Long-range and secure communication system for remote data logging monitoring of micro-grids

With the increasing renewable energy penetration in the grid system, the number of distributed generation and remote micro-grids are also increasing. While each remote micro-grid requires to have a sophisticated (secure, long range, low power and low cost) communication system for the Suspervisory Control and Data Acquision (SCADA) system, creating a research gap for devising a system with desired attributes. This research was conducted to fill that gap by implementing a low power, low cost, secure, and a long-range communication system for remote micro-grids. The literature review comprising the study of twelve wireless technologies and three wired technologies was done to achieve this. After the comparison of those technologies, LoRa communication was chosen for this purpose. Different encryption algorithms were studied, implemented, cross-checked, and finally advanced encryption algorithm was implemented to achieve the security of the communication system. An algorithm was developed to generate a unique message authentication code for each message. It enabled to identify a bit-level alteration in the message. Further, to monitor the system remotely, data was uploaded to the server. It was achieved by programming and configuring different gateways for this purpose. LoRa range was improved by implementing LoRa nodes in a mesh-network structure. A hybrid, LoRa and radio-set based system was implemented to extend its range up to 40km. Three different system topologies were designed and implemented, and the final one was recommended based upon the SG SCADA system requirements. The results of step-by-step designing and implementation of the system show that this research work has significantly contributed to develope a low-cost, secure and long-range communication system for remote micro-grids