 IPC
Technology —
Industrial
Powerline Communications
Industrial Powerline Communications – IPC™ – is an innovative
communications technology developed by Powerline Control Systems
that utilizes the existing three-phase industrial power wires
as its medium to reliably communicate digital control signals
between low-speed electronic devices. IPC Technology is the
key that makes the GreenWorx Lighting Control System so powerful.
It offers distributed ballast-level lighting control without
having to add new wiring to the building/structure.
How IPC Works
IPC injects short but strong low-frequency bursts of energy (pulses) on top of
the AC power waveform. One pulse is generated each cycle of the AC sine wave
and represents one bit of digital information (0 or 1). On a 60 Hz powerline
60 bits of digital information are generated every second. Because of its low
frequency content the IPC pulse is not affected as much by attenuating conditions
on the powerline. This means that the strong initial burst has the ability to
travel great wiring distances (over 2000 feet typical) before it becomes undetectable.
Receivers have the task of detecting the pulse and the determining where in the
AC cycle it showed up. A pulse that occurs prior to a certain boundary line is
interpreted as a digital ‘0’ and a pulse that occurs after that boundary line
is interpreted as a digital ‘1’.
History of IPC
In 2004, after PCS had successfully established and tested
its patented UPB™ powerline communication technology for residential
applications (known as PulseWorx™, www.pulseworx.com), they
set their sights on tackling the three-phase multi-panel industrial/commercial
environment. Up until that point, there had been NO successful
retrofittable solutions, either powerline or RF, for the industrial
(high-noise, high-attenuation) environment. What PCS came up
with was a variation of UPB™, called Industrial Powerline Communication
(IPC), which has shown great promise in reliably communicating
in the three-phase multi-panel industrial/commercial environment.
IPC™ is the first and only practical solution to succeed in
this environment. PCS now offers IPC technology in its GreenWorx
Industrial Lighting Control System.
What makes IPC different?
IPC uses an innovative method to reliably communicate digital
information on the powerline that is different - and better
- than any other method tried before (see How IPC Works inset).
The engineers at Powerline Control Systems learned a lot from
their earlier experience developing and testing UPB™. They
took that knowledge and created a new technology - IPC - specifically
designed for the high noise, high attenuation three-phase powerline.
They specifically slowed down the bit rate thereby enhancing
the reliability. They found ways to increase the signal strength
and combat noise effects. They also built in three-phase repeating
devices and a large addressing capability into the system architecture.
What PCS has come up with is the most reliable powerline communication
technology yet – IPC.
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