ISO/IEC 12139-1:2009

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 12139-1
First edition
2009-07-01
Information technology —
Telecommunications and information
exchange between systems — Powerline
communication (PLC) — High speed PLC
medium access control (MAC) and
physical layer (PHY) —
Part 1:
General requirements
Technologies de l'information — Télécommunications et échange
d'information entre systèmes — Courants porteurs en ligne (PLC) —
Contrôle d'accès au support (MAC) et couche physique (PHY) par PLC
à grande vitesse —
Partie 1: Exigences générales
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2009
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©  ISO/IEC 2009
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ii © ISO/IEC 2009 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword.iv
1 Scope .1
2 Normative References.1
3 Terms and Definitions .2
4 Acronyms and Abbreviations.5
5 Reference Models .8
5.1 PLC Reference Model.8
5.2 Interface Protocol Reference Model .8
5.3 PLC Network Topology .9
6 PHY Specification .10
6.1 Overview of PHY.10
6.2 PSDU Format.11
6.3 DMT Transmitter .14
6.4 Transmission Mode.21
7 MAC Specification .24
7.1 Structure of MAC .24
7.2 Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) .27
7.3 PSDU Format.38
7.4 Address Resolution.50
7.5 Interactive Operation with Link Layer .51
7.6 Priority Classification.52
7.7 Proxy Setting Procedure.52
7.8 Channel Estimation (CE) Procedure.53
7.9 Security.56
7.10 Repeater Function by Cell Bridge (CB) .56
7.11 Request To Send (RTS)/Clear To Send (CTS).57
7.12 Link Restriction Function for Application of Access Network .62
Annex A (informative) Solution to Hidden-Node Problem .63
A.1 Solutions Other than RTS/CTS.63
A.2 Data Communication Procedure Considering Hidden STAs.64
© ISO/IEC 2009 – All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives,
Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting.
Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies
casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 12139-1 was prepared by Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (as KS X 4600-1)
and was adopted, under a special “fast-track procedure”, by Joint Technical Committee
ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, in parallel with its approval by the national bodies of ISO and
IEC.
ISO/IEC 12139 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology —
Telecommunications and information exchange between systems — Powerline communication
(PLC) — High speed PLC medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY):
⎯ Part 1: General requirements
Advanced MAC and PHY requirements will form the subject of a future Part 2.
Part 1 covers MAC and PHY technology for In-home/Access data networks via powerline
communications (PLC), the system of which is operating below 30MHz. The coexistence schemes will
be considered in developing Part 2, which will apply to data and high quality multimedia networks
requiring advanced MAC and PHY technology. The used or forbidden band of this standard will be
subject to national regulations.

iv © ISO/IEC 2009 – All rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 12139-1:2009(E)

Information technology — Telecommunications and
information exchange between systems — Powerline
communication (PLC) — High speed PLC medium access
control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) —
Part 1:
General requirements
1 Scope
The scope of this standard is a physical and medium access control layer specification with respect to
the connectivity for ‘In-home’ and ‘Access’ network high speed powerline communication stations.
This standard provides functional requirements and specification of the physical and medium access
control layer for high speed powerline communication devices, and does not include specific
implementation methods.
2 Normative References
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 8802-11:2005, Information technology — Telecommunications and information exchange
between systems — Local and metropolitan area networks — Specific requirements — Part 11:
Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications
ITU-T G.992.1: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Transceivers
ITU-T G.994.1: Handshake Procedure for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Transceivers
IEEE Std 802.3:2000, Information technology — Local and metropolitan area networks — Part 3:
Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) access method and physical layer
specifications
FCC Rules, 47 CFR (10-1-98 Edition), Part 15: Radio Frequency Devices
Federal Information Processing Standards: Publication 46-3 Data Encryption Standard (DES)
T1E1.4 Trial-Use Standard: Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Lines (VDSL) Metallic Interface
Part 1: Functional Requirements and Common Specification
T1E1.4 Trial-Use Standard: Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Lines (VDSL) Metallic Interface
Part 3: Technical Specification for a Multi-Carrier Modulation (MCM) Transceiver
© ISO/IEC 2009 – All rights reserved 1

3 Terms and Definitions
3.1 Ad-hoc network
A network consisting of only stations within the boundary of communication through powerlines
The ad-hoc network is typically generated in a voluntary manner.
3.2 Backbone
A facility or a collection of facilities for connecting LAN to WAN
3.3 Backoff Period
A period during which stations contend for the medium access
3.4 Backoff Procedure
A procedure to disperse the times at which stations with queued frames attempt transmission
3.5 Backoff Value
The number of time slots that a station shall wait for initiating a transaction
3.6 Bit
The basic unit of the binary system
In binary system, every number is expressed in ‘0’ or ‘1’, each of which is a bit.
3.7 Byte
A unit comprised of a set of bits, the basic unit of data representing ‘0’ or ‘1’
8 bits constitute 1 byte.
3.8 Carrier Sense
A station's standard for determining whether the medium is currently occupied
3.9 Cell
A synonym for logical network
3.10 Cell Bridge (CB)
A station connecting two different cells
Cell Bridge provides the repeater functionality.
3.11 Ciphertext
Encrypted data
3.12 Cleartext
Unencrypted data
3.13 Collision
An event of two or more frames colliding in the medium, caused by simultaneous transmission of the
frames
3.14 Contention Window
A slotted range in which each station can select a time slot to initiate a transaction
3.15 Delimiter
A combination of preamble and control frame
3.16 Differential Modulation
A modulation that encodes information by the 'phase difference' between two consecutive symbols
2 © ISO/IEC 2009 – All rights reserved

3.17 Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT)
A modulation technique in which a channel with a certain bandwidth is divided into subchannels (or
tones) of narrower bandwidths
Each subchannel is modulated by a different subcarrier.
3.18 Flip-flop
A circuit that has two stable states
It maintains its state until the input decides on one stable state and another input approves of it by
deciding on the other state.
It can memorize a bit by corresponding two stable states to ‘1’ and ‘0’.
3.19 Frame
A synonym for PSDU
3.20 Home Networking
Sharing digital data and constructing an environment with availability of broadband communication by
forming a network between information devices at home
3.21 InterFrame Space
A time interval between frames on the medium
3.22 Link Timer
A value that increases at each symbol after the link between two stations is established
3.23 Logical Network
A network classified by Group Identifier (GID)
A single physical network can be divided into more than one logical network.
Logical Network is a synonym for cell.
3.24 MAC Management Information (MMI)
Management information for MAC generated by MAC Management Entity (MME)
3.25 MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU)
A frame unit that consists of frame header and frame body
Frame body contains either MSDU(s) or MMI(s), each in FBB format.
3.26 MAC Service Data Unit (MSDU)
A frame unit used in the MAC layer
It contains data from link layer.
3.27 Medium BUSY
A medium state indicating that a station has occupied the medium
To determine this state, Physical Carrier Sense (PCS) and Virtual Carrier Sense (VCS) are used.
3.28 Medium CONTENTION
A medium state indicating that stations are contending for the medium access
It starts after Short Contention InterFrame Space (SCIFS) or Long Contention InterFrame Space
(LCIFS) from the end of the last previous transaction.
3.29 Medium IDLE
A medium state indicating that no station has occupied the medium
It starts after SCIFS or LCIFS plus maximum Contention Window Size (CWS) from th
...