The ACA (Australian Communications Authority) has changed name to the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority). Back in January, we announced that ACA had a webpage dedicated to BPL (Broadband over Power-Line) technologies and trials... the URL has now changed, to reflect the ACMA name.

The website URL is: http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.2883838:STANDARD:2001376002:pc=PC_2845

Note that the topic covers both the wide-area BPL (as in, Internet connectivity via Western Power, et al), and in-house BPL (as in, connecting two PCs within your house via the 240V wiring).

The EMC standards for low-voltage BPL are described in http://www.acma.gov.au/acmainterwr/consumer_info/fact_sheets/industry_fact_sheets/fsi23.pdf, and refer to standards EN 50065–1 (3kHz to 148.5 kHz), and IEC 61000–3–8 (3 kHz to 525 kHz), covering disturbance limits in the frequency range from 3 kHz up to 400 GHz.

At present, there is no ACA standard for equipment operating over high voltage distribution powerlines, nor is there an ACA standard for PLC (Powerline Carrier) equipment that transmits information on frequencies above 525 kHz. Presumably, such standards will be forthcoming in the future; it remains to be seen, just what EMC and EMR tolerances will be imposed above 525kHz!