POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS FOR ACCESS NETWORKS - Performance Study of the MAC Layer -

The importance of the access networks increases after the deregulation of the telecommunication market. Today’s access networks are still the property of former monopolistic companies. New network operators try to realize their own access to the subscribers. There are two ways for the expansion of the access networks: building of new networks, which is expensive and needs a long time, and usage of the existing infrastructure (xDSL, CATV), which are also very often a property of former monopolists. Because of that, the usage of electrical power distribution networks for the access area in telecommunications, called Powerline Communications (PLC), becomes more and more attractive. In the paper we present possibilities for the application of PLC in the communications access networks and the position of current technology and regulatory developments. Furthermore, we consider the MAC layer of PLC networks and discuss some possible variants for suitable MAC protocols for PLC. We analyze the PLC network structures as well as the behavior of the telecommunications services which will be used in PLC systems. A very important part for the development of the MAC protocols is a consideration of the disturbance in the PLC transmission channel. We describe a general simulation model for the performance analysis of PLC networks which also includes the disturbance modeling.