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Barmada S, Dionigi M, Mezzanotte P, Tucci M. 2017. Design and experimental characterization of a combined WPT–PLC system. Wireless Power Transfer 4(2): 160-170 doi: 10.1017/wpt.2017.11 
Design and experimental characterization of a combined WPT–PLC system
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Author Bio:
Sami Barmada received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 1995 and 2001, respectively. He currently is a Full Professor with the Department of Energy and System Engineering (DESTEC), University of Pisa. His teaching activity is related to circuit theory and electromagnetics. His research activity is mainly dedicated to applied electromagnetics, power line communications, non-destructive testing and signal processing. He is an author and coauthor of approximately 100 papers in international journals and refereed conferences. Prof. Barmada was the recipient of the 2003 J. F. Alcock Memorial Prize, presented by the Institution of Mechanical Engineering, Railway Division, for the Best Paper in Technical Innovation; he is a IEEE Senior Member and ACES Fellow. He served as ACES President from 2015 to 2017 and now he is a member of the International Steering Committee of the CEFC Conference. 
Marco Dionigi received the Ph.D. degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, in 1996. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, University of Perugia. His current research interests are in the field of microwave and millimeter-wave waveguide component modeling and optimization, wireless power transfer systems and modeling, microwave sensor modeling and design, and microwave and ultrawideband system design. 
Paolo Mezzanotte received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Perugia, Italy, in 1997. Since January 2007, he is an Associate Professor with the same University, teaching the classes of Radiofrequency Engineering. His research activities concern numerical methods and CAD techniques for passive microwave structures and the analysis and design of microwave and millimeter-wave circuits. More recently, his research interests were mainly focused on the study of advanced technologies such as LTCC, RF-MEMS, and microwave circuits printed on green substrates. These research activities are testified by more than 100 publications in the most important specialized journals and at the main conferences of the microwave scientific community. 
Mauro Tucci received the Ph.D. degree in Applied Electromagnetism from the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, in 2008. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Department of Energy and Systems Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. His research activity is in machine learning, data analysis, and system identification, with applications in electromagnetism, non-destructive testing, and power-line communications - Corresponding author: S. Barmada Email: sami.barmada@unipi.it
Abstract: In this contribution, the authors perform the design and show the experimental results relative to a prototype of a combined wireless power transfer (WPT)–power line communications (PLC) system, in which the WPT channel is interfaced to a PLC environment to allow data transfer when the cabled connection is no longer available. The main rationale behind this idea stays in the fact that PLC communication is now a popular choice to enable communications, for instance, in smart grids and in home automation, while WPT devices start to be available in the market (i.e. for mobile phones) and soon they will be a reality also for higher power (i.e. vehicle battery charging). In particular, theoretical insights about the requirements of the system are given; a two coils system has been implemented and a measurement campaign, together with simulations, show that the system is of great potentiality and could be used in applications where both wireless power and data transfer are needed (such as vehicles battery charging), achieving maximum power transfer and good data rate in order to transmit high-speed signals.
