as ( again our astute TVA guy pointed out ) and also makes
reuse and bill back a snap again this is PC heresy ( Andrews point
about NPL ) <br>
<br>
5. The right of way issue in both groups ( b ) and (c) using fiber
cable came into a roadblock with the lineman's unions in that they
where the only ones who where licensed to install and maintain and
cable on the transmission lines and all comonents and as such the test
runs fiber equipment had the cable come down to ground level for
repeaters and boosters, monitors and vandalism to the components
skyrocketed ( This happened to a utility in NM as well, I think it was
Kit Carson ) <br>
<br>
6. No power plant in group (a ) will use BPL / PLC in its present state
as it plays havoc with multiple radio bands which are essential to both
daily operation and emergency maintenance at the plant<br>
<br>
Again he devil is usually in the details<br>
<br>
( : ( : pete<br>
<br>
</small></font>
<div class="moz-signature">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; ">
<meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11">
<meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11">
<link rel="File-List"
href="Peter%20Baston%20Signature_files/filelist.xml">
<title>Peter Baston</title>
<o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="address">
<o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="Street"><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place">
<o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State">
<o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PostalCode"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Author>ideapete</o:Author>
<o:LastAuthor>ideapete</o:LastAuthor>
<o:Revision>2</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>3</o:TotalTime>
<o:Created>2007-07-27T22:44:00Z</o:Created>
<o:LastSaved>2007-07-27T22:44:00Z</o:LastSaved>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>42</o:Words>
<o:Characters>241</o:Characters>
<o:Company>IDEAS</o:Company>
<o:Lines>2</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>282</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>11.8132</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object
classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:#606420;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType>
<div class="Section1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: maroon;">Peter
Baston</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: maroon;">IDEAS</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: maroon;"><a
href="http://www.ideapete.com/"><em><span style="font-family: Arial;">www.ideapete.com</span></em></a></span></p>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<br>
Dale Carstensen wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:20080408165012.E9B9538D602@lampinc.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I haven't tried even the limited distance BPL equipment, but I would
think putting internet traffic on power lines on a widespread basis
would create the radio interference hams (radio amateurs) predict.
All those signals on unshielded wires with lots of corroded or
otherwise non-ideal connections, arbitrary topology, what a nightmare.
On the other hand, aerial distribution of fiber internet by electric
utilities seems to me to be a great wake-up call for our telephone
monopolies. Let's get some competition into the business of
inter-city internet transit!
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I spoke to a rural electric coop recently that has been experimenting
with BPL from several vendors for three years, and is still not able
to get more than a couple hundred kilobits of bandwidth when the
distances are more than a mile or two from the transformer. Bandwidth
issues aside, a weakness of BPL appears to be that a wide area
deployment can cost a significant fraction of what you would spend for
fiber or a hybrid fiber/wireless deployment.
We're working on a project right now with a public electric utility
that has decided to run fiber to substations in its rural areas and
then deply WiMax both for broadband but also for electric power
management and meter reading, using low power wireless close to the
home for the meter reading stuff.
In an open services network, the electric utility can become an anchor
tenant for AMI/AMR services.
Andrew
On Apr 7, 2008, at 11:56 PM, Dale Carstensen wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">The xcel energy and current group BPL (Broadband over Power
Lines) stuff seems to me to be not BPL, but rather NPL (Narrowband
over Power Lines) for such purposes as remote meter reading,
distribution control (hmm, probably security problems here,
come to think of it, maybe financial chicanery could happen
with the meter reading, too) and management of non-utility
power generation (customers of power utilities selling
photovoltaic or wind or biomass electrical generation back
to the grid).
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">-------------------------------------------------
Andrew Michael Cohill, Ph.D.
President
Design Nine, Inc.
Design Nine provides visionary broadband architecture and engineering
services, telecommunications and broadband master planning, and
broadband project management.
Visit the Technology Futures blog for frequently updated news and
commentary on technology issues.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.designnine.com/news/">http://www.designnine.com/news/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.designnine.com/">http://www.designnine.com/</a>
Blacksburg, Virginia
540.951.4400
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
_______________________________________________
1st-mile-nm mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:1st-mile-nm@mailman.dcn.org">1st-mile-nm@mailman.dcn.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm">http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>