The symposium on "Power-Line Communications and Its Applications" was organized by the IT German chapter on Information Theory and the Institute for Experimental Mathematics, University of Essen, Germany. The goal of the meeting was to bring together scientists in the area of digital communications, industrial engineers and energy providers interested in this particular field of communications. The great variety of applications and the falling of the monopoly position of the national telecommunication organizations are obvious reasons for an increased interest from industrial and academic research and development institutes. The symposium attracted 75 engineers and scientists from 15 countries. There were 27 presentations.
There are several interesting aspects connected with this symposium. We mention just a few of them. First, we deal with a very complicated channel that mixes the nasty behavior of a power-line with that of a communication channel. We are still far behind the developments in ordinary telephony as far as communication speed is concerned. Second, an important aspect of power-line communication is the question of standardization. Since there are different international standards and power-line regulations, we also have a great variety of different products and applied communication techniques.
It was interesting to compare standards and performances for the respective standards and systems. For instance, in consumer electronics, world-wide standards give the opportunity to develop low cost equipment. Thirdly, we succeeded in attracting 60 participants with an industrial background. We also very much appreciated the presence of our guests from Japan and the USA. It was the mixture that made this symposium a unique opportunity to discuss the various systems and stimulated research in the field of power-line communications. The next symposium will be organized by Prof. Gen Marubayashi from Soka university in Japan. Proceedings (ISBN 90-74249-11-6, 140 pages) can be obtained from the symposium organizer, Prof. Han Vinck by sending US $30.- (or equivalent) in cash.