Power line communication (PLC) has significant benefits and advantages in comparison to wireless communication. By exploiting the power line infrastructure, PLC signals can cover a larger area and provide high speed data service without installation of new infrastructure, especially in remote rural areas where Ethernet is not available. A MIMO-based (multiple-input-multiple-output-based) power line communication structure (MU-MIMO-PLC) is described herein and exploits power line infrastructure to achieve MIMO communication and/or high data service. MU-MIMO-PLC exploits the spatiality of power line infrastructure and the multipath property of power line channel. MU-MIMO-PLC leverages these properties to achieve high data rates with

MIMO technology. In one embodiment, a system for multi-user (MU) power line communication comprises a power line infrastructure; an access point connected to the power line infrastructure; and clients connected to the power line infrastructure, wherein the clients can communicate with the access point through the power line infrastructure simultaneously.

A communication apparatus is connected to another communication apparatus via a power source line, a signal line, and a shared line. The communication apparatus includes a detector and a communicator. The detector detects the phase of an alternating-current voltage applied between a first terminal for connecting to the power source line and a second terminal for connecting to the shared line. The communicator communicates with the other communication apparatus by executing at least one of transmission or reception of an electric current signal generated by opening and closing a circuit including the signal line and the shared line except when the phase detected by the detector is within a specific range. The specific range is defined as a range in which an induced electric current flowing through the signal line due to the alternating-current voltage is greater than a reference value.

There is provided a system for assigning power to a plurality of smart appliances. The system includes a plurality of smart outlet assemblies. Each of the smart outlet assemblies is paired to and in electrical communication with a respective one of the smart appliances. The system includes at least one smart breaker assembly in electrical communication with the smart outlet assemblies. The system includes a master server in communication with the smart breaker assembly. The system includes distributed databases used to exchange data among the smart outlet assemblies, the smart breaker assembly, and the master server. The master server selectively assign power to respective ones of the smart appliances via the smart breaker assembly based on the data. If the master server is unreachable, the smart breaker assembly is configured to selectively assign power to the smart appliances based on the data records.

A communication device in a network may receive a stream of frames from the network, in which each frame includes one or more beacon packets. A communication protocol being used by the network may be identified by tracking a preselected field within a sequence of beacon packets, in which the preselected field varies in a first known manner for a first protocol and in a second known manner for a second protocol. The communication device may then join to the network using the identified communication protocol to transmit and receive data.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, a communication system that facilitates monitoring communications associated with a second particular device, where a group of devices operate in a premises, where a first subset of the group of devices communicate directly with a monitoring device located at the premises via a local area network of the premises, where a second subset of the group of devices do not communicate directly with the monitoring device, where the first subset of the group of devices includes the first particular device, and where the second subset of the group of devices includes the second particular device. The communications can be analyzed to detect an anomaly associated with the second particular device. A plurality of messages can be transmitted, via the local area network, to the monitoring device over a time period indicating the anomaly. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A receiving device for receiving PLC signals, including a filtering stage linked to an input of the receiving device and configurable in at least two modes including a default mode, wherein the filtering stage passes at least first PLC signals included in a first frequency band and second PLC signals included in a second frequency band separate from the first frequency band, and a first selection mode, in which the filtering stage passes the first PLC signals and stops the second PLC signals; and a processing circuit linked to the filtering stage and arranged to receive frames of PLC signals, and, for each received frame, to analyse a preamble of the frame, and to dynamically configure the filtering stage in the first selection mode if the frame is a frame of first PLC signals.

A device includes an interface and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Medium Access Control (MAC) circuitry coupled to the interface. The TDMA MAC circuitry detects a beacon in a frame having a defined frame duration and determines a frame compensation value based on a start time of the frame, a reference start time of the frame, and a number of elapsed frames. A current frame duration value is determined based on the frame compensation value and the defined frame duration.

Examples for logical to physical mapping of aircraft electronic components are presented. A system may include aircraft electronic components coupled sequentially to a power wire, corresponding controllers, and a master computing device. The computing device may receive a first identifier for a first component from a first controller in response to the first controller receiving power at a first time from the power wire and a second identifier for a second component from a second controller in response to the second controller receiving power at a second time from the power wire. The second time is subsequent to the first time. The computing device determines locations for the first and second component within the aircraft based on an order of reception of the identifiers.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, a system for generating a plurality of electromagnetic waves having differing signal characteristics, each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves conveying a communication signal, and the plurality of electromagnetic waves propagating along a transmission medium without radiating into free space. The system can be further configured for generating, by an antenna coupled to the transmission medium, a plurality of wireless signals according to the plurality of electromagnetic waves. The differing signal characteristics of the plurality of electromagnetic waves thereby enables a device to obtain the communication signal by combining the plurality of wireless signals. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A network switch with: Power-over-Ethernet ports to connect to twisted-pair wires and transmit signals with a data packet comprising a target address and direct-current electric power via the twisted-pair wires; a first Powerline Communication port to connect to a pair of line wires supplying alternating-current electric power and to transmit signals with a data packet via the pair of line wires; a controller; and a memory storing target addresses by data packet. The controller may: receive a signal from one of the Power-over-Ethernet ports or the Powerline Communication port; demodulate the inbound signal; produce a data packet from the demodulated inbound signal; determine the target address of the data packet; look up the determined target address; produce an outbound signal modulated for the target port; and send the modulated outbound signal to the target port.