Relay-aided networking for power line communications

We consider a smart grid Power Line Communications Network (PLCN) which serves stations that represent subscriber devices or sensor stations. The network is managed by a control (gateway) station that is attached to a power line and acts to supervise and control the sharing of the PLCN medium by stations attached to the line. We design a networking mechanism that enables active stations to efficiently transport their message flows to the gateway. Our approach is based on the selection of certain stations to act as relay stations, forming a forwarding backbone. Relay stations are directed to adapt their code rates and scheduling mechanism in aiming to achieve high spatial reuse levels that induce high throughput rates.