A Study of PLC Signal Analysis for IT/OT Applications in the Electric Grid

High-frequency signals were widely studied in the last decade for the identification of grid and channel conditions in Power Line Networks (PLNs). Power Line Modems (PLMs) operating on the grid’s physical layer can transmit such signals and provide line and channel parameter estimations via signal analysis. Hence, Power Line Communication (PLC) is a suitable alternative for Smart Grid (SG) applications, particularly for grid monitoring and surveillance. In this work, we provide: 1) a review of the literature in the area of PLC signal analysis, 2) a classification of the underlying applications, and 3) a taxonomy of the different measurement and processing methods. We found research contributions addressing PLMs for three main SG applications namely: topology inference, anomaly detection, and physical layer key generation and authentication. Various approaches for measurement, processing, and analysis were found to provide distinctive features in measurement resolution, computation complexity, and analysis accuracy. A link between the measurement methods and the desired inference application and level was also concluded. We utilize the outcome of our review to shed light on the current limitations of the research contributions and suggest future research directions in this field.