A regulation method intended to reduce congestion in a mesh powerline communication network that includes a plurality of node devices, a route discovery request being sent by a source node device and requests being relayed by intermediate node devices to a destination node device. The regulation method is implemented by an intermediate node device, which can receive a plurality of route discovery requests, and includes the steps of: detecting a congestion situation when a number of requests received over a time window of predefined duration is above a predefined first threshold; identifying requests as important when the number of any one request received over the time window of predefined duration is above a second predefined threshold; and relaying solely requests identified as important.

A method for transmitting data in a power line communication network, the method being executed in a network node device configured so as to communicate in a plurality of separate frequency bands with a second network node device, the method comprising steps for selecting a transmission mode for transmitting in a frequency band called “extended frequency band” comprising at least two separate frequency bands chosen from among the plurality of separate frequency bands; distributing data to be transmitted in the extended frequency band into a plurality of groups of data, each group being assigned to just one of the at least two separate frequency bands; and transmitting the data in each of the plurality of groups of data in the separate frequency band to which the group is assigned, the step for distributing the data being carried out by a data interleaver.

A transmission method in a first node device of a power line communication network, the first node device being configured so as to apply a reception mode for receiving data transmitted by a second node device in one or more separate frequency bands in parallel or else in a frequency band called “extended frequency band” comprising at least two separate frequency bands, the method comprising steps of de-interleaving the data read from a buffer memory in a first de-interleaving mode specific to reception in an extended frequency band and detecting whether the de-interleaved data are coherent and, if the obtained data are coherent, recording the de-interleaved data and, if not, de-interleaving data, for each of the separate frequency bands, in a de-interleaving mode specific to the separate frequency band for which the de-interleaving is performed and, if the de-interleaved data are coherent, recording the de-interleaved data.

A method for determining a mode of transmission between two nodes of a power line communication network, the method comprising transmitting a first message from the first node to the second node in at least two frequency bands, said first message comprising, in each of the at least two frequency bands, information according to which a channel estimate is requested; the first node receiving at least one second message transmitted from the second node and comprising information representative of a channel estimate of at least one of the frequency bands in response to the first message; and determining a transmission mode for transmitting a third message to be transmitted based on the information received from the second node in response to the first message. The invention also relates to a device configured so as to execute the method.

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 method for transporting LoRa frames over a first network of a system for the automated management of meterings from a plurality of electricity meters, referred to as meters, said meters in the plurality being attached to at least one data concentrator via the first network, each data concentrator being connected to a server via a second network. The method is executed by a meter in the plurality and comprises: receiving a frame, each frame received corresponding to the same frame sent by an endpoint; relaying a received frame, referred to as the first frame, corresponding to said sent frame, in the direction of the server, the first frame being selected in accordance with a predetermined criterion; when a plurality of frames corresponding to said sent frame are received, rejecting at least a subset of frames in the plurality of frames different from the first frame.

A method and a device for transmitting a message from a first node device to one or more node devices that are neighbours of the node device, the node devices belonging to an electrical supply network using powerline and radio communications. The first node device detects a disconnection of the electrical energy supply; the first node device checks in a routing table whether it is connected by a radio link to a neighbouring node device, if so, the first node device sends a unicast message by the radio link to the neighbouring node device indicating a disconnection of the electrical energy supply to the first node device, if not, the first node device sends a radio broadcast message indicating that a disconnection of the electrical energy supply is detected by the first node device.

Embodiments include methods of powerline communications using a preamble with band extension is provided. A method may include receiving a packet data unit PDU. Bit-level repetition is applied to at least a portion of the PDU to create a repeated portion. Interleaving is performed per a subchannel. Pilot tones are inserted in the interleaved portion. Each data tone is modulated with respect to a nearest one of the inserted pilot tones. The PDU is transmitted over a power line.

Systems and methods for setting a carrier-sensing mechanism in a PLC node are disclosed. In a PLC standard, coexistence is achieved by having the nodes detect a common preamble and backing off by a Coexistence InterFrame Space (cEIFS) time period to help the node to avoid interfering with the other technologies. In one embodiment, a PHY primitive is sent from the PHY to the MAC know that there has been a preamble detection. A two-level indication may be used—one indication after receiving the preamble and other indication after decoding the entire frame. The MAC sets the carrier-sensing mechanism based on the preamble detection.

Techniques for computing electrical phase of electrical metering devices are described. In an example, data indicating zero-crossing times at first and second metering devices is obtained. A time-difference between the zero-crossing times may be determined. In a first example, the time-difference may be based at least in part on calculations involving a first value of a first free-run timer on a first metering device, a second value of a second free-run timer on a second metering device, and a time of a transmission between the metering devices. In a second example, the time-difference may be based at least in part on calculations involving a start or end time of a time-slot of a spread spectrum radio frequency transmission scheme. A phase difference between the first zero-crossing and the second zero-crossing may be determined, based at least in part on the determined time-difference.