A Wireless Mesh Architecture for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure in Residential Smart Grids

Abstract

Future Smart Grids will consist of distributed Micro-Grids where the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) forms a central component. This consists basically of meters/sensors that are regularly communicating data towards/from a central Control Plane. Due to the ad-hoc topological nature of the meters/sensors, particularly in residential areas, Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) prove to be the ideal technology for AMI deployment. In this paper, we propose a wireless mesh network based architecture for AMI deployment that uses both Zigbee and IEEE 802.11. The paper presents the challenges and opportunity related to implementing such architecture in Moroccan market. This paper proposes a framework for renewable energy integration, and an appropriate Middleware design. The paper presents preliminary simulations on the wireless coexistence between the two technologies and draw conclusions on the channel to be used and node placement problems.