3 Physical TX Calibration

Microchip provides a set of PLC reference designs that passed all required certifications and performance tests to ensure a successful field deployment.

Implementation of firmware protocols over PLC_PHY requires some values to be calculated by calibration; therefore, the calibration process is essential to get the optimal PLC signal transmission behavior in accordance with customer specifications.

The objective is to explain the transmission stage of the Physical layer (PHY) in the PLC protocols, then show how to obtain more accurate calibration values to:
  • Meet power injection requirements.
  • Meet signal quality requirements.
  • Compensate non-linearities of the power supply related to components’ tolerances and PCB layout.
  • Compensate non-linearities of the coupling design related to components’ tolerances and PCB layout.

The Microchip PLC implementations include default PHY layer configuration values optimized for the Evaluation Kits. With the help of the PHY Calibration Tool, it is possible to obtain the optimal configuration values for the customer´s hardware implementation.

Refer to the PLC Host Controller document for more details about the available configuration values and their purpose.