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Smart Metering Systems Based on Power Line Communications

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Smart Grids and Their Communication Systems

Part of the book series: Energy Systems in Electrical Engineering ((ESIEE))

Abstract

In recent years, the electricity grid has experienced a significant transformation in the generation side, with an increasing use of energy sources (renewable) that have a more decentralized structure and unpredictable availability than conventional ones. Similarly, the expected penetration of electric vehicles would considerably change the consumption patterns. These new circumstances require an improved monitoring and control of the electricity grid assets, and smart metering is a key element to achieve both ends. While there are many communication technologies for smart metering applications, power line communications (PLCs) have proven to be a cost-effective solution in a large number of scenarios. Moreover, it provides distribution system operator (DSO) a proprietary communication network and innately integrates the sensing and communication functionalities. Consequently, it has become the predominant smart metering technology in the EU and China, among others. In the last decade, several industrial alliances and standardization bodies have developed a number of narrowband PLC (NB-PLC) systems particularly tailored for smart metering applications. They implement a relay network that connects the smart meters to the data concentrator located in the medium voltage to low voltage (MV/LV) transformer stations. The latter are connected to the management center using different technologies, among which broadband PLC (BB-PLC) has proven to be a suitable one. The bit rate of the resulting shared medium provided by NB-PLC ranges from tens to hundreds of kilobit/s, which currently suffices for reading the energy consumption of 100 smart meters in less than 15 min.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The EN 50065-1 specifies the PSD constraint as the voltage level measured in a 200 Hz band. This can be translated to the more common \({\text{dB}}\;{\upmu}{\text{V}}/\sqrt[{}]{\text{Hz}}\;{\text{as}}\;{\text{dB}}\;{\upmu}{\text{V}}/\sqrt[{}]{\text{Hz}} = {\text{dB}}\;{\upmu}{\text{V}}/200\;{\text{Hz}} - 23.01\).

  2. 2.

    Computed as the frequency separation for which the spaced-frequency correlation function falls down to 0.9 [57].

  3. 3.

    For simplicity, this will be referred simply to as PSD.

  4. 4.

    Compared to the average SNR value of 7 dB derived in Sect. 4.2.2 and taking into account that all carriers use the same constellation and that the BER is dominated by the carrier with the lowest SNR.

  5. 5.

    Segmentation means to break up a CPCS SDU into smaller pieces; each of these pieces or segments will be sent by MAC layer separately. At the end point of the communication (receiver node), all these segments are put back together to get a reassembled CPCS SDU .

  6. 6.

    The term “mode” refers to a particular combination of modulation and FEC and, in this case, also to a given frame structure.

  7. 7.

    Bootstrap process consists of the exchange of messages that allows a node to get registered in the network.

  8. 8.

    The IEEE P1901.2 refers to this field as cyclic prefix. However, since the symbol ends are windowed and overlapped, only part of the GI is actually a cyclic prefix.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ingeniería de Comunicaciones, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación, Universidad de Málaga–Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech, 29010, Málaga, Spain

    José A. Cortés

  2. PLC Software Engineer at Microchip Technology Inc, Polígono Puerta Norte, Torre C2, 50820, Zaragoza, Spain

    J. Miguel Idiago

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  1. José A. Cortés
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  2. J. Miguel Idiago
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Correspondence to José A. Cortés .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University, Nevşehir, Turkey

    Ersan Kabalci

  2. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ömer Halisdemir University, Nigde, Turkey

    Yasin Kabalci

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Cortés, J.A., Idiago, J.M. (2019). Smart Metering Systems Based on Power Line Communications. In: Kabalci, E., Kabalci, Y. (eds) Smart Grids and Their Communication Systems. Energy Systems in Electrical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1768-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1768-2_4

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