Re: FSK/ASK on PLCC?

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

FSK is not necessarily more reliable but does have the potential for higher
data rates. It's the implementation details that are more important than ASK
or FSK. The term ASK is probably misleading as it applies to powerline
communications. OOK (On-Off Keying), a subset of ASK, better describes most
implementations. Both suffer from the same noise/attenuation issues. There
are other methods that are more reliable than either.

ST and Philips are about the only companies still making simple powerline
modem chips. 10 years ago there were numerous suppliers but most have since
abandoned the field. Michat, in France, supplies a Philips TDA5051A based
board.

     http://www.michat.com/pdf/GB/5051_APP.pdf

Yitran makes the HomePlug Command & Control chips. I think they offer
boards.

     http://www.yitran.com/

There is a good overview of powerline communications in this article...

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line_communication

If you describe your application you'll probably get more input.

cdacpandq@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I have been doing some search on powerline related materials.
>
>A member of a different group suggested me to look into Home
>Automation Modems. I found there are 2 types available, one working on
>ASK and the other on FSK. I also found some reviews from members
>suggesting amplitude modulated stuff on powerline is kind of
>unreliable.
>
>Is it true that the FSK based system is definitely more reliable than
>the ASK based one?
>
>Also I am able to get FSK based home automation modems/boards from
>STMicroelectronics alone. Are there any others who supply these?
>
>I am thinking of working on an evlauation board first and then delve
>into depths later. Thats why the question about the boards as well..
>
>Thanks.
>
>PS: I am still a newbie to PLCC.