A survey on the communication architectures in smart grid(2)

A survey on the communication architectures in smart grid

（原文来自IEEE）

3.Communication architecture and functional requirements

3.1.Network architecture

Thecommunication infrastructure in smart grid must support the expected smart gridfunctionalities and meet the performance requirements. As the infrastructure connectsan enormous number of electric devices and manages the complicated devicecommunications, it is constructed in ahierarchical architecture with interconnected

individual subnetworks and each taking responsibility of separategeographical regions[18].An illustrative example of this architecture is shown in Fig. 2. In general,the communication networks can be categorized into three classes: wide areanetworks, field area networks, and home area networks.

3.1.1.Wide area networks

Widearea networks form the communication backbone(通信主干网) toconnect the highly distributed smaller area networks that serve the powersystems at different locations. When the control centers are located far fromthe substations or the end consumers, the real-time measurements taken at theelectric devices are transported to the control centers through   the wide area networks and, in the reversedirection, the wide area networks undertake the instruction communications fromcontrol centers to the electric devices.

For enhanced wide area situational awareness, RTOs（区域传输操作）require a lot of information about the state of the power grid. This isachieved by using fast,time-stamped（时间戳） and real-time informationabout the system from specialized electrical sensors (PMUs，矢量测量单元) at substations [19]. The PMU devices capture current and voltagephasor information from the electrical buses at the substations at sample ratesup to 60 Hz.The information received from PMUs isused by the EMS （能源管理系统）systems at control centers for improved state estimation, monitoring,control, and protection.

The wide areanetworks also convey communications between the IEDs and the control centers.The IEDs are installed along transmission lines and insubstations to capture local SCADA information and act upon the control and protectioncommands from the control centers.Moreover, to support the reception ofhigh speed PMU data at the control centers, a high bandwidth network isrequired. Currently, the substations communicate with the control centers usingpoint to point telephone or microwave links.Thusin the absence of high speed network, the sensed digital data from PMUs is onlylimited inside substations and cannot be effectively utilized by the controlcenters [20]. This underscores（强调） the need of a high bandwidth wide area network in the smart gridsystem.

3.1.2.Field area networks（场区域网）

Field area networks form the communication facility for theelectricity distribution systems. The electrical sensors on the distribution feeders and transformers（配电馈线和变压器）, IED devices capableof carrying out control commands from DMS, DERs in the distribution systems,PEV charging stations and smart meters atcustomerpremises（用户端） form the main sources of information to be monitored and controlledby the DMS at the control centers. The power system applications operating inthe distribution domain utilize field area networks to share and exchangeinformation.

These applications can becategorized as either field based (related to transmission lines, sensors,voltage regulators, etc.) or customer based (related to end customers, likehouses, buildings, industrial users, etc.). Field based applications includeOMS（停电管理系统）, SCADA applications, DER monitoring and control, etc. Customerbased applications include AMI（自动计量设施）, DR（需求回应）, LMS（负载管理）, MDMS（测量数据管理）, etc.These two classes of applicationsoperating in the distribution domain have different critical requirements. Forexample, customer based applications require the communication network between theutility and the customer to be highly scalable（可量化）. This would allow addition of moreapplications and customers in future. Time sensitivity is not much of an issuefor such applications. Field based applications on the other hand are more timesensitive in nature. Hence the utilities have a choicein adopting either communication networks dedicated to each class ofapplications or a single shared communication network for both classes. Ashared field area network（共享的区域网）will be able to minimizedevelopment cost and issues while adedicatednetwork（专用网）will have advantages of real-time communication capability and additional security.

3.1.3.Home area networks

Home area networks areneeded in the customer domain to implement monitoring and control of smart devicesin customer premises and to implement new functionalities like DR and AMI.Within the customer premises, a secure two-waycommunication interface called ESI（能源服务接口） acts as an interface between the utilityand the customer.TheESI may support different types of interfaces, including the utility secured interactive interface for secure two way communications（为双向通信担负交互接口的设施） and the utility public broadcast interface for one-way receipt of event and price signals at the customerdevices（为用户设备单向接收事件和价格信号的广播接口设施） [21]. The ESI may be linked(either be hardwired or through the home area networks) to a smart metercapable of sending metering information. This information is communicated tothe utility. The ESI also receives RTP（精确时间协议） from the utility over the AMI infrastructure and provides it to thecustomers. The customers may use a display panel (called IHD) linked to the ESIor a web-based customer EMS (residing in the smart meter, an independent gateway,or some third party) and respond to pricing signals from the utility.The ESI and smart devices provide utility with theability to implement its load-control programs by accessing the control-enableddevices at the customer site.

Using AMI, ESI and home areanetworks, the demand response process can be implemented in the following ways:

[1]※ DRthrough AMI gateway. An AMI gateway, though generally used for automaticbilling through AMR, can be used to send load control commands to the smart devicesusing the secure interface of the ESI. Thus, the load control algorithm mayreside with the ESI.

[1]※DRthrough DLC（直接负载控制）. In this case, either the utilityor an authorized energy service provider may directly control the smartappliances or DERsconfigured with such capability（配置了这种能力的设施和分布能源源）. The energy service provider may act as an aggregator(整合) of individual customers, negotiateRTP prices with the utility companies, and determine the demand response policyfor the registered customers.

[1]※DRthrough BAS（自动构建系统）. In this case, the BAS uses the RTPinformation available on the public channel of the ESI.A BAS has load controllers linked tosecurity installations（安全设施） and building HVAC（高压交流电，High Voltage Alternating Current） systemsthrough wireline (e.g., ethernet) or wireless (e.g., ZigBee) communicationmedium and can exercise demand response.

[1]※DRthrough embedded control. In this case, the smart device not only has acommunication link to the home area network, but also its own load controlalgorithm.

Thesmart device receives RTP information from the public ESI interface andexercises demand response.For example, a computer implements its own loadcontrol algorithm totake charge in accordance with RTP signals（依据RTP信号进行管理）.

3.2.Supporting network technologies

Manynetwork technologies can be used for communications in the transmission,distribution and customer domains in the smart grid, but none of them suits allthe applications and there is always a best fit of a technology or a subset oftechnologies that may be chosen for a group of power system applications,either operating in the same  domain orhaving similar communication requirements.Before acommunication technology is chosen for a particular power system application, athorough analysis is required to match the application requirements with the technologyproperties. The available network technologies include the followingcategories:

[1]※PowerLine Communication. The power lines are mainly used for electrical powertransmissions, but they can also be utilized for data transmissions[5,8,22–26].The power line communication systemsoperate by sending modulated carrier signals(调制载波信号) on the power transmission wires.Typically data signals cannotpropagate(传送) throughtransformers（变压器） and hence the power linecommunication is limited within each line segment between transformers. Datarates on power lines vary from a few hundred of bits per second to millions ofbits per second, in a reverse proportional relation to the power line distance（与输电线距离成反比）. Hence, power line communication ismainly used for in-door environment [27] to provide an alternative broadbandnetworking infrastructure [7,28] without installing dedicated network wires.

[1]※WirelineNetwork. Dedicated wireline cables（专用有线电缆） can be usedto construct data communication networks that are separate from the electricalpower lines.These dedicated networks require extrainvestment on the cable deployment（电线部署）, but they can offer higher communication capacity and shortercommunication delay. Depending on thetransmission medium used, the wireline networks include SONET/SDH [29,30],Ethernet [31], DSL, and coaxial cable accessnetwork（同轴电缆接入网络）. SONET/SDH networks transmithigh-speed data packets through optical fibers with supported data rate between155 Mbps and 160 Gbps. Ethernet is popularly used in our homes and workplaces,providing a data rate between 10 Mbps and 10 Gbps. DSL and coaxial cable can beused for Internet access. The currently available technology allows us totransmit data on DSL（数字用户线路） and coaxial cable up to 10Mbps.

[1]※WirelessNetwork. Advancement in wireless networking technology has enabled us toconnect devices in a wireless way, eliminating the installation of wirelines. Ingeneral,wireless signals are significantly subject to transmissionattenuation and environmental interference.（无线信号受制于传输衰减和环境干扰） As the result, wireless networks usually provide short distanceconnections with comparatively low data rates.The 802.11 networks [32] are the most popularly used local area wirelessnetworks, which can communicate at a maximum data rate up to 150 Mbps and a maximumdistance up to 250 m. In a smaller personal networking area around 10 m indistance, the 802.15 networks [33] provide wireless data exchange connections atrates ranging from 20 kbps to 55 Mbps. For broadband wireless Internet access, 802.16networks [34] can support data transmissions up to 100 Mbps in a range of 50km.

For WACS and WAPS（Wide areacontrol/protection system） applications, high bandwidthis required to meet the timing requirements. For example, it is suggested in[35] touse Internet Protocol (IP), Multi-ProtocolLabel Switching (MPLS) and Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM,波分复用) to construct the communication backbone. It is proposed that 10/100 Mbps Ethernet be used within substationsand 1 Gbps Ethernet be used to connect to the Internet over WDM backbone. Differentcommunication architectures and technologies may be deployed in thedistribution domain. For field based applications, agent-based architectures[36–38] are considered where the agents communicate with each other in a peerto peer manner for local control and protection with the centralized SCADAcontrol center. Various communication technologies may be used to support such communications,e.g., GPRS, Ethernet, SONET/SDH, IEEE 802.11, 802.15, and 802.16.Hybridarchitectures（混杂架构）may also be deployed where agroup of local wireless sensors communicate with an agent to collect nearbyelectrical information. This approach is more cost effective than using a directcommunication link for each agent. Products based on hybrid architectures using900 MHz wireless mesh technology（无线网状网络技术） and cellular technology（蜂窝技术） (GSM and CDMA) are already commercialized [39].For home areaapplications and control, IEEE 802.11 WiFi and 802.15 ZigBee networks can beused for convenient and low cost data exchange. Power line communication alsoprovides an alternative network to connect the electrical devices. Through homearea networks, the smart meter installed at each household is able to monitorthe electricity usage in real time and make adjustment when necessary. Researchand standardization efforts are currently underway to unify the home areanetworking technologies to enable smart energy management for home energydevices [40,41].

3.3.Communication functionalities

Thecommunication infrastructure enables a number of automated and intelligent energymanagement possibilities in the smart grid. Particularly, the NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology has identified the following priorityapplications [13] in the smart grid deployment.

3.3.1.Wide area situational awareness（WASA，广域态势感知）

The WASA system collectslarge amount of information about the current state of the power grid over awide area from electric substations and power transmission lines.

Usingthis information, monitoring (Wide Area Monitoring Systems – WAMS), control(Wide Area Control Systems –WACS) and protection (Wide Area Protection Systems–

WAPS)functionalities can be implemented. Thus WASA givesutility companies the ability to gather information, analyze it and predict anyfuture disturbance or power disruption, thereby preventing the occurrence ofblackouts（停电）.For example, theinformation can be used for contingency analysis（偶发事件分析）, which is theability of the power system to withstand the outage of critical elements. Itmay also be used for inter-areaoscillationdamping（振动阻尼）. Automation of these applicationswill provide self-healing capability in the future grid. Load shedding（减负载） and dynamic islanding （？动态孤岛）are examples of such self-healing control applications. Typical WAPSactions includeautomatic tripping of generators（发电机自动跳闸） and interruptible loads（可中断负载）. The WASA systems use wide areanetworks in the transmission domain for their operation.

3.3.2.Distribution grid management and automation

The futurepower grid will seeextensive penetration of active elements（有源元件的广泛渗入）(which can act as sources of energy) like DERs into the distributiongrid that can exchange energy with the grid in a bidirectional manner. However, the existingutility electric power systems were not designed for active generation andstorage at the distribution level [42].  Thismakes the traditional distribution grid with unidirectional power flow verycomplex in nature. The distribution grid also needs to support the monitoringof PEVs and consumer based functionality, e.g., automatic metering and demandresponse systems. These expected changes to the distribution grid call forextensive real-time monitoring of the grid.Themonitoring process involves gathering of information from distribution feeders,transformers equipped with electrical sensors and communication capability, PEVcharging stations, DER sites and customer premises.This information maybe fed to an automated centralized DMS for information analysis, state estimation,and control (using SCADA). This adds to the reliability of the distributionsystem. These applications use field area networks in the distribution domainfor operation.

3.3.3.Advanced metering infrastructure（智能电表基础设施）

The AMI system provides atwo-way communication capability for interaction between the utility companies andend customers with smart meters. These are mainly used to automatically gatherthe metering information from the customer side (Automatic Meter Reading –AMR)thereby reducing operational costs. Moreover, by using AMI,bidirectional communication capability, additional functionalities like thedemand response system can be implemented.The AMIcommunication infrastructure can also be used by third party vendors tointeract with the customer equipment for equipment monitoring and control. Itcan also aid inoutage detection（中断检测） at the customer site and remote restoration. The AMI systems use fieldarea networks in the distribution domain for operation.

3.3.4.Demand response

The DR system temporarilychanges the electricity consumption by loads on the distribution grid in responseto market (e.g., high electricity tariff(电费) due to high demand) or to maintain the reliability on the grid.The customer DERs may also contribute towards demand response by supporting theelectricity demand temporarily. Implementation of a DR system is beneficial forboth the utility companies and the customer.DRsystems allow the utility companies to control the peak power conditions on thegrid and flatten the consumption curves by shifting consumption times.Theutility is therefore able to avoid a short term peak by delaying some of theexisting usages and buy itself time to start of additional power plants. This avoidsthe inefficient operation of running backup power plants to cover the peakloads on the grid. Based on consumption curves, theutility companies can provide dynamic Real-Time Pricing (RTP) information tothe customers, thereby encouraging them to shift their usage to times of lowerelectricity demand. This will maximize the use of available power andincrease overall system efficiency. Customers on the other hand can use anenergy management interface and smart appliances (which communicate with asmart meter) and schedule their electricity usage in synchronization with thelow price signals. The process can also be automated and controlled by theutility as per the customer preferences. Moreover, by setting up DERs andenergy storage devices at their premises, customers can sell the excesselectricity back to the utility. The DR systems use the AMI infrastructure andfield area networks of the customer domain to implement their functionalities.

3.3.5.Electric transportation

Theintroduction of large number of PEVs at homes, PEV charging stations orcommercial buildings provides unique challenges to the utility companies. Thesimultaneous charging of large number of PEVs will put a lot of load on thegrid and thus some co-ordination is required to keep the load low at aparticular instant and to distribute it over time. This will require the PEVvehicles to shift their charging times in synchronization with the load on thegrid or the RTP signals. The PEV batteries can also act as temporary sources ofelectricity and hence can contribute some electricity to the grid in times ofpeak demand. Thus,the applications for electrictransportation are required to communicate with the PEVs to monitor theircharging processes and send them RTP information.It also needs toobtain data from PEVs, like the authentication information, the amount ofcharging required, the rate of charging, the capacity of the battery, etc.Overall, the impact of PEV charging process on the electricity distributionsystem needs to be closely monitored by the utility companies.The utility canuse this information for load forecasting. Besides these new functionalities,the existing data traffic in power systems must also be supported by theenhanced utility communication network. The existing data sources includeSCADA, protection and control applications, power trading information, eventnotification from fault recorders, and signals from offices to substations[43].

3.4.Communication requirements

Thecommunication infrastructure in smart grid undertakes important informationexchange responsibilities, which are the foundations for the functiondiversified and location distributed electric power devices to work synergetically（协同工作）.Unsatisfactory communication performance not only limits thesmart grid from achieving its full energy efficiency and service quality, butalso poses potential damages to the grid system.To protect the smartgrid and ensure optimal operation, the communication infrastructure must meet anumber of requirements [44,45].

3.4.1.Network latency（网络延迟）

Network latency defines the maximum time in which a particularmessage should reach its destination through a communication network. Themessages communicated between various entities within the power grid, may have differentnetwork latency requirements. Forexample, the protection information and commands exchanged between intelligentelectronic devices (IEDs) in a distribution grid will require a lower networklatency than the SCADA information messages exchanged between electrical sensorsand control centers. Moreover, the messages exchanged can be event driven(e.g., protection and control related) or periodic (e.g., monitoring related).The network architecture and communication medium must support the diverserequirements. The network architecture will determine if the message sent fromone communicating entity to the other will reach its destination in one or morehops. This will directly affect the latency. Similarly, the data ratessupported by the communication medium also dictate how fast an entity cancommunicate an event observed or reply to a message received.

3.4.2.Data delivery criticality（数据交付临界）

Theprotocol suite（协议栈） used for a particular power system application must providedifferent levels of data delivery criticality depending on the needs of theapplication. This need may be decided at the time of connection establishment betweentwo applications. The following levels of data delivery criticality may beused: (a) high is used where the confirmation ofend-to-end data delivery is a must and absence of confirmation is followed by aretry. For example, this may be used for delivery of SCADA control commands forsettings and changes of switch gear position; (b) medium is used whereend-to-end confirmation is not required but the receiver is able to detect dataloss, e.g.,measured current and voltage values and disturbance recorder data;(c) non-critical is used where data loss is acceptable to the receiver. In thiscase reliability can be improved by repetitive messages. For example, this maybe used for periodic data for monitoring purpose.

3.4.3.Reliability

Thecommunicating devices in the power grid rely on the communication backbone intheir respective domains to send and receive critical messages to maintain thegrid stability. Hence, it is extremely important for the communication backboneto be reliable for successful and timely message exchanges. The communication backbone reliability is affected by anumber of possible failures. These failures include time-out failures, networkfailures, and resource failures. A time-out failure（超时失败）occurs if the time spent in detecting, assembling（装配）,delivering and taking action in response to a control message exceeds thetiming requirements. A network failure occurs when there is a failure in one ofthe layers of the protocol suite used for communication. For example, a routingprotocol failure might prevent a message from reaching its destination in spiteof existence of a physical link. Noise and interference in the physical mediummay also disrupt the communication. A resource failure implies failure of theend node which initiates communications or receives messages. Hence, there is aneed to assess the reliability of the system in itsdesign phase（设计阶段） and find ways to improve it.

3.4.4.Security

Inthe future power systems, an electricity distribution network will spread overa considerably large area, e.g., tens or hundreds of miles in dimension. Hencephysical and cyber security from intruders is of utmost importance. Moreover, if a wireless communication medium (like WiFi or Zigbee) isused as part of the communication network, security concerns are increasedbecause of the shared and accessible nature of the medium. Hence, toprovide security protection for the power systems, we need to identify variouscommunication use cases (e.g., demand side management, advanced meter reading,communication between intelligent energy management (IEM) and intelligent faultmanagement (IFM) devices, and local area communication by IEM devices) and findappropriate security solutions for each use case, for example, authorizedaccess to the real time data and control functions, and use of encryptionalgorithms（加密算法） for wide area communications to prevent spoofing（防骗）.

3.4.5.Time synchronization（时间同步）

Someof the devices on power grid need to be synchronized in time. The requirementsfor time synchronization of a device depend on the criticality of theapplication. Tolerance and resolution requirements for time synchronization arestrict for IEDs that process time sensitive data. Forexample,phasor measurement units (PMUs) have the most strict need oftime synchronization as they provide a real-time measurement of electricalquantities (voltage and current) from across an electricity grid for analysis, measurementand control[44]. Time synchronization can be obtained through a numberof ways depending upon

theresolution and jitter requirements（分辨率和抖动要求）. Precision time protocol (PTP) defined by the standard IEEE 1588provides time synchronization with up to nanosecond precision（纳米级精度）over ethernet networks. Global positioning system (GPS) andsimple time network protocol (STNP) are other ways of achieving timesynchronization.

3.4.6.Multicast support

The multicastconcept is crucial for power system applications in which a message containinga given analog value（模拟值）, state change or command may have to becommunicated to several peers at the same time [46]. Thus, instead ofmultiple individually addressed messages, a single multicast message is sent toa switch that forwards it to all outgoing ports（发送端口）.Receiving devices are simply configured to listen to a particular multicastaddress, thus making it possible to disregard unwanted network traffic, whichis useful for IED devices to share protection related information with theirpeers.