Communications in Beacon-Enabled Networks

A system, comprising:

• a power line communication (PLC) device coupled to a low-voltage (LV) power line, the LV power line coupled to a medium-voltage (MV) power line through a transformer, the PLC device comprising:
• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store program instructions executable by the processor to cause the PLC device to:
• conduct a first communication with a PLC data concentrator coupled to the MV power line following a superframe, the superframe including a plurality of beacon slots, a plurality of contention access period (CAP) slots, and a guaranteed time slot (GTS), each of the plurality of CAP slots occupying a different one of the plurality of frequency subbands, the first communication configured to take place during at least one of:
• a selected one of the plurality of CAP slots or the GTS;
• and
• conduct a second communication with another PLC device coupled to the LV power line, the second communication configured to take place without interfering with the first communication.

A non-transitory electronic storage medium having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a processor within a power line communication (PLC) device, cause the PLC device to:

• store a first superframe having a first set of beacon slots and a first set of contention access period (CAP) slots, each slot of the first set of beacon slots following a first sequence of frequency subbands and each slot of the first set of CAP slots following the first sequence of frequency subbands;
• store a second superframe having a second set of beacon slots and a second set of CAP slots, each slot of the second set of beacon slots following a second sequence of frequency subbands and each slot of the second set of CAP slots following the second sequence of frequency subbands, wherein the second sequence of frequency subbands is orthogonal with respect to the first sequence of frequency subbands;
• select the first or second superframe;
• and
• communicate with another PLC device using the selected superframe.