Apparatus and method for powerline communication control of electrical devices

A powerline communication control system for controlling a lighting fixture, comprising a microcontroller, the microcontroller comprising a master controller and a plurality of lighting fixture controllers;

• the master controller, comprising:
• a conventional dimmer interface configured to interconnect with a plurality of different conventional dimmer controllers;
• a lighting control processor in communication with the dimmer interface, the lighting control processor generates a lighting unit command output in a lighting unit system command format in response to an indication of a user-adjusted setting of any interconnected plurality of different conventional dimmer controllers received from the conventional dimmer interface;
• and
• a power distribution system interface in communication with the lighting control processor and configured to interconnect with a power distribution system, the power distribution system interface superimposes the lighting unit system command output onto the power distribution system when connected thereto;
• and
• each of the plurality of lighting fixture controllers comprising:
• a command receiving interface configured to interconnect with the power distribution system, the command receiving interface separates the lighting unit system command output from the power distribution system when connected thereto;
• a slave control processor in communication with the command receiving interface and converts the received lighting unit system command output into a corresponding lighting unit control command;
• and
• a lighting unit interface for providing the lighting unit control command to its respective lighting unit to control the respective lighting unit in response to the user-adjusted setting of any one of the interconnected conventional dimmers;
• wherein the master controller and the plurality of lighting fixture controllers comprise a modem embedded in the microcontroller, wherein the modem receives and outputs one or more signals from a single interface external to the microcontroller.