Description

The TIDM-MINI-DC reference design implements a light-weight powerline communication (PLC) data concentrator (DC) solution integrated with an Ethernet repeater feature. A power grid network is static: which means that once end-nodes are installed the number of nodes to be supported by a DC is fixed. Electric utilities often have many feeder lines with only a small number of end consumers. It is not cost-effective to install a high-performance DC solution capable of supporting a large number of end nodes for these feeders. This design offers a low-cost PLC DC solution to support smaller networks with an Ethernet repeater (or edge router) feature to interconnect the local PLC network to an Ethernet-based backbone network so that a control center can control the PLC end-nodes directly.