
increases when a station could not emit, making it possible to bring the use of the
network in line with this priority level.
Figure 3.5 illustrates the operation of the CSMA/CA algorithm in its entirety.
Listening to the Medium
In PLC, the medium is listened to both at the physical layer level with the PCS (phys-
ical carrier sense) and at the MAC layer level with the VCS (virtual carrier sense).
The PCS makes it possible to know the state of the medium by sensing the pres-
ence of other PLC stations and analyzing the received frames, or by listening to the
medium activity thanks to the relative power of the signal from the various stations.
The PCS relies on listening to certain received frames, preamble frames, and pri-
ority frames.
The VCS does not actually allow listening to the medium but reserves it by using
the PCS.
Transmission Channel Functionalities 39
Figure 3.5 CSMA/CA operation in HomePlug 1.0
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