Aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward power outage assessment using customer-site communication devices which are powered by utility power lines and which communicate with a remotely-situated computer server over a broadband network according to certain schedules. The server can receive from the devices, communications indicative of an operating status of each respective communication device as expected according to the schedules. In response to receiving and/or not receiving the respective communications from the devices and taking into account other parameters, the server can assess a possible power outage within one or more regions by comparing the received communications and threshold criteria associated with the schedules. Based on such criteria, the server can detect and report on conditions suggestive of a power outage in regions associated with the communication devices.

In a method for communicating with a plurality of devices using different communication protocols, a signal is received at a transceiver device from a neighbor device via a physical layer of a communication media. At a first time the signal contains a header frame from a first device conforming to a first communication protocol and at another time the signal contains a header frame from a second device conforming to a second communication protocol. The transceiver determines which of the different communication protocols is being used by each of the plurality of devices. The transceiver may then process inbound payload data using the indentified protocol type. Data frames are transmitted to the first device using the first communication protocol and data frames are transmitted to the second device using the second communication protocol.

Embodiments of methods and systems for supporting coexistence of multiple technologies in a Power Line Communication (PLC) network are disclosed. A long coexistence preamble sequence may be transmitted by a device that has been forced to back off the PLC channel multiple times. The long coexistence sequence provides a way for the device to request channel access from devices on the channel using other technology. The device may transmit a data packet after transmitting the long coexistence preamble sequence. A network duty cycle time may also be defined as a maximum allowed duration for nodes of the same network to access the channel. When the network duty cycle time occurs, all nodes will back off the channel for a duty cycle extended inter frame space before transmitting again. The long coexistence preamble sequence and the network duty cycle time may be used together.

A system and method for inferring schematic and topological properties of an electrical distribution grid is provided. The system may include Remote Hubs, Subordinate Remotes, a Substation Receiver, and an associated Computing Platform and Concentrator. At least one intelligent edge transmitter, called a Remote Hub Edge Transmitter, may transmit messages on the electrical distribution grid by injecting a modulated current into a power main that supplies an electric meter. The Subordinate Remotes, Remote Hubs, the Substation Receiver, and the associated Computing Platform and Concentrator may contain processing units which execute stored instructions allowing each node in the network to implement methods for organizing the on-grid network and transmitting and receiving messages on the network. The Substation Receiver, Computing Platform and Concentrator may detect and infer schematic grid location attributes of the network and publish the detected and inferred attributes to other application systems including geospatial information systems maintaining the logical and physical network model.

Embodiments of this application disclose a method, an apparatus, and a system for information transmission in a PLC network. A switch control apparatus in embodiments of this application includes a switch and a coupling circuit. The coupling circuit is connected in parallel to two ends of the switch. When the switch is open, the coupling circuit transmits a first power line communication (PLC) signal to a gateway device. In embodiments of this application, when the switch is open, the PLC signal may be sent to the gateway device and information such as power off and tripping may be reported to the gateway device.

Systems and methods for efficiently allocating beacon slot among multiple nodes on multiple levels within a power line communication network are described. In various implementations, these systems and methods may be applicable to Power Line Communications (PLC). For example, a method may include performing, by a communications device, assigning beacon transmission times to nodes within the communication device's network. The assigned beacon transmission times comprise a beacon slot and frame pattern. The beacon slot and frame pattern ensure that each node does not transmit a beacon in a beacon slot that is adjacent to a beacon slot assigned to a parent or child node. A beacon transmission slot is reserved for a base node in every frame. The frames may be organized into thirty-two-frame superframes, wherein each frame comprises a base node beacon slot and four switch node beacon slots.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a network device that accesses internet protocol addresses associated with a group of end point devices where the network device is a closest network device to the group of end point devices, and transmitting data to another network device responsive to a determination that an internet protocol address associated with the data from an end point device is one of the internet protocol addresses associated with the group of end point devices. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A method and a system for communicating in a communication network including nodes provided with radio and PLC communication means, fulfilling a role of relay for increasing the range of the communications in the communication network, communicating by means of a predetermined communication protocol, processing broadcast messages and processing authentication requests from other nodes. According to the invention, the system further includes nodes provided with solely radio communication means able to communicate partly in accordance with the same protocol used by the nodes provided with radio and PLC communication means, and each node provided with solely radio communication means receives broadcast messages, does not process the broadcast messages, receives join-request messages, and does not process the joint-request messages.

Embodiments of methods and systems for supporting coexistence of multiple technologies in a Power Line Communication (PLC) network are disclosed. A long coexistence preamble sequence may be transmitted by a device that has been forced to back off the PLC channel multiple times. The long coexistence sequence provides a way for the device to request channel access from devices on the channel using other technology. The device may transmit a data packet after transmitting the long coexistence preamble sequence. A network duty cycle time may also be defined as a maximum allowed duration for nodes of the same network to access the channel. When the network duty cycle time occurs, all nodes will back off the channel for a duty cycle extended inter frame space before transmitting again. The long coexistence preamble sequence and the network duty cycle time may be used together.

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.