A lecture on "Power line communications: a technology with application from smart grids to in-vehicle scenarios" was given on Thursday 21st of June 2012 at 5 p.m. by Prof. Andrea M. Tonello, IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, University of Udine, Italy. The lecture took place at the conference room of the ground floor of building D, School of Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

The event was successful, with about 15 participants, academics and students, most of them IEEE members. You may download the lecture's presentation from here.You may see some photos from the event.

Abstract: This talk covers recent advances in Power line communication (PLC) which is an interesting communication technology for several different applications, i.e., for the Smart Grid, for home networking, for in-vehicle communications.
We will discuss the important topics of channel and noise modeling and report up-to-date results about statistical channel modeling.
The main challenges of physical layer design for both narrow-band (NB-PLC) and broad-band PLC (BB-PLC) to encompass the presence of channel attenuation and frequency selectivity, interference, and various noise sources will be discussed. In particular, we will describe existing and emerging modulation approaches, as filter bank modulation and ultra wide band techniques. Some similarities and differences with the wireless scenario will also be discussed.
Finally, a brief overview of the main standards will be offered covering both NB-PLC and broad-band BB-PLC.

Speaker: Prof. Andrea M. Tonello (DL IEEE VTS), University of Udine, Italy.

Bio: Andrea M. Tonello received his Doctor of Engineering degree in Electronics (1996, summa cum laude), and his Doctor of Research degree in Electronics and Telecommunications (2003), both from the University of Padova, Italy. In 1997, he became a Member of Technical Staff at Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories, where he worked on the development of baseband algorithms for cellular handsets. He worked at Bell Laboratories' Advanced Wireless Technology Laboratory until 2002, during which time he was appointed Managing Director of Bell Labs, Italy. Herein, he conducted research on wireless systems, air interface design, performance analysis, and was involved in the standardization of the evolution of 2G and 3G cellular technology.
In 2003, Dr. Tonello joined the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Gestionale e Meccanica (DIEGM) of the University of Udine, Italy, where he is an Aggregate Professor and founder of the Wireless and Power Line Communication Lab. He is also the founder and CEO of WiTiKee, a spin-off company of the lab. His research focuses on next generation wireless systems, vehicular networks, and power line communications for smart grids.
He has been involved in several European coordinated actions through FP5-FP7 EU funded projects and within the Institutional Human Resources Strategy Group, which aims to implement the European charter for researchers and the code of conduct of the recruitment of researchers. Dr. Tonello has received several awards, including the Lucent Bell Labs Recognition of Excellence award in 2003, the Distinguished Visiting Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, in 2010, and the Distinguished Lecturer Award from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society in 2011. He also received the 2007 EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing Best Paper Award, he co-authored the papers that received the best student paper awards at the IEEE International Symposium on Power Line Communications (ISPLC) in 2010 and in 2011, and the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference 2011 Spring MIMO track best paper award.
Dr. Tonello serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and as an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications. He was the General Chair of IEEE ISPLC 2011 in Udine, Italy.
He is the Vice-Chair of the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee on Power Line Communications. ( web: www.diegm.uniud.it/tonello )


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