Challenges and research opportunities in wireless communication networks for smart grid

Abstract

This article begins with a comprehensive presentation of architecture and essential characteristics of a smart grid communication network (SGCN). Then different types of traffic that an SGCN is anticipated to carry are studied along with their QoS requirements. Subsequently, a number of critical challenges from the wireless technology and networking perspectives are addressed. They include wireless mesh routing and QoS provisioning to efficiently support realtime and non-real-time traffic, intelligent data filtering, and fusion to reduce redundancy and minimize network traffic while ensuring information integrity, optimal network design, and, finally, security concerns.