Abstract
The use of state-of-the-art 3G cellular CDMA technologies
in a utility owned AMI network results in a large
amount of control traffic relative to data traffic, increases the
average packet delay and hence are not an appropriate choice
for smart grid distribution applications. Like [1], we consider
a utility owned cellular like CDMA network for smart grid
distribution applications and classify the distribution smart grid
data as scheduled data and random data. Also, we propose SMAC
protocol, which changes its mode of operation based on the type
of the data being collected to reduce the data collection latency
and control overhead when compared to 3G cellular CDMA2000
MAC. The reduction in the data collection latency and control
overhead aids in increasing the number of smart meters served by
a base station within the periodic data collection interval, which
further reduces the number of base stations needed by a utility or
reduces the bandwidth needed to collect data from all the smart
meters. The reduction in the number of base stations and/or
the reduction in the data transmission bandwidth reduces the
CAPital EXpenditure (CAPEX) and OPerational EXpenditure
(OPEX) of the AMI network. The proposed SMAC protocol is
analyzed using markov chain, analytical expressions for average
throughput and average packet delay are derived, and simulation
results are also provided to verify the analysis.
