Enhancement of backoff algorithm in CSMA/CA protocols for broadband PLC

Abstract

Improvement of communication protocols for energy management purposes has become a challenging part of smart grid systems development. Powerline communications (PLC) has many advantages for being used in this area. Many PLC communication protocols use CSMA/CA channel access schemes on Multiple Access Protocol (MAC) layer. This paper presents an enhancement of the CSMA/CA broadband PLC protocols operation by application of special method for backoff generation. The proposed improvement is applicable to different CSMA/CA protocols. The resulting CSMA/CA schemes maintain interoperability with the original ones. The performance of the improved algorithm is shown by means of a mathematical model and by simulation.