Design and Analysis of Hybrid Wireless Mesh Networks for Smart Grids

In this paper the use of a Hybrid Wireless Mesh Network (HWMN) technologies for the smart grid of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which enables the collecting of meter data in real-time, was proposed and analyzed. A Google Maps mashup was developed to read the real GIS data from a local utility company and display the locations of the meters and light poles, which can be selected for mounting the WiMAX or Wi-Fi network devices. A NS-3 simulator was developed to simulate the network traffic of meter data collection over the HWMN and to allow us to evaluate different topologies and to see if their capacities are adequate to report all meter values to the data center within one second. The preliminary simplified simulation results show that with the proper antennae selection for the HWMN, it is feasible to collect meter data from hundreds of thousands smart meters within one second.