Cooperative Communications in Smart Grid Networks

The conventional grid system is facing great challenges due to the fast growing electricity demand throughout the world. The smart grid has emerged as the next generation of grid power systems, aimed at providing secure, reliable and low cost power generation, distribution and consumption intelligently. The smart grid communication system within the smart grid network is of fundamental importance to support data transfer and information exchange within the smart grid system. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has identified wireless communications as an important networking technology to be employed in power systems. The reliability of the data transmission is essential for the smart grid system to achieve high accuracy for the power generation, distribution and consumption. In this thesis, we investigate cooperative communications to improve transmission reliability in smart grid networks. Although many issues within cooperative communication have already been addressed, there is a lack of research efforts on cooperative communication for the wireless smart grid communication system which has its own network features and different transmission requirements. In our research, the smart grid communication networks were studied, and cooperative communications in smart grid networks were analysed. The research work mainly focuses on three problems: the application of cooperative relay communications to modern smart grid communication networks, the cooperative relay-based network development strategy, and the optimization of cooperative relay communication for smart grids. For the first problem, the application of cooperative relay communication to a home area network (HAN) of smart grid system is presented. The wireless transmission reliability is identified as the issue of most concern in wireless smart grid networks. We model the smart grid HAN as a wireless mesh network that deploys cooperative relay communication to enhance the transmission reliability. We apply cooperative relay communication to provide a user equipment selection scheme to effectively improve the transmission quality between the electricity equipment and the smart meter. For the second problem, we address the network design and planning problem in the smart grid HAN. The outage performance of direct transmission and cooperative transmission was analysed. Based on the reliability performance metric that we have defined, we propose a HAN deployment strategy to improve the reliability of the transmission links. The proposed HAN deployment strategy is tested in a home environment. The smart meter location optimization problem has also been identified and solved. The simulation results show that our proposed network deployment strategy can guarantee high reliability for smart grid communications in home area networks. For the third problem, the research focuses on the optimization of the cooperative relay transmission regarding the power allocation and relay selection in the neighbourhood area network (NAN) of the smart grid system. Owing to the complexity of the joint optimization problem, reduced-complexity algorithms have been proposed to minimize the transmission power, at the same time, guarantee the link reliability of the cooperative communications. The optimization problem of power allocation and relay selection is formulated and treated as a combinatorial optimization problem. Two sub-optimal solutions that simplify the optimization process are devised. Based on the solutions, two different algorithms are proposed to solve the optimization problem with reduced complexity. The simulation results demonstrate that both two algorithms have good performance on minimizing the total transmission power while guaranteeing the transmission reliability for the wireless smart grid communication system. In this thesis, we consider cooperative communications in a smart grid scenario. We minimize the outage probability and thus improve the reliability of the communications taking place in the smart grid by considering the optimization problem of power control, relay selection and the network deployment problem. Although similar problems might have been well investigated in conventional wireless networks, such as the cellular network, little research has been conducted in smart grid communications. We apply new optimization techniques and propose solutions for these optimization problems specifically tailored for smart grid communications. We demonstrate that, compared to naively applying the algorithms suitable for conventional communications to the smart gird scenario, our proposed algorithm significantly improves the performance of smart grid communications. Finally, we note that, in future work, it will be possible to consider more complex smart grid communications system models. For example, it is worthwhile considering hetregeneous smart communications by combining HAN and wide area networks (WAN). In addition, instead of assuming that all communications have the equal priority, as in this thesis, more comprehensive analysis of the priority of the smart grid communication can be applied to the research

Efficient Cooperative Anycasting for AMI Mesh Networks

We have, in recent years, witnessed an increased interest towards enabling a Smart Grid which will be a corner stone to build sustainable energy efficient communities. An integral part of the future Smart Grid will be the communications infrastructure which will make real time control of the grid components possible. Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is thought to be a key enabler for monitoring and controlling the customer loads. %RPL is a connectivity enabling mechanism for low power and lossy networks currently being standardized by the IETF ROLL working group. RPL is deemed to be a suitable candidate for AMI networks where the meters are connected to a concentrator over multi hop low power and lossy links. This paper proposes an efficient cooperative anycasting approach for wireless mesh networks with the aim of achieving reduced traffic and increased utilisation of the network resources. The proposed cooperative anycasting has been realised as an enhancement on top of the Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL), a connectivity enabling mechanism in wireless AMI mesh networks. In this protocol, smart meter nodes utilise an anycasting approach to facilitate efficient transport of metering data to the concentrator node. Moreover, it takes advantage of a distributed approach ensuring scalability

Special section on smart grids: A hub of interdisciplinary research : IEEE ACCESS Special section editorial smart grids: A hub of interdisciplinary research

International audienceThe smart grid is an important hub of interdisciplinary research where researchers from different areas of science and technology combine their efforts to enhance the traditional electrical power grid. Due to these efforts, the traditional electrical grid is now evolving. The envisioned smart grid will bring social, environmental, ethical, legal and economic benefits. Smart grid systems increasingly involve machine-to-machine communication as well as human-to-human, or simple information retrieval. Thus, the dimensionality of the system is massive. The smart grid is the combination of different technologies, including control system theory, communication networks, pervasive computing , embedded sensing devices, electric vehicles, smart cities, renewable energy sources, Internet of Things, wireless sensor networks, cyber physical systems, and green communication. Due to these diverse activities and significant attention from researchers, education activities in the smart grid area are also growing. The smart grid is designed to replace the traditional electrical power grid. The envisioned smart grid typically consists of three networks: Home Area Networks (HANs), Neighborhood Area Networks (NANs), and Wide Area Networks (WANs). HANs connect the devices within the premises of the consumer and connect smart meters, Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs), and distributed renewable energy sources. NANs connect multiple HANs and communicate the collected information to a network gateway. WANs serve as the communication backbone. Communication technologies play a vital role in the successful operation of smart grid. These communication technologies can be adopted based upon the specific features required by HANs, NANs, and WANs. Both wired and the wireless communication technologies can be used in the smart grid [1]. However, wireless communication technologies are suitable for many smart grid applications due to the continuous development in the wireless research domain. One drawback of wireless communication technologies is the limited availability of radio spectrum. The use of cognitive radio in smart grid communication will be helpful to break the spectrum gridlock through advanced radio design and operating in multiple settings, such as underlay, overlay, and interweave [2]. The smart grid is the combination of diverse sets of facilities and technologies. Thus, the monitoring and control of transmission lines, distribution facilities, energy generation plants, and as well as video monitoring of consumer premises can be conducted through the use of wireless sensor networks [3]–[6]. In remote sites and places where human intervention is not possible, wireless sensor and actuator networks can be useful for the successful smart grid operation [7], [8]. Since wireless sensor networks operate on the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band, the spectrum might get congested due to overlaid deployment of wireless sensor networks in the same premises. Thus, to deal with this spectrum congestion challenge, cognitive radio sensor networks can be used in smart grid environments [9], [10]. The objective of this Special Section in IEEE ACCESS is to showcase the most recent advances in the interdisciplinary research areas encompassing the smart grid. This Special Section brings together researchers from diverse fields and specializations, such as communications engineering, computer science, electrical and electronics engineering, educators, mathematicians and specialists in areas related to smart grids. In this Special Section, we invited researchers from academia, industry, and government to discuss challenging ideas, novel research contributions, demonstration results, and standardization efforts on the smart grid and related areas. This Special Section is a collection of eleven articles. These articles are grouped into the following four areas: (a) Reliability, security, and privacy for smart grid, (b), Demand response management, understanding customer behavior, and social networking applications for smart grid, (c) Smart cities, renewable energy, and green smart grid, and (d) Communication technologies, control and management for the smart grid

Enabling Self-healing Smart Grid Through Jamming Resilient Local Controller Switching

A key component of a smart grid is its ability to collect useful information from a power grid for enabling control centers to estimate the current states of the power grid. Such information can be delivered to the control centers via wireless or wired networks. It is envisioned that wireless technology will be widely used for local-area communication subsystems in the smart grid (e.g., in distribution networks). However, various attacks with serious impact can be launched in wireless networks such as channel jamming attacks and denial-of-service attacks. In particular, jamming attacks can cause significant damages to power grids, e.g., delayed delivery of time-critical messages can prevent control centers from properly controlling the outputs of generators to match load demands. In this paper, a communication subsystem with enhanced self-healing capability in the presence of jamming is designed via intelligent local controller switching while integrating a retransmission mechanism. The proposed framework allows sufficient readings from smart meters to be continuously collected by various local controllers to estimate the states of a power grid under various attack scenarios. The jamming probability is also analyzed considering the impact of jammer power and shadowing effects. In addition, guidelines on optimal placement of local controllers to ensure effective switching of smart meters under jamming are provided. Via theoretical, experimental and simulation studies, it is demonstrated that our proposed system is effective in maintaining communications between smart meters and local controllers even when multiple jammers are present in the network

Digital Twinning in Smart Grid Networks: Interplay, Resource Allocation and Use Cases

Motivated by climate change, increasing industrialization and energy reliability concerns, the smart grid is set to revolutionize traditional power systems. Moreover, the exponential annual rise in number of grid-connected users and emerging key players e.g. electric vehicles strain the limited radio resources, which stresses the need for novel and scalable resource management techniques. Digital twin is a cutting-edge virtualization technology that has shown great potential by offering solutions for inherent bottlenecks in traditional wireless networks. In this article, we set the stage for various roles digital twinning can fulfill by optimizing congested radio resources in a proactive and resilient smart grid. Digital twins can help smart grid networks through real-time monitoring, advanced precise modeling and efficient radio resource allocation for normal operations and service restoration following unexpected events. However, reliable real-time communications, intricate abstraction abilities, interoperability with other smart grid technologies, robust computing capabilities and resilient security schemes are some open challenges for future work on digital twins.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Software Defined Networking for Smart Grid Communications

Emerging Software Defined Networking (SDN) technology has provided excellent flexibility to large-scale networks in terms of control, management, security, and maintenance. On the other hand, recent years witnessed a tremendous growth of the critical infrastructure networks, namely the Smart-Grid, in terms of its underlying communication infrastructure. Such large local networks requires significant effort in terms of network management and security. We explore the potential utilization of the SDN technology over the Smart Grid communication architecture. Specifically, we introduce three novel SDN deployment scenarios in local networks of Smart Grid. Moreover, we also investigate the pertinent security aspects with each deployment scenario along with possible solutions. On the other hand, we conducted experiments by using actual Smart Grid communication data to assess the recovery performance of the proposed SDN-based system. The results show that SDN is a viable technology for the Smart Grid communications with almost negligible delays in switching to backup wireless links

CRB-RPL: A Receiver-based Routing Protocol for Communications in Cognitive Radio Enabled Smart Grid

As a tool of overcoming radio spectrum shortages in wireless communications, cognitive radio technology plays a vital role in future smart grid applications, particularly in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) networks with Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. This paper focuses on the investigation of the receiver-based routing protocol for enhancing QoS in cognitive radio-enabled AMI networks, due to their potentials of enhancing reliability and routing efficiency. In accordance with practical requirements of smart grid applications, a new routing protocol with two purposes is proposed: one is to address the realtime requirement while another protocol focuses on how to meet energy efficiency requirements. As a special feature of cognitive radio technology, the protocol have the mechanism of protecting primary (licensed) users whilst meeting the utility requirements of secondary (cognitive radio) users. System-level evaluation shows that the proposed routing protocol can achieve better performances compared with existing routing protocols for cognitive radio-enabled AMI networks

The Challenges and Risks facing ICT in the Management and Operation of the Smart Grid

The Smart Grid integrates the traditional electrical power grid with information and communication technologies (ICT). Such integration empowers the electrical utilities providers and consumers, improves the efficiency and the availability of the power system while constantly monitoring, controlling and managing the demands of customers. Through smart grid, the power system becomes smart by communicating, sensing, control and applying intelligence.The Smart Grid is also kept the environment free from pollution; minimize the cost, effective operations, against all types of hazards and danger.Smart Grid is a huge complex network composed of millions of devices and entities connected with each other through wireless communications techniques including Home Area Networks (HANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs). Such a massive network comes with many security concerns and vulnerabilities. In this paper, we highlight the complexity of the smart grid network and discuss the comparison between heterogeneous network. We discuss then the challenges that exist in securing the smart power grid and the countermeasures and solutions applied for information and communication networks to secure Smart Power Grid. We conclude by over viewing the key functions and benefits of using the Smart Gird technology and how this impacts on human livelihood, economy and the environment.</p

A survey of blockchain and artificial intelligence for 6G wireless communications

The research on the sixth-generation (6G) wireless communications for the development of future mobile communication networks has been officially launched around the world. 6G networks face multifarious challenges, such as resource-constrained mobile devices, difficult wireless resource management, high complexity of heterogeneous network architectures, explosive computing and storage requirements, privacy and security threats. To address these challenges, deploying blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) in 6G networks may realize new breakthroughs in advancing network performances in terms of security, privacy, efficiency, cost, and more. In this paper, we provide a detailed survey of existing works on the application of blockchain and AI to 6G wireless communications. More specifically, we start with a brief overview of blockchain and AI. Then, we mainly review the recent advances in the fusion of blockchain and AI, and highlight the inevitable trend of deploying both blockchain and AI in wireless communications. Furthermore, we extensively explore integrating blockchain and AI for wireless communication systems, involving secure services and Internet of Things (IoT) smart applications. Particularly, some of the most talked-about key services based on blockchain and AI are introduced, such as spectrum management, computation allocation, content caching, and security and privacy. Moreover, we also focus on some important IoT smart applications supported by blockchain and AI, covering smart healthcare, smart transportation, smart grid, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Moreover, we thoroughly discuss operating frequencies, visions, and requirements from the 6G perspective. We also analyze the open issues and research challenges for the joint deployment of blockchain and AI in 6G wireless communications. Lastly, based on lots of existing meaningful works, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey of blockchain and AI in 6G networks. We hope this surve..

Secure Wireless Communications Based on Compressive Sensing: A Survey

IEEE Compressive sensing (CS) has become a popular signal processing technique and has extensive applications in numerous fields such as wireless communications, image processing, magnetic resonance imaging, remote sensing imaging, and anology to information conversion, since it can realize simultaneous sampling and compression. In the information security field, secure CS has received much attention due to the fact that CS can be regarded as a cryptosystem to attain simultaneous sampling, compression and encryption when maintaining the secret measurement matrix. Considering that there are increasing works focusing on secure wireless communications based on CS in recent years, we produce a detailed review for the state-of-the-art in this paper. To be specific, the survey proceeds with two phases. The first phase reviews the security aspects of CS according to different types of random measurement matrices such as Gaussian matrix, circulant matrix, and other special random matrices, which establishes theoretical foundations for applications in secure wireless communications. The second phase reviews the applications of secure CS depending on communication scenarios such as wireless wiretap channel, wireless sensor network, internet of things, crowdsensing, smart grid, and wireless body area networks. Finally, some concluding remarks are given