A simulation study of the PLC-MAC performance using network simulator-2

Power line communication (PLC) technology can be a viable solution for the future ubiquitous networks because it provides a cheaper alternative to other wired technology currently being used for communication. However, for the better performance of PLC-based networks, their physical layer and medium access control (MAC) protocols need to be a lot more enhanced. Recently, many physical frame encoding technologies have been developed, but the MAC protocols still need more consideration because of the unique characteristics of power line channels. In this paper, we describe an overview of the Korea Standard power line MAC protocol (called "KS-MAC"). We also report the simulation results performed with the well-known simulation tool of network simulator-2 (i.e., NS-2) and compared with the actual field test data.