Resource Allocation in HS-OFDM-based PLC Systems: A Tutorial

This work organizes and discusses important information on resource allocation in power line communication (PLC) systems based on the Hermitian symmetric orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing scheme. In the context of this work, the term resource refers to bits and transmission power, which can be optimally or sub-optimally allocated to subcarriers on the basis of the knowledge of the normalized signal-to-noise ratio (nSNR) of power line subchannels. In this sense, we thoroughly discuss the formulation of the resource allocation for PLC systems and accordingly derive expressions for the nSNR as well as bit and transmission power allocation in all subchannels. Additionally, we precisely detail greedy algorithms to assist practitioners and researchers in the implementation of the resource allocation procedure. Considering a frequency-selective PLC channel corrupted by additive colored Gaussian noise as well as M-ary pulse amplitude modulation and quadrature amplitude modulation as modulation schemes, the influence of the gap from the Shannon capacity curve on symbol error rate probability is discussed. On top of the carried out discussion, numerical results are presented in order to emphasize the usefulness of a proper comprehension of this subject.