Effects of choice of MAC protocol on QoS parameters in BPL network

The paper presents analysis of implementation of different MAC protocols in Broadband Powerline (BPL) networks. Analysis is focussed on impact of choice of MAC protocols on QoS parameters, specifically delay, packet loss rate and throughput. Subject of the paper is analysed on a test model of access (low-voltage) PLC cell, with BPL network customers generating different types of services (triple play - data, voice and video services implemented). Model is simulated in the environment of network simulator NS-2 and associated tools are used for analysis of QoS performance - calculation of parameters. Three different MAC protocols are compared - TDMA, unslotted Aloha and IEEE 802.3 and QoS parameters are compared to requirements of particular services. According to QoS performance results, recommendation is given for usage of each of these protocols for different types of services implemented in the network.