NATO concerned about BPL

The latest to come out against the problematic broadband over powerlines (BPL) is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Its concerns are for military users of the HF spectrum particularly if BPL impacts on the signal-to-noise ratio.

A report entitled HF Interference, Procedures and Tools produced by NATO's Research and Technology Organisation is that ambient noise levels have not increased in Europe in the last 30 years, and that would change with the widespread use of BPL.

NATO said that existing power lines were not designed for BPL transmissions, "they will cause unintentional RF emissions which may adversely affect the established radio noise floor directly, or by cumulative propagation from many such sources.

"The existing HF background noise possibly may be increased via ground wave and/or sky wave propagation."

The report said that in light of BPL proponent claims of potential market penetration of BPL, clearly there would be an impact military HF communications in all Europe as well as for sensitive intelligence monitoring stations.

NATO debunks the BPL lobby's numerous unsubstantiated claims that ambient noise levels including those from man-made sources are up to 30dB higher than ITU measurements in the 1970s.

It has found "recent measurements carried out in Germany and Great Britain indicated that there is no remarkable difference between these measurements, specifically no increase of the ambient noise in quiet rural zones within the last 30 years."
- Amateur Radio Victoria.
10/9/07