Measurement Concept for Performance Evaluation of Lossy Networks

In 7th Workshop on Power Line Communications (WSPLC 2014), IEEE, Bottrop, Germany, September 2014.

Abstract:

Communication technologies with variation in the physical communication medium and consequently variability in the communication performance are summarized under the  denomination of lossy networks. Typically different lossy communication technologies are used as communication platform for applications in a smart grid. Applications might be  Automated Meter Reading (AMR), grid measurement or load control, whereat each application has its own requirements which the communication network has to fulfill. To evaluate the performance of the communication infrastructure at different points in the electrical grid, a measurement concept is required. Existing measurement concepts cannot be used for the  performance evaluation of lossy networks, as it assumes a physical communication medium without variations. Therefore, this paper introduces a measurement concept for  performance evaluation of lossy networks, with consideration of different performance indicators and tools. To prove the concept, exemplary measurements are performed for a smart  metering scenario, which is currently discussed within the specification of the Smart Meter Gateway (SMGW), in an IEEE 1901 access network and a UMTS/LTE network.