Microchip launches consumer-band power-line soft-modem development kit

The power-line soft-modem technology supported by the PLM PICtail plus daughter board enables consumer and industrial products to communicate using the same wiring that provides power, to create an instant network at a low system and deployment cost. Based on the scalable dsPIC33F Digital Signal Controller (DSC) architecture, the board uses a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation scheme and operates in the popular consumer frequency band. The soft modem interfaces with Microchip’s Explorer 16 Development Board and is supported with royalty-free schematics, demo code and software in source-code format.



The trend towards power-line communication is growing in response to increasing market demands for connected products. Applications for power-line communication can be implemented wherever there is an energy flow, such as in-home energy monitoring and control, industrial power-supply controllers, server farms, street lighting and more. Microchip’s PLM PICtail Plus Daughter Board Development Kit has two nodes for out-of-the-box point-to-point communication, enabling designers to run a selection of demos on the PLM PICtail Plus daughter board within minutes. The BPSK modulation scheme provides a robust method which performs well in noisy environments, and supports software selection of the data rate of the power-line soft modem. By supporting the wide portfolio of dsPIC33F DSCs, the PLM PICtail Plus daughter board allows designers the flexibility to select a device that optimises performance and cost in each application.



This new, low-cost power-line carrier reference design is part of Microchip’s expansion of its capabilities in communications and connectivity in the consumer band design, which can be developed when coupled with the popular PICtail Plus and Explorer 16 development systems.



The PLM PICtail Plus Daughter Board (AC164142) is priced at $225.00 and includes two daughter boards and two sets of high-voltage adapter cables. It includes royalty-free schematics, demo code and software in source-code format, and is supported by the free MPLAB® IDE.



[View Power-Line Modem (PLM) PICtail Plus Daughter Board Development Kit (AC164142) Stock]