A cognitive TV white space-broadband power line MIMO system for indoor communication networks

Broadband power line communication (BPLC) is a promising solution to satisfy the growing data rate demands for broadband indoor communication networks. However, the BPLC transmission power spectral density (PSD) is restricted in the very high frequency (VHF) band to avoid harmful interference to the existing wireless services. In this paper, a new hybrid system is proposed utilizing BPLC and cognitive radio over TV white space (TVWS) to enhance the system capacity over BPLC in VHF, forming a VHF TVWS BPLC multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. An iterative precoding algorithm is proposed to satisfy the interference limit at the TV primary user (PU) receiver (Rx) and enhance the ergodic capacity. Moreover, a power allocation algorithm is developed for the MIMO system to achieve the maximum ergodic capacity subject to the average total power constraint and limit of interference to TV PU. Simulation results demonstrate the significant enhancement in the achieved capacity by our proposed system in the VHF band compared to both previous cognitive and hybrid BPLC systems.