Markov-type routing protocol for the power line local area network

The progress in new modulation technologies for power line communications and in electronic measurement metering creates a platform for implementing distributed home automation applications. A special type of local area networks has been defined as the low voltage distribution network or power line LAN (PL-LAN). However, the quality of digital signals transmission over the power line circuits is poor compared with the standard wire communication channels. Besides, it depends strongly on the power load and, by this, is time varying. As a result, one of the basic problems in the development of PL-LANs is the design of the special routing protocols for message delivery between the PL-LAN entities. The main topology in PL-LANs is considered as a bus architecture. Referring to this topology, a direct route between the network entities may not currently be relevant. Therefore, a multihop nondirect route that includes several entities-retransmitters should be defined operatively. Our research is dedicated to solving the routing problem, especially for interconnecting the PL-LAN segment concentrator with a number of terminals in a polling, time sharing mode.