An Integrated Network Management System for Multi-Vendor Power Line Communication Networks

Abstract

Power line communication (PLC) is an evolving communication network technology using pre-installed power lines, which provides the electricity to the household or the building, in order to provide services such as Internet access, Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) and home networking. As PLC networks and their applications grow with the advances in PLC technologies, we need to efficiently manage the resources of PLC networks. Currently, major PLC chipset and modem vendors are trying to provide network management capabilities in their devices by defining their own private management information base (MIB). However, it is insufficient to manage PLC networks comprised of multi-vendor PLC devices using a proprietary MIB. In this paper, we present our work on integrated network management of multi-vendor PLC networks. Particularly, we have focused on two aspects: 1) defining a common PLC MIB, the common management information for all types of PLC devices and 2) providing Integrated PLC Management System (IPMS). Our work can be used as a guideline for an international standardization for PLC network management.