SALA MAC Protocol for PLC Networks based on Single Frequency Network Technique

Single frequency network technique is applied to powerline communications networks to ensure an efficient data transmission in large networks. We consider an application of this technique for ground traffic control in airports which has high quality of service requirements, particularly regarding transmission delays of time-critical messages. Performance of the well-known slotted ALOHA protocol is not sufficient. Therefore, we propose a novel protocol called slotted ALOHA with local acknowledgments (SALA), ensuring significantly higher performance than the basic protocol solution, which results with a higher network utilization and reduced transmission delays