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Tegawendé F. Bissyandé
Gertjan van Stam (Eds.)
135
e-Infrastructure
and e-Services
for Developing Countries
5th International Conference, AFRICOMM 2013
Blantyre, Malawi, November 25–27, 2013
Revised Selected Papers
123
Lecture Notes of the Institute
for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics
and Telecommunications Engineering 135
Editorial Board
Ozgur Akan
Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Paolo Bellavista
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Jiannong Cao
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Falko Dressler
University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
Domenico Ferrari
Università Cattolica Piacenza, Piacenza, Italy
Mario Gerla
UCLA, Los Angels, USA
Hisashi Kobayashi
Princeton University, Princeton, USA
Sergio Palazzo
University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Sartaj Sahni
University of Florida, Florida, USA
Xuemin (Sherman) Shen
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
Mircea Stan
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
Jia Xiaohua
City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Albert Zomaya
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Geoffrey Coulson
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8197
Tegawendé F. Bissyandé Gertjan van Stam (Eds.)
•
e-Infrastructure
and e-Services
for Developing Countries
5th International Conference, AFRICOMM 2013
Blantyre, Malawi, November 25–27, 2013
Revised Selected Papers
123
Editors
Tegawendé F. Bissyandé Gertjan van Stam
University of Luxembourg Scientific and Industrial Research
Luxembourg and Development Centre
Luxembourg Harare
Zimbabwe
Ó Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2014
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material contained herein.
Africomm 2013, the 5th version of the EAI Conference on e-Infrastructure and e-
Services for Developing Countries, held during November 25–28 in Blantyre, Malawi,
proved to be a unique and truly African meeting place. Scientists, practitioners, stu-
dents, and professionals met to discuss research and development of efficient and
effective infrastructures and solutions in situations of limited resources. This work is
of utmost importance as it constitutes a key-enabler for the diffusion of ICT in
developing countries.
In a concerted effort, participants interacted to discuss issues and trends, recent
research, innovation advances and in-the-field experiences related to e-Governance, e-
Infrastructure, and e-Business with a focus on developing countries.
This volume of papers testifies of the exemplary efforts and sacrifices made by
participants and the Organizing Committee. The excellent work supported an exciting
program, and provides a unique insight in appropriate technology and practice. We
thank the peer-reviewers and all involved for a job well done. Thanks to our Malawian
colleagues for excellent arrangements.
The papers, the commitment to participate, the sending communities, and the
representation of research, practise, and interaction, made Africomm 2013 a milestone
event.
Special thanks to the program chair, Tegawendé Bissyandé, for the excellent
preservation of academic ethics and value.
Let these conference proceedings of Africomm 2013 be a milestone of agency and
empowerment for cultural aligned practices in e-Infrastructure and e-Services in
developing countries.
Steering Committee
Imrich Chlamtac (Chair) CREATE-NET, Italy
Salomao Julio Manhica UTICT, Mozambique
Fausto Giunchiglia University of Trento, Italy
Paolo Traverso FBK, Italy
General Chair
PC Chair
Local Chair
Publicity Chair
Student Affairs
1 Introduction
Operators in rural areas often face the challenge to support the bandwidth and
QoS demands of today’s on-line service offerings. While in urban areas back-
hauling capacity can be increased at relatively low costs via a wire-line infrastruc-
ture, in rural areas wireless technologies are often the only affordable means to
establish back-hauling connectivity. Especially in emerging regions, the poten-
tial lack of access to a stable power grid is another crucial factor regarding the
CAPEX and OPEX considerations of candidate technologies.
In such scenarios, back-hauling networks are often built based on commercial-
of-the-shelf IEEE802.11 WiFi technology, to due its relatively high capacity and
a low energy footprint. Managed by Wireless Mesh Network (WMN)-style pro-
tocols such architectures, for example our carrier-grade WiBACK1 architecture,
1
http://www.wiback.org
c Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2014
T.F. Bissyandé and G. van Stam (Eds.): AFRICOMM 2013, LNICST 135, pp. 1–11, 2014.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-08368-1 1
2 M. Rademacher et al.
offer the potential to reduce CAPEX and OPEX tremendously due to their
self-configuration and self-management features, thus providing a resilient and
fault-tolerant network [1–3].
Legacy IEEE802.11a technology typically supports a maximum effective data
rate of approximately 30 Mbps [4], which can easily become a bottle neck in the
network, especially if triple-play services are to be supported. The more recent
IEEE802.11n standard [5] promises a tremendous increase of the actual through-
put by introducing more efficient Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCSs),
frame aggregation and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) support. The
main focus of the IEEE 802.11n standard is rather short distance communication
and many devices with the ability of using those advanced features can already
be found in consumer electronic devices.
The topology of a typical WiBACK scenario, however, is based on point-
to-point links with distances reaching from a few hundred meters up to several
kilometers defining a completely different scenario as intended by the IEEE
standard. In this paper we explore the applicability of IEEE 802.11n for long-
distance WiFi links and therefore as an option to increase the overall capacity
inside a WiBACK network. Our major focus is on exploiting the capacity gains
introduced by the MIMO capabilities using a single cross-polarized antenna,
which would allow to a very cost-effective design of multi-radio forwarding nodes.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. In Sect. 2 we intro-
duce related work and briefly summarize the main concepts of IEEE802.11n
and MIMO including upcoming challenges with long distance links. Section 3
describes our experiments with long distance 802.11n MIMO links and their
results which we conclude in Sect. 4.
In [6] experiments with long distance MIMO links focusing on polarized anten-
nas2 are presented. Using .11n draft 2.0 and a maximum link distance of 700
m, they show that polarized antennas improve MIMO for long distance and a
maximum throughput of 60 Mbps was reached. In [7] the authors show that even
for long distance MIMO links high ranked channel matrices are possible. The
focus in [8] is the definition of a model describing the coverage and capacity of a
.11n cell based approach. In [9] similar considerations about 802.11n links were
done however, their results differ from ours. The maximum throughput reached
was 40 Mbps exploiting all 802.11n features over 1.8 km and they measured a
significant gradual decrease over the link distance. This throughput decrease
seems to be related to a low SNR rather than to the applicability of 802.11n
features on long distance links. To the best of our knowledge, no prior research
has investigated the maximum possible throughput of IEEE802.11n MIMO long-
distance links (>10 km) using a single cross-polarized antenna while taking QoS
considerations into account.
2
And the influence of the “Keyhole Effect”.
IEEE 802.11n MIMO Links for Broadband Back-Hauling 3
Physical Layer. Regarding the main concepts of the PHY layer .11a and .11n
use the same principles to ensure interoperability. However, 802.11n extends the
concepts in every parameterizable value aiming at a throughput increase of the
current maximum 54 Mbps as described in the following.
Although IEEE802.11a allocated a channel width of 20 MHz only 16.56 MHz
are used divided into 53 subcarriers (0.3125 MHz each) with 48 of them con-
taining data bits. IEEE802.11n exploits the 20 MHz more efficiently by adding
two additional data sub-carriers on each side increasing the maximum physical
throughput to 54 Mbps ∗ 5248 = 58.5 Mbps.
To detect a limited number of errors after the transmission .11a use convolu-
tional codes with a maximum coding rate of 3/4. With less redundancy, 802.11n
introduces an additional coding rate of 5/6 increasing the maximum physical
data rate to 58.5 Mbps ∗ 43 ∗ 56 = 65 Mbps.
Intersymbol interference is an unwanted phenomena in telecommunications
where one symbol interferes with subsequent ones. For IEEE802.11a one OFDM
symbol last 4 µs consisting of 3.2 µs data and a guard period of 0.8 µs, .11n
introduced the optional feature of a shortened guard-interval lasting 0.4 µs and
decreasing the overall symbol duration to 3.6 µs and therefore increase the max-
imum throughput to 65 Mbps ∗ 3.6 4
= 72.2 Mbps.
To overcome the limits proposed by the Shannon-Hartley theorem, the most
obvious move to increase the throughput is to use a wider communication chan-
nel, while .11a defines a maximum channel width of 20 MHz3 .11n allows to
double this capacity to 40 MHz. Two direct 20 MHz neighbor channels can be
bundled to overall 116 OFDM sub-carriers (108 containing data) increasing the
maximum physical data rate to 72.2 Mbps ∗ 108 52 = 150 Mbps.
All introduced enhancements in this sections apply equally to all lower
802.11n modulations as well and are, for the 802.11n case, called Modulation
and Coding Scheme (MCS) labeled from zero to seven.
Medium Access Control Layer. After applying the high throughput enhance-
ments to the physical layer, changes on the MAC layer were mandatory due to the
poor scaling of throughput at the MAC layer, especially when using high physi-
cal data rates [10]. Some of the following MAC enhancement were already intro-
duced by the IEEE802.11e standard nevertheless they are consistently extended
for .11n.
Between every transmission a small period of time (SIFS - 16 µs) is added to
ensure the receiver has the chance to sent an acknowledgement or other stations
3
With the exception of the Atheros proprietary “Super-G” mode.
4 M. Rademacher et al.
A-MSDU A-MPDU
PSDU PSDU
MSDU- MSDU- MSDU- MPDU- MPDU- MPDU-
PHY-HDR MAC-HDR FCS PHY-HDR
sub 1 sub ... sub N sub 1 sub ... sub N
MPDU
DA SA Length MSDU PAD MAC-HDR MSDU FCS PAD
Delimiter
− z ∗ h−1
x=x (3)
−1
x1 x1 h11 h12
= −z∗ (4)
x2 x2 h21 h22
distance between the receiver and the transmitter. In [7] a model predicting
the spacing needed and in [6] practical examples are given but both conclude,
that such a deployment is not practical also because of the need for long coaxial
cable. The second option is the usage of two antennas where one points to a
large obstacle to force a multi path propagation due to reflexions. The typical
WiBACK use-case bar this option on the one hand due to the rural environ-
ment and on the other hand because of complex process of antenna pointing not
suitable for untrained persons. The third option is the usage of a single antenna
with the ability of sending two streams with different polarizations called cross-
polarized antennas. Depending on the quality and kind of antenna, there is an
attenuation between the two signals of approximately 20–30 dB. This attenu-
ation should lead to sufficient de-correlation of the signals in a long-distance
environment to enable MIMO operation to increase the maximum throughput.
This option has no known practical disadvantage and only a minor affect on the
costs of our network equipment (CAPEX)7 .
3 Measurements
To evaluate and compare the behavior of .11n techniques on long distances dif-
ferent test links have been set up and utilized. A short link in a laboratory envi-
ronment using stubby antennas serves as reference to evaluate the long distance
influence. Two different long distance links have been installed, both originating
at the Fraunhofer Campus in Birlinghoven, Germany. The first link terminates
with non-perfect8 conditions and a distance of 5 km at tree nursery while the
second ends with perfect propagation conditions 10.3 km away on a radio tower.
All three links with exception of the radio tower9 use the same hardware, a
tailor-made embedded computer equipped with dual Intel Atom N2800 CPUs
and three Ubiquity SR71 wireless cards based on the Atheros AR9280 chipset.
Two different kinds of MIMO antennas were used - a Ubiquity Rocket Dish 5G30
offering enough gain for high modulations over 10.3 km and a Mars MA-WA56-
DP25NB at both sides of the 5 km link. The operating System is Debian Squeeze
using a modified kernel which is optimized for long distance links in terms of
MAC layer timings, contention window sizes and transmission buffer to ensure
that enough packets are available for A-MPDU aggregation. As wireless driver
serves ath9k and the rate control algorithm is PID while most of the time a
fixed rate is chosen to prevent instable performance as shown in [13]. Some test
beforehand proofs that with two notable exception every 802.11n-enhancement
is already implemented in the ath9k driver - short guard interval and A-MSDU
aggregation are not available in ad hoc mode. All measurements were done using
a tool called 80211Analyzer developed at Fraunhofer FOKUS at the receiver and
the mgen traffic generator at the transmitter. The 80211Analyzer receives WiFi
frames via the monitor device which is working parallel to the standard interface
7
The price of the cross-polarized antenna is marginally higher.
8
LOS with obstacles looming in the Fresnel Zone.
9
Slower CPU: AMD Geode LX 800.
IEEE 802.11n MIMO Links for Broadband Back-Hauling 7
offering the ability to evaluate all lower packet headers as well as - after reorder-
ing - any possible retransmissions and losses. To ensure comparability Table 1
shows a fixed set of parameters used for all following measurements.
3.1 Results
Utilizing the three introduced test scenarios this section describes the performed
experiments and their results. By stepwise enabling the .11n features intro-
duced in Sect. 2.1 we are in the situation of evaluating their applicability for
long distance links separately. Figure 2 shows the result for enabling the OFDM-
enhancements as well as A-MPDU aggregation with a maximum size of 216
byte. By stepwise increasing the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) from
0–7 every minute the physical data rate increases to 65 Mbps. The MAC layer
70 100
phy-rate Lab 10.3km 5km
60
Througput [Mbps]
50
10
Loss [%]
40
30
1
20
10
0 0.1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
MCS
60 40
10.3km Delay phy-rate
50 35
Througput [Mbps]
30
Delay [ms]
40 25
30 20
20 15
10
10 5
0 0
210 211 212 213 214 215 216
A-MPDU factor
aggregation successfully closes the gap between physical and real throughput
induced in the .11a standard [14] by back-offs and inter-frame spaces so that
the throughput for the laboratory and 10.3 km link raises simultaneously to 60
Mbps. A weak RSSI trough bad propagation conditions10 causes that MCS 5
is the best rate for the 5 km link but the behavior for lower or equal to MCS
5 is identical to the other scenarios. To evaluate the inevitably increasing delay
induced by aggregation we applied all available A-MPDU factors to the 10 km
link as shown in Fig. 3. The first two A-MPDU factors have no difference in
throughput and latency due to a large payload in combination with a MTU
of 1470 byte. After that, the throughput increases with every doubling step of
the A-MPDU factor. The increase is not linear, it is steep at the beginning
and flattens at the end because of the fixed time for back-offs, IFS and block
acknowledgments. As expected the latency rises with increasing A-MPDU fac-
tor which occurs due to the longer buffering of the packets before transmitting
them in an aggregated way. While the relative throughput increase between the
two highest A-MPDU factors is low, the increase in the latency is with 6 ms
high in comparison, but also approximately computable11 . Figure 4 pictures the
applicability of cross polarized antennas to use .11n with spatial multiplexing.
As described in Sect. 2.1 MIMO is a physical layer enhancement therefore loss
is included in the plot instead of delay. It can be observed that the throughput
140 100
phy-rate Lab 10.3km 5km
120
Througput [Mbps]
100
10
Loss [%]
80
60
1
40
20
0 0.1
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
MCS
300 100
Phy-rate Lab 10.3km 5km
250
Througput [Mbps]
200 10
Loss [%]
150
100 1
50
0 0.1
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
MCS
increased nearly by factor two using the aerials in the laboratory as well as the
cross polarized antennas on the long distance links. This indicates that the cross
polarized antennas are suitable for long distance .11n MIMO links. The attenu-
ation between the two streams on different polarizations is sufficient to form a
nearly perfect channel matrix, which is an unexpected result. By increasing the
channel width to 40 MHz our last measurement provides a complete view using
all available 802.11n enhancements at the same time. Figure 5 pictures that the
throughput in the laboratory environment increases to nearly 200 Mbps. As
mentioned, the hardware at the radio tower is older with less CPU power than
the other systems. With the usage of MCS 14 the CPU was saturated and the
mgen process failed creating the amount of packets needed for this data rate.
Nevertheless, the throughput rises up to 170 Mbps over 10km using 802.11n and
by evaluating the lower modulation there are no reasons to assume that 200
Mbps are not possible.
4 Conclusion
Optimizing parameters such as back-off timings, AIFS for traffic class separation
as well as various queue lengths is the next important step to further increase the
Quality of Service and thereby the user experience in our WiBACK network. This
optimization should be based on a traffic mix including different packet sizes,
acknowledgments and face challenges occurring with protocols like TCP. We
10 M. Rademacher et al.
plan to apply the findings of this paper to sub-GHz WiFi (i.e. TVWS, 802.11ah)
to increase the efficiency of this high potential frequency ranges.
Acknowledgment. This work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education
and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany (Förderkennzeichen 01 BU 1116,
SolarMesh - Energieeffizientes, autonomes großflächiges Sprach- und Datenfunknetz
mit flacher IP- Architektur). The authors alone are responsible for the content of this
paper.
References
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Review of Power Line Communications
Standards in Africa
1 Introduction
To provide efficient transparent communication over the power line network, stan-
dards are fundamental. A standard is a document providing rules requirements and
guidelines for a product, process and services [1, 2]. The document is prepared and
produced by the standardization organizations (SDOs). In power line communications
(PLC), the SDOs focus on the physical (PHY) and on the data link (DLL) layers as
shown on Fig. 1. The other layers are reserved for the application. The power line
communications technology shares some regulations with the wired based commu-
nication technologies such as telephone wire.
Power line communications is characterized by two regulated segments named
narrow band power line communications (NBPLC) and broad band power line
communications (BBPLC). BBPLC deals with frequencies above 1 MHz while
NBPLC deals with frequencies less than 500 kHz. The range of frequencies between
3 kHz and 145.8 kHz is regulated by the European committee for electrotechnical
standardization (CENELEC) [3, 4]. It is suitable for low data transmission over power
line. It is possible to deploy high data transmission over NBPLC in the range of
frequencies between 145.3 kHz and 478.125 kHz, which corresponds to the second
frequency band of the federal communication commission (FCC) [5]. This paper
presents in Sect. 2 the repartition of the frequencies between SDOs. Forthwith, some
applications of power line communications for both NBPLC and BBPLC are
Ó Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2014
T.F. Bissyandé and G. van Stam (Eds.): AFRICOMM 2013, LNICST 135, pp. 12–21, 2014.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-08368-1_2
Review of Power Line Communications Standards in Africa 13
Medium
Transport
Network
PHY
DLL
OSI
presented in Sect. 3. The Sect. 4 talks about coexistence of standards and interoper-
ability between technologies. Section 5 gives the advantages and disadvantages of
PLC technology in African context.
Fig. 2. Power line communications frequencies allocation by SDOs, alliances and groups
range of frequencies between 120 kHz and 400 kHz. HomePlug also proposes
HomePlug Green PHY (HPGP BB) and HomePlug AV (HPAV) using the frequency
band 1.8 MHz to 30 MHz [11]. HomePlug AV2 technologies extends the HPAV’s
frequencies to 86 MHz [10, 12]. HPGP BB differs from HPAV on the modulation
schemes used, the forward error correction (FEC) methods and the access modes [10].
Review of Power Line Communications Standards in Africa 15
The IEEE 1901-2010 standard uses the frequencies between 2 MHz and 50 MHz.
The IEEE 1901.2 provides standards for low frequency, less than 500 kHz, narrow
band power line communications for smart grid applications. Its uses the frequency
band 10 kHz–490 kHz for low and high data transmission [6]. The ITU organization
separates standards for the physical layer (PHY) and for the data link layer (DLL).
It proposes a technology named ITU-T G.hnem for NBPLC. The ITU-T G.9955
standard specifies the regulations for PHY while the ITU-T G.9956 standard gives rules
for DLL [8]. The technology proposed by the ITU organization on BBPLC is ITU-T
G.hnem. The ITU-T G.hnem complies with two different standards: The ITU-T G.9960
standard developed for PHY layer and the ITU-T G.9961 standard proposed for DLL.
The ITU organization on BBPLC specifies a platform for smart grid (2 MHz to
30 MHz), it also gives specifications to differentiate between two cases: when the
distance between two modules is greater than 50 m (2 MHz to 50 MHz) and when the
distance is greater than 100 m (2 MHz to 100 MHz) [8]. The CENELEC organization
is composed of many technical bodies. One of them is in charge of developing
EN50065-1 standard (Signaling on low-voltage electrical installations in the frequency
range 3 kHz to 148.5 kHz - Part 1: General requirements, frequency bands and elec-
tromagnetic disturbances) [3, 4]. The EN50065-1 standard divides its frequency band
in 4 sub-bands [3, 4]: CENELEC-A (3 kHz–95 kHz), reserved exclusively for energy
providers, and respectively CENELEC B-C-D (95 kHz–125 kHz; 125 kHz–140 kHz
and 140 kHz–148.5 kHz). The CENELEC B-C-D sub-bands are opened for end user
applications. The 2010’s version of the EN50065-1 is superseded by the EN50065-1:
2011. The EN50065-1: 2011 standard was ratified on 2011-03-21; it was available on
2011-04-22, announced on 2011-09-21 and published on 2012-03-21 [13].
The CENELEC organization shares some information with the international
electrotechnical commission (IEC), with the european committee for standardization
(CEN) and with the european telecommunication standards institute (ETSI). Some
PLC’s projects under IEC are developed in collaboration with the international
organization for standardization (ISO).
The IEC NBPLC’s standards propose to work between 3 kHz and 76 kHz [6]. The
special international committee on radio interference (CISPR) acting under IEC gives
the limits of the interferences. The disturbances limits for PLC systems are defined by
the CISPR22 standard. The electric power research institute (EPRI) organization in
China prefers the range between 3 kHz and 90 kHz while the FCC organization in
USA works over the range from 10 kHz to 490 kHz [14]. The association of radio
industries and businesses (ARIB) organization in Japan proposes the ARIB STD –
TB4 standard, using the range between 10 kHz and 450 kHz. In Canada, the inter-
ference causing equipment standard (ICES) proposes ICES – 006 standards working
in the range of frequencies between 0 and 535 kHz [15]. The transmission level for all
the standards is compatible with the graph proposed on Fig. 3. It is proposed by the
CENELEC and the FCC organizations [3, 4]. In NBPLC frequency bands, the ITU-T
G.hnem and the IEEE P1901.2 technologies, ANSI, HomePlug, PRIME, ISO and IEC
use the signal level proposed in EN50065-1 by the CENELEC organization, they
use FCC’s signal level when the frequency is out of the CENELEC’s range of fre-
quencies. In certain applications, the IEC standards use exclusively the CENELEC’s
16 A.R. Ndjiongue et al.
Transmission level
NB
PLC
BB PLC
CENELEC EN50065
CENELEC EN50065
60 dBµV
-
56 dBµV
30 Frequency MHz
0.01 0.2 0.5 2 5
transmission level. The standards’ elaboration methods within the main IDOs were
analysed by the authors and the summary is presented on Fig. 4.
The applications of power line communications technologies cover the whole axis of
frequencies proposed in Fig. 2. In accordance with the application, the axis is divided
into three portions as indicated in Fig. 5. Any portion is suitable for some specific
applications.
The broad band PLC uses the frequency band between 1 MHz and 300 MHz. It is
suitable for high data rate transmission, more than 10 Mbps. The NBPLC’s portion
uses the CENELEC bands for low data rate transmission, less than 50 kbps. Over the
frequencies from 145.3 kHz to 500 kHz, the NBPLC’s technologies are used to
perform high data rate transmission between 50 kbps and 1 Mbps. Thereby, the
applications of the power line communications technology are related to the frequency
band used. The applications of BBPLC can not be deployed over NBPLC frequencies.
The deployment of the technology over each range of frequencies is supported by
many companies and organisations. Table 1 gives some specifications on the appli-
cation of the power line communications technology. It shows the frequency band,
some modulation schemes proposed by the SDOs for both NBPLC and BBPLC. The
complexity of the forward error correction (FEC), the access method and some
companies and organisations supporting the standards are also mentioned.
The NBPLC frequency bands are used for metering, lighting, energy and grid
management.
Review of Power Line Communications Standards in Africa 17
The BBPLC frequency band is used for applications such as last mile telecom,
voice over IP and high definition television. Companies such as Gorlitz and alliances
such as G3-PLC, PRIME are specialised in meter manufacturing. The KNX organi-
sation is the standard for home and building control.
18 A.R. Ndjiongue et al.
This section presents the practical issue related to the deployment of standards and
technologies in power line communications sector. What are the standards and
technologies that can work together in the same network and in the same frequency
band? The ITU organisation has developed the inter system protocol (ISP) scheme
named ITU-T G.9972. The ITU-T G.9972 standard allows at least four technologies
simultaneously [10]. The recommendations of ITU were accepted by some other
organisations such as IEEE. The IEEE organisation has developed the IEEE 2030
standard for smart grid interoperability. The IEEE 1901.2 devices integrate the
interoperability option for PRIME and G3 legacy specifications. Those devices must
implement CENELEC A band [16].
The coexistence must be seen as the ability of more than one technology, network,
system or device to exchange data and to be able to use the information exchanged.
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alike. On the whole, greater sympathy was expressed for his sister,
lady Frances, who was more likely to be mortified,—who certainly
was more mortified at the connexion than the rest of her family. Her
father was understood to have insisted on her making the best of the
affair, since it could not be helped; but, whatever her outward
demeanour might appear, it would be too hard upon her to suppose
that she could do more than barely keep on terms with a sister-in-law
who had been on the stage. A solitary voice here and there
reminded the speculators how it was that lady F—— had adopted a
profession, and asked whether the connexion would have been
thought very preposterous if she had been known only as the highly
educated daughter of an eminent merchant; or whether the
marvellousness of the case rested on her father’s misfortunes, and
her choice of a way of life when he was no longer living to support
and protect her: but these questions met with no other answer than
that such a marriage was so very strange an one that the
speculators longed to see how all the parties carried it off; though, to
be sure, such beauty as lady F——’s went a great way towards
making the thing easy;—almost as far as her husband’s
carelessness of the opinion of the world.—Meanwhile, who had seen
her riding in the park? Was she more or less beautiful than on the
stage? Was lady Frances with her? Who had called, and who had
not? How was it to be the fashion to treat her? And so forth.
How much did all this signify to lord and lady F——, to the earl,
and to lady Frances? The bride fancied little, and feared nothing.
She had been conversant with many ranks of society, and had found
them all composed of men and women; and she never doubted that
in that with which she was about to become acquainted, she should
also have to deal with men and women. Her husband guessed what
speculations were going on, and did not care for them. The earl also
knew, and did care, as did lady Frances; but they disposed
differently of their anxieties; the earl repressing them in order to the
best disposition of circumstances which he could not prevent; his
daughter allowing them to fill her mind, appear in her manners, and
form a part of her conversation with her intimate friends.
Lady F—— and her husband dined alone on the day of the Duke
of A——’s ball. As the bride entered her dressing-room, she met her
lady’s-maid fidgeting about near the door.
“O, dear, my lady,” said Philips, “I am glad you are come. I was
just going to take the liberty of venturing to send Thérèse, to remind
your ladyship how very late it is growing. It would scarcely be justice,
either to myself or your ladyship, to cramp us for time in our first
toilet; and I was not able so much as to lay out your dress; for
Thérèse was so idle, I find, as not to have ascertained what your
ladyship intends to wear.”
“I have been so idle as not to have made up my own mind yet,
Philips. There is abundance of time, however, if you are no longer
dressing my hair than Thérèse and I shall be about the rest.”
Philips immediately looked very solemn; and though the toilet
lamps were duly lighted, and all was ready for her operations, she
stood with her arms by her side, in the attitude of waiting.
“Well, Philips, I am ready.”
“Will you please, my lady, to send Thérèse and her work
elsewhere? It cannot be expected that I should exhibit my ways so
as a mere novice may supplant me any day, my lady.”
“This is Thérèse’s proper place, and here she shall stay,” replied
the lady. “However, she shall read to us; and then, you know, she
cannot be a spy upon your doings.”
Thérèse read accordingly till the hair was dressed. At the first
pause, Philips observed that she must brush up her French, her
fluency in which she had lost from having missed the advantage of
visiting Paris last year.
“Thérèse will be obliged to any one who will talk with her in her
own tongue, Philips. Suppose, instead of having fancies about
supplanting one another, you make the best use you can of each
other, since you must be a good deal together.”
“I will do my best, I am sure, my lady, to instruct the girl in all that
relates to her own sphere, without encroaching on mine. I will do my
best to reform her dress, which really bespeaks her to be a green-
grocer’s daughter, if I may venture to say so. But as to dressing hair,
—allow me to appeal to lady Frances whether it can be expected
that I should disseminate my principles out of my own sphere.”
“See who knocks, Thérèse.”
The earl and lady Frances were below, and lady Frances would be
particularly glad to speak to Mrs. Philips, if not engaged with my lady.
Mrs. Philips, at her lady’s desire, went to receive her late mistress’s
commands, and Thérèse enacted the lady’s-maid, as she had done
from the time she had left Paris in lady F——’s train.
“Come, Thérèse, let us have done before anybody arrives to
criticise us novices. How nervous you look, child! What is the
difference between dressing me to-day and any other day?”
“There is no toilet in travelling, madame,—no fêtes like this; and in
the inns there was so much less grandeur than here. I have not been
educated to serve you, like Mrs. Philips, or to live in a great house.—
I am more fit to sew for you, madame, or read to you, than to help
you instead of Mrs. Philips.”
“I do not want two Mrs. Philipses, you know; and as for the
grandeur you speak of,—if we do not find it comfortable, we will have
done with it. What have we too much of,—of light, or of warmth, or of
drawers and dressing boxes, or of books? You like old china, and I
like old pictures, and here are both. Which of all these things do you
wish away?”
“O, none of them, I dare say, when I grow used to them: but they
are so little like my father’s house! I felt the inns very grand at first,
but they are bare and tarnished, compared with what we have here.”
“Yes. You would have been glad of such a rug as this under your
feet in those cold rooms at Amiens; and I should have liked such a
mirror as this instead of one so cracked, that one half of my face
looked as if it could not possibly fit the other. I see much to like and
nothing to be afraid of in rugs and mirrors.”
“You, madame, no! You are made to have the best of everything
come to you of its own accord; and you know how to use everything.
You....”
“And yet, Thérèse, I was once as poor as you, and poorer. If I
know how to use things, and if, as you say, they come to me of the
best, it is because I think first what they were made for, and not what
they are taken as signs of. If, instead of enjoying the luxuries of my
house, I were to look upon them as showing that I am lady F——, I
should be apt to try to behave as people think lady F—— should
behave; and then I should be awkward. Now, if you consider all the
pretty things you have to use, not as pointing you out as lady F——’s
lady’s-maid, but as intended to make me and my little friend
comfortable, you will not be distressed about being unlike Philips:
you will know that I had rather see you the same Thérèse that I
always knew you.”
“O, madame, this is being very good. But then, I cannot feel as
you do, because there is more occasion for me to think about the
change. There is my lord to take off your thoughts from such things;
he is with you in every new place, and you see how accustomed he
is to everything that is strange to you.”
“That does make some difference certainly,” said the lady, smiling,
“but then you should consider how many more new places and
people I have to make acquaintance with than you. Except Philips, or
two or three of the servants below, you have nobody to be afraid of,
and I am never long away. You will feel yourself at ease in one room
after another, and with one person after another, till you will learn to
do all your business, and speak all your thoughts, as simply and
confidently as you once watered the salads in your father’s shop,
and made your confession to good old father Bénoit.”
Thérèse sighed deeply, as she finished her task and withdrew to
the fireside, as if no longer to detain her lady about her own affairs.
“I have not forgotten, Thérèse, about finding a confessor for you. I
am only cautious lest we should not observe exactly your father’s
directions.”
“Madame—they are so very particular!—that the priest should be a
devout man, and very old and experienced in the confession of girls
like me.”
“I know; and we thought we had found such an one; but he has
forgotten almost all his French, and you could hardly confess in
English. But make yourself easy; your conscience shall soon be
relieved.—Good night. Philips will sit up.... More work, do you want?
—You may give Philips a French lesson. O, you have read all these
books. Well: come with me into the library, and I will find you more.”
On the stairs they met lord F——.
“Where are you going, Letitia? Frances is closeted with Philips in
the library.”
Thérèse immediately stole back to the dressing-room; but before
the carriages drove off, she was furnished with a fresh volume
wherewith to be occupied when she should have made tea for Mrs.
Philips and herself.
The earl had dreaded lest he should find Letitia nervous at the
prospect of the formidable evening she was about to pass. His visit
was meant to reassure her, and she understood the kindness of the
intention, and showed that she did. When lady Frances came in from
her conference with Philips, she found them side by side on the sofa,
—Letitia quiet and self-possessed, and the earl regarding her with as
much admiration as kindness.
“I am sure you may be obliged to me for giving up Philips to you,”
said lady Frances to Letitia. “She has dressed you beautifully to-
night. Is not she a treasure?”
“A great treasure to you, Frances,” said her brother, “so pray take
her back again. Letitia has one treasure of a maid in her dressing-
room already, and it is a pity she should rob you of yours.”
“Indeed it is,” said lady F——. “Philips’s accomplishments are
thrown away upon me, I am afraid. If you will allow her to give my
little French girl a few lessons, I shall be just as much obliged to you,
and shall not deprive you of your servant.”
Lady Frances protested; but her brother was peremptory, to her
utter astonishment, for she had never known him speak of lady’s
maids before, and would not have believed that he could ever learn
one from another. She did not perceive that he did not choose that
his wife’s beauty should be attributed to the art of her toilet.
Not the slightest trace of trepidation was observable in the bride
when she alighted from her carriage, when her name was shouted
up the staircase, or when all who were within hearing turned to gaze
as she entered the crowded saloon, leaning on the arm of the earl.
There was something much more like girlish glee than fear in her
countenance; for, the truth was, Letitia had a taste for luxury, as all
simple-minded persons would have, if their simplicity extended as far
as a disregard of the factitious associations by which luxury is
converted into an incumbrance. Having been early accustomed to so
much of it as to excite the taste, then deprived of it, then baulked and
tantalized with the coarse and tinsel imitation of it which had met her
during her short professional course, it was with lively pleasure that
she now greeted the reality. The whole apparatus of festivity inspired
her with instantaneous joy:—the bowers of orange and rose trees,
light, warmth and music together, the buzz of voices, and above all
the chalked floor,—all these set her spirits dancing. A single glance
towards her husband told him enough to have placed him perfectly
at ease respecting the affairs of the evening, even if he had been a
man who could be otherwise than at his ease. He knew perfectly well
that it was impossible for any one of good sense and taste not to
admire and respect Letitia, and he cared little under what pretence
others might depreciate her accomplishments.
“Lady F—— is the star of the night, as every one is observing,”
said an old friend of the earl’s, who was absorbed in watching the
dancers, among whom was Letitia. “The brightest star, we all agree,
and shining as if in her native sphere.”
“This is her native sphere,” replied the earl. “She is in her own
sphere wherever there is grace, wherever there is enjoyment.”
“True: so young, so simple as she appears! She seems perfectly
unspoiled.”
“Perfectly. She has gone through too much to be easily spoiled.
Change,—anything more than modification—is impossible in her
case, do with her what you will. You are an old friend, and I have no
objection to let you see that I am proud of Letitia.”
“I am truly glad.... I felt uncertain.... I did not know....”
“Nor I till to-night,” said the earl, smiling. “But I find I have no more
wish than right to question my son’s choice.”
“But you must expect the world to criticise it.”
“Certainly. If my son acts so as to imply contempt of conventional
marriages, there will be contempt cast on his marriage of love. If
both parties carry off their contempt inoffensively, both are welcome
to their opinions.”
“Well! there are many here whose parents have had occasion to
use your philosophy, or some other to answer the same purpose.”
“Lady F—— is the star of the night,” observed lady Frances’s
partner, gazing at Letitia through his glass. “Peerless indeed!”
Lady Frances made no answer, which emboldened the gentleman
to proceed.
“The star of the night, as she has often been called, and never
more justly. Never, in the proudest moment of her glory, was she
more lovely.”
Still lady Frances was silent.
“Perhaps your ladyship feels this to be the night of her glory; and,
indeed, it is a triumph to have risen, through her own radiance, into a
higher sphere.”
“I question whether she feels it so,” replied lady Frances. “Letitia is
very proud, and her pride takes rather an odd turn. She would tell
you that she considers it a condescension to come among us, who
are only born to our station.”
“Surprising! And what inspired her condescension?”
“O, love, of course; pure love. Nothing else could have prevailed
with her to submit to marriage. You should hear her talk of the
condition of wives,—how she pitied all till she became one herself.
You cannot conceive what poor slaves she thinks them.”
“And what says lord F——?”
“He is fired by her eloquence. You have no idea how eloquent she
is. She pours it out as if....”
“It was in her heart, as well as by heart. How will she keep it up,
now she has no practice?”
“They will have private theatricals down at Weston, I have no
doubt.”
“I beseech your ladyship’s interest to get me invited. It will be such
a new thing to see lord F—— on the stage. Of course he will play the
heroes to his wife’s heroines. Whatever may have been hitherto, he
will scarcely like, I should think ... he is scarcely the man.... Faith! if
she is proud and high-spirited, as you say, she has met her match.”
Lady Frances smiled; and as she was led away to supper, assured
her partner that nothing could be pleasanter than the terms they
were all on with lady F——; for she was, after all, a noble creature;
which information was received with a deferential bow.
In every group of talkers, lady F——’s merits were canvassed.
Some ladies would give any thing in the world for her courage, till
reminded by their mammas that she had been trained to self-
confidence, when they suddenly became contented with their own
timidity. Others would have supposed her not out of her teens, by the
girlish enjoyment she seemed to feel; but these were reminded that
this kind of scene was as new to her as if she had not been seen
and heard of in public for nearly four years. Everybody agreed that
she was beautiful, and very amiable, and astonishingly simple, and
conducting herself with wonderful propriety: and everybody admired
the good-natured earl’s manner towards her, and wondered whether
it was lady Frances’s own choice to come with her, and conjectured
what lord F——’s happiness must be to witness his bride’s flattering
welcome to the rank he had given her.
Lord F——’s happiness, though as great as these kind friends
could wish, was not altogether of the character they supposed.
“You have enjoyed yourself, Letitia,” he observed, as they were
going home in the grey of the morning, and when she made the first
pause in her remarks to let down the glass, as a market cart, laden
with early vegetables and flowers, passed for a few moments
alongside the carriage.
“How sweet!—O how sweet those violets are!” she exclaimed, as
a whiff of fragrance was blown in. “Enjoyed myself! Yes,—it is a new
page,—quite a new page of human history to me.”
“Your passion is for turning over such pages. What next?”
“If I had a market-woman’s cloak and bonnet, I should like to step
into that cart and go to Covent-Garden, to see the people dressing it
up against sunrise. I should like, some morning, to go into the city
when the sun is just touching the steeples, and see life waken up in
the streets.”
“I wonder you did not stand in the door-way to-night,” said her
husband, smiling, “to see the contrast between speculating life on
the pavement and polished life in the saloon.”
“I saw enough, without standing in the door-way,” replied Letitia,
gravely. “It was more different than I had supposed from something
of the same kind that I had seen often enough before. I had seen the
great and the humble throng about our theatre doors; but then there
was room for each, though far apart. All went to share a common
entertainment,—to be happy at the same time, though not side by
side. Here there were peers within and paupers without; careless
luxury above, and withering hardship below. This is too deep a page
for my reading, Henry; and not the easier for my having been in both
conditions myself.”
“Why wish then for more experience, till you have settled this
matter?”
“Because we cannot tell, till we have tried, what we may find in
any matter to throw light upon any other matter.”
“Suppose you should find all wrapped in darkness at last, as Faust
did when he had gratified his passion for experience.”
“Impossible,—having Faust before me for a warning. He kindled
his altar fire from below when the sun was high, and he let
somebody put it out when both sun and moon were gone down.
Where was the use of his burning-glass then? How should he be
otherwise than dark?”
“True; but how would you manage better?”
“I would never quit stability for a moment. Faust found out that the
world rolled round continually. He jumped to the conclusion that
there was no such thing in nature as a firm footing, and so cast
himself off into perdition. If he had taken his walks in God’s broad
sunshine, he would have found that the ground did not give way
under him, nor ever would, till he was etherealized enough to stand
on air.”
“So instead of speculating on the incompatibilities of human
happinesses, and concluding that there is no such thing as a
common welfare, you would make trial of all conditions, and deduce
the summum bonum from your experience.”
“Yes; that is the way; and if you would help me, the thing would be
done twice as well. If we were each to go a pilgrimage through the
ranks of society, (for we would settle the affairs of the moral world
before we began upon the natural,)....”
“Very reasonably, certainly,” replied her husband, smiling, “since it
is easier to get into palaces and hovels, than into thunder-clouds and
sea-caves.”
“Well;—if you began at the top and I at the bottom, if we were to
meet in the middle, I do think we might see how all might dance
amidst fragrance and music, and none lean starving on the frosty
area-rails. You should be king, minister, peer, and so on, down to a
tradesman; and I would be a friendless Italian boy with his white
mouse, and a pauper, and a cotton-spinner, and a house-servant,
and so upwards, till I met you at the tradesman’s we spoke of.”
“My dear, why do you put yourself at the bottom instead of me?”
“Because you would be longer in learning what to make of poverty
than I. I know a good deal about it already, you are aware.”
“Since we cannot rove up and down as we will through the mazes
of society, Letitia, we will do what we can by varying our
occupations. Variety of research may partly stand in the stead of
migration from rank to rank.—You spoke at random, just now, of my
being minister. What would you say if I were to become a servant of
the crown;—that is, in other words, a servant of the people?”
“That I would serve you,—O how humbly, how devotedly!—as the
servant of the people,” cried Letitia, colouring high. “You know....”
“I know that in marrying me you dreaded, above all things, falling
into the routine of aristocratic idleness. I know that you felt it a
sacrifice to surrender your public service and influence; and this is
one reason among many, Letitia, why I should like to accept office;—
that you might espouse another kind of public service in espousing
me. But here we are at home. I shall be able to tell you more after
dinner to-morrow than I know at present of this matter.”
Letitia’s experience of this day was not yet over. She found it very
painful to be undressed by a yawning, winking lady’s-maid; and she
resolved that her engagements should never more deprive Mrs.
Philips of her natural rest, however lady Frances might teach Mrs.
Philips herself to laugh at the absurdity of a lady of rank troubling
herself to lay aside her own trappings.
Chapter II.
PASTIME.
DISCUSSION.
Week after week the steward sent reports from Weston of the beauty
of the place, and the high order it was kept in for its lady’s approval,
and the impatience of the tenants and the villagers for my lord and
lady’s arrival. Week after week did friends and acquaintance leave
town, till it became what the inhabitants of Westminster call a desert,
though it would still puzzle a child to perceive the resemblance
between it and the solitary places where lions await the lonely
wayfarer. Week by week did Mrs. Philips expatiate on the delights of
watering-places, and the charms of the country, and the
intolerableness of town in the summer,—and still neither master nor
mistress seemed to dream of stirring. “A few weeks in the autumn!
Was that all the change they were to have? And how were they to
exist till the autumn, she should like to know?” Lady F—— was so far
from wishing that Philips should not exist, that on learning her
discontents, she took immediate measures for forwarding her to her
dear lady Frances, more than half of whose pleasure at Brighton had
been spoiled by her having no one to manage her toilet on whose
taste she could rely as a corroboration of her own. The day which
saw Philips deposited in a Brighton coach brought ease not only to
herself, but to those who lost, and her who gained her. Philips was
certainly right. Her talents were not appreciated in her new home;
and she would indeed never be able to make anything of her new
lady. Like other persons of genius, mere kindness was not enough
for Philips; she pined for sympathy, congeniality, and applause, for
which London affords no scope in the summer season.
How Thérèse sang as she watered her lady’s plants, that day!
How many confessions had she to pour forth to her old priest of
feelings in which he traced incipient envy and jealousy, but in which
she acknowledged only fear and dislike! How long a letter did she
write to her father to inform him of her promotion to Mrs. Philips’s
place, and consequent increase of salary;—of her intention to take a
few lessons in hair-dressing, now that she could afford it, and felt it
to be due to her mistress; and how happy she should be, when this
duty to madame was provided for, to send money enough to put
Annette to school, and perhaps even to place a new hot-bed at her
father’s disposal!—How charming a variety was made in the
household by a passing visit from the earl! And how pleased he
looked when, on popping his head in at the library-door, late one
evening, he found Letitia acting as secretary to her husband, looking
over books, making notes, and preparing materials for a reply to a
deputation which was to wait on him the next morning.
“I hope you like hard work as well as you thought you should,” said
he, laughing. “Have you begun to think yet of petitioning for a more
equal division of it,—for a multiplication of places?”
“Heaven forbid!” exclaimed Letitia. “A multiplication of places now,
when there is such an outcry against places and placemen! It would
be as much as our lives are worth.”
“And, what is more to the purpose,” said lord F——, “it is
unnecessary. It matters little that it is the fashion to mix up in
ignorant minds the odium of holding a sinecure, and the honour of
filling a laborious office;—it matters little that all the people have not
yet learned to distinguish the caterpillars from the silk-worms of the
state; for they will soon learn to hold the servants of the nation in due
honour. Meanwhile, all that we want is a more equal distribution of
the toils of government.”
“All that we want, son! It is much to want. What an absurdity it
seems that a nobleman should, from having merely his private affairs
to manage, be suddenly burdened with the responsibilities of an
empire;—a burden, under which how many have been crushed!
Again, there is your old school-fellow, lord H——, yawning half the
day on the pier at Brighton, and airing his horses the other half, while
you are sitting here, pen in hand, from morning till night.”
“I have no objection to it, sir. It has been a serious grievance to
me, ever since I returned from my travels, that I had nothing better to