ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses an overview of the standardisation efforts in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) on narrowband power line communication (NB-PLC). One of the first low data rate (LDR) NB-PLC standards ratified is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) 709.1 standard, also known as LonWorks. Issued by ANSI in 1999, it became an international standard in 2008. The Medium access control (MAC) layer is an interface between the logical link control (LLC) and the Physical layer (PHY). The MAC layer regulates access to the medium using carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). Security is provided by encryption and authentication of the relevant data and management frames communicated between the nodes of the domain. Encryption and authentication of data and relevant management messages use the Counter with Cipher Block Chaining-Message Authentication Code (CCM) algorithm based on 128-bit AES-128.
