The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart Grids
In the neighborhood area network (NAN), the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) enables a bidirectional connection between the smart meter (SM) and the data concentrator (DC). Sensors, such as smart meter nodes or environmental sensor nodes, play a crucial role in measuring and transmitting data...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/24/9621 |
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| author | Ons BenRhouma Chiheb Rebai Manel Ben-Romdhane Dario Di Cara Giovanni Artale Nicola Panzavecchia |
| author_facet | Ons BenRhouma Chiheb Rebai Manel Ben-Romdhane Dario Di Cara Giovanni Artale Nicola Panzavecchia |
| author_sort | Ons BenRhouma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the neighborhood area network (NAN), the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) enables a bidirectional connection between the smart meter (SM) and the data concentrator (DC). Sensors, such as smart meter nodes or environmental sensor nodes, play a crucial role in measuring and transmitting data to central units for advanced monitoring, management, and analysis of energy consumption. Wired and wireless communication technologies are used to implement the AMI-NAN. This paper delves into a novel approach for optimizing the choice of communication medium, air for radio frequency (RF) or power lines for power line communication (PLC), between the SM and DC in the context of the AMI-NAN. The authors methodically select the specific technologies, RF and NB-PLC (narrowband power line communication), and meticulously characterize their attributes. Then, a comparative analysis spanning rural, urban, and industrial settings is conducted to evaluate the proposed method. The overall reliability performance of the AMI-NAN system requires a packet error rate (PER) lower than 10%. To this end, an efficient approach is introduced to assess and enhance the reliability of NB-PLC and RF for AMI-NAN applications. Simulation results demonstrate that wireless communication is the optimal choice for the rural scenario, especially for a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) lower than 25 dB. However, in urban environments characterized by higher SNR values and moderately dense networks, NB-PLC gains prominence. In denser networks, it outperforms wireless communication, exhibiting a remarkable 10 dB gain for a bit error rate (BER) of 10<sup>−3</sup>. Moreover, in industrial zones characterized by intricate network topologies and non-linear loads, the power line channel emerges as the optimal choice for data transmission. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:23:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-80df31647d40437b888723ddaf53af79 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:23:09Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-80df31647d40437b888723ddaf53af792023-12-22T14:39:58ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202023-12-012324962110.3390/s23249621The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart GridsOns BenRhouma0Chiheb Rebai1Manel Ben-Romdhane2Dario Di Cara3Giovanni Artale4Nicola Panzavecchia5COSIM Research Laboratory, SUP’COM, University of Carthage, Ariana 2083, TunisiaCOSIM Research Laboratory, SUP’COM, University of Carthage, Ariana 2083, TunisiaCOSIM Research Laboratory, SUP’COM, University of Carthage, Ariana 2083, TunisiaInstitute of Marine Engineering (INM), National Research Council (CNR), 90146 Palermo, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, ItalyInstitute of Marine Engineering (INM), National Research Council (CNR), 90146 Palermo, ItalyIn the neighborhood area network (NAN), the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) enables a bidirectional connection between the smart meter (SM) and the data concentrator (DC). Sensors, such as smart meter nodes or environmental sensor nodes, play a crucial role in measuring and transmitting data to central units for advanced monitoring, management, and analysis of energy consumption. Wired and wireless communication technologies are used to implement the AMI-NAN. This paper delves into a novel approach for optimizing the choice of communication medium, air for radio frequency (RF) or power lines for power line communication (PLC), between the SM and DC in the context of the AMI-NAN. The authors methodically select the specific technologies, RF and NB-PLC (narrowband power line communication), and meticulously characterize their attributes. Then, a comparative analysis spanning rural, urban, and industrial settings is conducted to evaluate the proposed method. The overall reliability performance of the AMI-NAN system requires a packet error rate (PER) lower than 10%. To this end, an efficient approach is introduced to assess and enhance the reliability of NB-PLC and RF for AMI-NAN applications. Simulation results demonstrate that wireless communication is the optimal choice for the rural scenario, especially for a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) lower than 25 dB. However, in urban environments characterized by higher SNR values and moderately dense networks, NB-PLC gains prominence. In denser networks, it outperforms wireless communication, exhibiting a remarkable 10 dB gain for a bit error rate (BER) of 10<sup>−3</sup>. Moreover, in industrial zones characterized by intricate network topologies and non-linear loads, the power line channel emerges as the optimal choice for data transmission.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/24/9621power line communicationRF meshurban areaindustrial arearural areaelectric grids |
| spellingShingle | Ons BenRhouma Chiheb Rebai Manel Ben-Romdhane Dario Di Cara Giovanni Artale Nicola Panzavecchia The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart Grids Sensors power line communication RF mesh urban area industrial area rural area electric grids |
| title | The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart Grids |
| title_full | The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart Grids |
| title_fullStr | The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart Grids |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart Grids |
| title_short | The Environmental Impacts of Radio Frequency and Power Line Communication for Advanced Metering Infrastructures in Smart Grids |
| title_sort | environmental impacts of radio frequency and power line communication for advanced metering infrastructures in smart grids |
| topic | power line communication RF mesh urban area industrial area rural area electric grids |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/24/9621 |
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