Metricom PLC-1 is a 0.6 micron C-MOS digital ASIC implementing on a single die a high performance PowerLine Carrier (PLC) transceiver. Along with a few inexpensive external components, the chip allows to build low cost high performance PLC network. The chip offers a full set of high level functions, greatly simplifying application development:

• Very robust FSK demodulation technique offering the best signal to noise ratio on the market.
• Low harmonic narrow band modulation.
• Programmable from 100 bauds to 30,000 bauds.
• Programmable carrier frequency from 50 kHz to 500 kHz.
• Complete Medium Access Control (MAC) logic on chip.
• Automatic preamble generation.
• CSMA/CD type collision detection and resolution.
• Automatic packet priority management.
• Packet queueing function.
• Error detection: standard 16 bit CRC append/strip.
• High efficiency Forward Error Correction
• Nibble oriented efficient data encoding/decoding with control characters EOF and EOP.
• Full transaction type management. (UNACK, ACK/IACK)
• General timer used for retransmission delay timing, duplicate packet rejection.
• Parallel and serial interface port. (SPI)
• Fully implements OSI Physical Layer.
• Protocol independant: can be used to transport any high-level-protocol packet (HPnP, LonTalk, CAB, even user-defined, etc...)
• The PLC medium may be shared transparently by N sub-networks using different high-level protocols.

Metricom@globetrotter.qc.ca