Division of bit streams to produce spatial paths for multicarrier transmission

A PLC device adapted for receiving data symbols on a plurality of sub-carriers via a first transmission channel and a second transmission channel, comprising

• a first symbol demapper unit configured to demap first data symbols transmitted over the first transmission channel to a first bit stream and a second symbol demapper unit configured to demap second data symbols transmitted over the second transmission channel to a second bit stream, and
• a multiplexer unit configured to multiplex the first and second bit streams to obtain a single output bit stream, wherein
• each of the first data symbols represents a continuous sequence of bits of the output bit stream,
• each of the second data symbols represents a continuous sequence of bits of the output bit stream, and
• first and second data symbols assigned to a corresponding sub-carrier of the first and the second transmission channels represent a continuous bit sequence of the output bit stream.

A method of transmitting data symbols on a plurality of sub-carriers via a first transmission channel and a second transmission channel of a PLC system, comprising:

• providing, at a transmitting device, a first and a second split bit stream from an input bit stream, wherein continuous sequences of consecutive bits of the input bit stream are alternately allocated to the first and the second split bit streams;
• mapping, at the transmitting device, bits included in the first split bit stream to first data symbols for the sub-carriers of the first transmission channel and mapping bits included in the second split bit stream to second data symbols for the sub-carriers of the second transmission channel, wherein
• each of the first data symbols represents a continuous sequence of bits from the input bit stream,
• each of the second data symbols represents a continuous sequence of bits from the input bit stream, and
• first and second data symbols assigned to a corresponding sub-carrier of the first and the second transmission channels represent a continuous bit sequence from the input bit stream.