Channel estimation and equalization of broadband PLC systems - Part 2: Comparison between Single Carrier and OFDM approaches

High-speed broadband power line communications (BB-PLC) have become a good option for all residential subscribers. Today regulations imply the use of multi-carrier (MC) systems, like orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or, as an alternative, the use of single-carrier (SC) technologies as main modulation scheme. In this work, it is proposed a complementary sequences (CS) based frequency domain equalization (FDE) scheme for use in SC systems, and it is compared with zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean-square error (MMSE) techniques. Finally, the present proposal and previously proposed OFDM PLC scheme (Part 1) will be discussed and compared through realistic simulations carried out by using different Middleton Class A (MCA) impulse noise model and by using two PLC channel models available in the literature.