There is an international effort to develop smart grids to overcome the problems caused by aging power grids. However, to immigrate to the new grid, the IT infrastructure has to be integrated with the current power grid. There is currently an ongoing debate surrounding what would be the best choice for smart grid communication technology. One of the promising communication technologies for smart grid realization is powerline communication (PLC). PLC provides utilities the opportunity of managing their own network infrastructure. Power cables are everywhere; even rural areas are covered with power cables. However, because of its noisy environment and the low capacity of narrowband powerline communication (NBPLC), its viability for smart grid realization is being questioned. To investigate this issue, smart grid communication network requirements and powerline communication technologies and channel models are studied. Then, using MATLAB and Network Simulator-2, powerline communication and a smart grid communication network (SGCN) are simulated. The performance of different powerline channels for smart grid realization is investigated and a viable PLC infrastructure for smart grid communication network is proposed. Furthermore, to have a better understanding of the viability of powerline communication for the smart grid, some future smart grid advanced applications are investigated and integrated to the system. It is shown that although two types of powerline channels do not perform well, the proposed powerline communication infrastructure, even under advanced traffic, is capable of providing the smart grid with its communication prerequisites. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-30 15:31:43.471

Power distribution facilities all over the world have been committed towards making the grids smarter in order to reduce the risks of grid failures and provide an affordable, reliable, and sustainable supply of electricity to the end consumers. The smart grid concept involves incorporation of monitoring, analysis and control functions into the existing power distribution infrastructure. One of the foremost steps in realizing the smart grid concept is the integration of information and communication technologies with power system engineering. Various communication technologies are available, out of which Powerline Communication (PLC) has been found to be most suitable owing to its least intensiveness on additional infrastructure. Existing methods use PLC as a separate communication physical layer to establish com- munication between components in a micro/sub-micro grid. However, these methods poses the problems of a separate physical layer requirement to establish communication between inverters, attenuation of the information signal by the EMI filters present in various loads and equipments connected to the micro grid, requirement of signal repeaters at regular distance intervals and requirement of a separate server for monitoring and control. In order to simultaneously utilize the incorporation of front end inverters into the grid and achieve inter-inverter communication, a PLC method for the grid connected inverters based on a harmonic injection into the grid current is proposed in this thesis. The harmonic injection is accomplished by considering the grid current as a composite vector with components rotating at different speeds. The lower harmonic spectrum space can be chosen to avoid the attenuation problems associated with the EMI filters. In the proposed method, as the choice of the harmonic space is flexible, it is possible to even adopt a dynamically changing harmonic space to optimize THD. The advantage of the method is that it simultaneously achieves communication along with grid interfacing of DGs without any requirement of extra hardware. Also, since the principle of information exchange amongst inverters is the same as that of the power transfer, there is no added complexity involved in the inverter control system due to the proposed PLC method. The principle of the Composite Space Vector on which the proposed PLC method is based upon has been explained in detail along with the frame transformation equations. The control scheme to achieve the power transfer and the information exchange for the grid connected inverters is explained. The design procedure for various circuit elements and the control loop parameters has been explained. The thesis also discusses the various factors affecting the choice of the modulating signal and the speed of communication achievable in the proposed PLC method. For both the three phase and single phase systems, simulation results have been presented for the proposed PLC method under different grid conditions and different harmonics as the modulating signals. The simulations have been performed using the MATLAB SIMULINK SimPowerSystems toolbox. The simulation results have been experimentally verified through a laboratory prototype. The laboratory prototype consists of individual IGBT based inverters controlled through the Texas Instruments TMS320F2812 DSP based digital controller.

In many outage management systems, customer trouble calls have been used as the primary source of outages for distribution level outages. However the information from the trouble calls is not completely reliable as they lead to problems like okay-on-arrival reports, over escalation and extended outage times for the customers. But with the recent developments in communication and information technologies, utilities started to adopt Automated Meter Reading systems for their operational needs. In this thesis, an algorithm is developed and implemented that makes efficient use information available from the customers and powerline communication based AMR systems for outages. The work has taken advantage of the polling feature of powerline based AMR systems to identify the scope of the outage. The polling procedure uses the on demand read feature of the AMR systems that allows the utility to communicate directly with the customers. The meters in the neighborhood of the trouble calls are polled to identify the affected customers and the outages are located by back tracking to common point. In the first part of the algorithm, the distribution system is modeled as a tree and the meters are strategically polled based on the customers reporting the outages. The outage areas are identified and escalated to find the actual outage location. The crew can be directed to the outage scene to fix the cause of the outage. The algorithm discusses the rules to identify single outages, single customer outages and multiple outages. The algorithm was tested on different test systems representing distribution systems of various sizes. The algorithm is tested for different outage scenarios for all the test cases.

In this thesis, we will discuss aging line detection and electrical fire precaution by using powerline communication technique. Fire is always a serious disaster which endangers our lives and property. Electrical fire is a major proportion of fire disaster. Even every house generally setup circuit breaker and fuse in time, electrical fire still occurred oftentimes. Current powerline communication technology is using household powerline as a medium of signal transmission, whose channel characteristic will be affected by surrounding environment. We hope that we can analyze the change of transmission characteristic in high frequency of household powerline, which deterioration during long time. At the same time, we will detect variation of high frequency characteristic of powerline as the basis for judgment of aging line, to prevent electrical fire further. Finally, we combine our approach into PLC system, which can also diagnose the line while transmission of powerline at the same time, adding the value without having too much cost.

Τα δίκτυα δεδομένων έχουν περάσει από πειραματική τεχνολογία στο να γίνουν ένα βασικό εργαλείο για δουλεία, ψυχαγωγία και να χρησιμοποιούνται από επιχειρήσεις και σπίτια παγκοσμίως. Οι επιχειρήσεις χρησιμοποιούν δίκτυα για να μεταφέρουν αρχεία, να μοιράσουν εφαρμογές μεταξύ υπολογιστών, καθώς επίσης και για να δώσουν δυνατότητα πρόσβασης πολλών υπολογιστών μαζί σε δικτυακές συσκευές, όπως είναι για παράδειγμα οι εκτυπωτές. Πέρα από την παραπάνω χρήση, η οποία γίνεται από επιχειρήσεις και είναι αρκετά σημαντική, υπάρχει και η απαίτηση για τη μετάδοση δεδομένων στο σπίτι. Οι χρήστες που έχουν συχνά περισσότερους από έναν υπολογιστές στον ιδιωτικό τους χώρο, χρησιμοποιούν τα δίκτυα δεδομένων έτσι ώστε να διαμοιράσουν αρχεία και δεδομένα, για την αυτοματοποίηση του σπιτιού τους συμπεριλαμβανομένων εφαρμογών όπως τα συστήματα ασφάλειας, για δικτυακά παιχνίδια, για τον έλεγχο θέρμανσης αλλά και για πάμπολλες οικιακές εφαρμογές. Ένας εύκολος, έξυπνος και φθηνός τρόπος δικτύωσης οικιακών δικτύων, είναι η δικτύωση μέσω των ηλεκτρικών γραμμών. / Networks become very popular for small offices and homes. Companies use networks in order all users to be able to communicate and use common printers, scanners, e.t.c. Into our homes, networking become popular due to the use of it. You may control heat, stream audio and video. A way to network you house is power line communication.

Cette thèse démontre la pertinence de l’utilisation du Courant Porteur en Ligne (CPL) pour des applications de réseaux de capteurs. Nous nous focalisons sur la technologie basse consomma- tion et bas débit "WPC" développée par la société Watteco et nous montrons que son utilisation est justifiée pour des applications de réseaux de capteurs. Nous situons la solution WPC dans le paysage du CPL et déterminons les protocoles compatibles. Nous décrivons ensuite l’implé- mentation du module WPC et du média CPL dans le simulateur de réseau COOJA afin de proposer une solution réseau reposant sur l’adaptation du standard 802.15.4 sur la technologie WPC. Nous démontrons ensuite l’intérêt de la convergence des médias au niveau réseau par l’utilisation du standard IPv6, que nous adaptons sur notre solution CPL grâce au protocole 6LoWPAN. Nous justifions l’utilisation des protocoles standards de l’IETF sur notre solution CPL et nous montrons qu’une solution de routage sur CPL doit être développée. Nous montrons par des expérimentations que notre solution CPL correspond aux critères des réseaux basse puis- sance et supportant les pertes de transmissions (LLNs) pour lesquels le protocole standard RPL a été conçu. Nous justifions l’utilisation de ce protocole sur CPL, et validons son implémenta- tion dans le cadre de 2 expérimentations. Formées respectivement de 7 puis 26 noeuds CPL, les résultats montrent que le routage créé par RPL permet de couvrir un étage d’un bâtiment avec une topologie de type arbre et une profondeur de 3 sauts maximum. Nous montrons également que la technologie WPC permet une connectivité importante entre les noeuds du réseau et que la qualité des liens est fortement dynamique, mais que le routage permet de s’adapter à ces variations. Nous pointons également les limites de notre solution CPL qui présente des délais importants et des débits faibles, générant de contraintes fortes sur les applications. Notre solu- tion de réseau de capteur sur CPL repose sur le standard IP, permettant des échanges de paquets avec d’autres technologies. Nous étudions ainsi la possibilité de créer des réseaux hétérogènes mélangeant la technologie WPC et radio 802.15.4. Nous montrons que notre pile protocolaire permet la création de ce type de réseau, afin de profiter du meilleur des 2 mondes. Nous décri- vons ainsi l’architecture d’un noeud hybride Radio Fréquence (RF) / CPL permettant de faire transiter les paquets entre ces 2 médias. Nous montrons ensuite que l’utilisation combinée de ces 2 médias augmente le nombre de chemins disponibles et permet de faciliter le routage, en diminuant le nombre de sauts et le risque que certains noeuds du réseau soient inaccessibles. Nous démontrons ensuite que l’injection de noeuds CPL et RF/CPL dans un réseau formé de noeuds RF sur batterie permet de les délester de leur charge de routage afin de prolonger leur durée de vie. Nous présentons ensuite une optimisation énergétique matérielle et logicielle d’un noeud radio. Nous déterminons les paramètres des protocoles et les optimisations logicielles per- mettant de tirer au mieux partie de cette architecture et nous réalisons l’étude énergétique de la sonde embarquée sur le noeud. Au final, notre architecture présente une consommation totale inférieure à 17 μW. Nous indiquons dans les annexes nos implications dans les organismes de standardisation qui ont permis de valider l’implémentation. / This thesis demonstrate the relevance of Powerline Communication (PLC) usage for sensor networks applications. We focus in particular on the low power and low data rate PLC technol- ogy "Watt Pulse Communication" (WPC) developed by the Watteco company and justify its usage for sensor network applications. We situate the WPC technology in the PLC landscape and define compatible protocols. We then describe the WPC module and the PLC media im- plementation in the COOJA network simulator. This allows us to propose a network solution over this technology, leveraging on the adaptation of the 802.15.4 standard over the WPC tech- nology. We then demonstrate the benefit of media convergence at the network layer level, with the use of the IPv6 standard that we adapted over our PLC solution thanks to the 6LoWPAN protocol. We justify the usage of standards protocols over our PLC solution and show that a routing solutions must be developed over WPC. We show through experiments that our PLC solution match low power and lossy network (LLNs) criterions for which the RPL standard pro- tocol has been designed. We justify the usage of this routing protocol over our PLC solution, and validate its implementation through 2 experiments conducted in tertiary types buildings. Respectively composed of 7 and 26 PLC nodes, results show that the routing topology created by RPL enable the coverage an entire floor of a tertiary building with a tree based topology and 3 hops maximum path length. We also show that the WPC technology exhibits a high connectivity between nodes and that the link quality is highly dynamic. Though, we observed that the routing topology was able to handle these variations. We point out the limitations of our PLC solution, which presents high delays and low throughput, creating high constraints on applications. Our sensor network solution over PLC relies on the IP standard, enabling packets exchanges with other technologies using the same protocol. In particular, we study the possi- bility to create heterogeneous networks mixing the WPC technology with 802.15.4 radio. We show that our protocol stack used over PLC enable to create this type of network, in order to benefit from the best of these 2 worlds. We purpose an architecture of a hybrid Radio / PLC node enabling to transfer packets between these 2 media. Then, we show that the combined usage of these 2 media increase the number of available paths and facilitate the routing, while diminishing the number of hops and possible unreachability of nodes. We then demonstrate that the addition of PLC and Radio/PLC nodes in a RF based battery powered sensor network enable to relieve their routing charge in order to expand their lifetime. We then continue the energy study with a power consumption optimization of a wireless sensor network platform from the hardware and software standpoint. We first determine the operating frequency, the wake up frequency and the mode of operation of the micro controller offering the lowest power consump- tion. We then conduct an energy study of 4 different radio transceivers using the 2.4 GHz and 868 MHz frequency band, in order to determine the most efficient architecture. We determine the protocols parameters and the software optimization to reach the lower power consumption of this architecture. Finally, we realize the energy study of several probes than can be embedded on the node, according to their nature and functioning mode. Our final architecture exhibits a total power consumption that is lower than 17 μW, with an applicative reporting each 10 minutes and the maintenance of the reachability with the network. We also mention in annex parts our implication in standards developments organizations such as the IETF a the IPSO alliance, that allow us to validate the implementation of our solution through interoperability events.

Denna studie undersöker rimlighet samt för- och nackdelar med att låta CAN-kommunikation ske över DC-ledare mellan laddare och batteri istället för separat kablage. Detta gjordes genom att testa en vald lösning som fanns tillgänglig på marknaden. Tester bestod huvudsakligen av att logga datatrafik i olika testscenarion och sedan analysera denna. Alla tester kunder inte slutföras till följd av trasiga komponenter, dock pekadeinsamlad data på att fel som uppstår delvis är frekvensberoende till följd av oavsiktlig filtrering av signalen till följd av kondensatorer och induktorer kopplade mot DC-ledarna på laddar-sidan. Detta ledde till slutsatsen att tekniken bör kunna användas om alla systemets komponenter kan modifieras för att minimera inverkan.

The diploma´s thesis is focussed on principles and characteristics of Powerline Communication. Powerline communication is a technology using powerlines for transmitting information. Its narrowband variant is developing in the field of remote data reading nowadays. There is a lot of solutions that need to be tested and simulated prior ro putting into practice. This thesis deals with preparing the OMNeT++ simulation enviroment for purposes of simulating the narrowband service PLC.

Smart grid aims at improving the efficiency, reliability, security, and quality of service (QoS) of the current electricity grid by exploiting the advances in communication and information technology. In parallel to size of the electricity grid, smart grid communication infrastructure should cover a very large geographical area that may extend from remote generation sites to densely populated residential regions and inside buildings, homes, and electricity-power-system environments. In such an extensive communication network, different communication technologies operating on different communication medium are likely to coexist. Among the communication technologies available, wireless and power line communication (PLC) based solutions are comparatively attractive especially considering cost of the initial investment required for the realization of a communication network with such an immense size. In this dissertation, a detailed investigation of wireless and PLC channel characteristics of the smart grid networks is presented. Among the topics discussed are the time variation characteristics of wireless channels, root-mean-squared (RMS) delay spread and path amplitude statistics of PLC channels, and the impact of impulsive noise on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems.

A presente dissertação tem por objetivo discutir a viabilidade da tecnologia PLC como rede de acesso ou última milha e também como modelo de negócios a ser explorado pelas Empresas Distribuidoras de Energia Elétrica (EDEE). A tecnologia PLC vista como rede de acesso ou última milha é um sistema de comunicacao digital de dados a ser implementado a partir das redes elétricas de distribuição das EDEE. Essas redes apresentam características que dificultam a transmissão de sinais de telecomunicações em banda larga e banda estreita. As várias técnicas apresentadas neste trabalho dão a certeza da robustez e a comprovação da viabilidade da tecnologia PLC como meio de telecomunicação. A melhoria e melhor desempenho das redes PLC será alcançada quando os dados forem colhidos das redes de distribuição das EDEE do Brasil, através de futuros trabalhos de pesquisa da análise dos canais PLC e dos ruídos aditivos nas redes elétricas do nosso país. As EDEE podem aproveitar a tecnologia PLC como modelo de negócio. A idéia PLC como modelo de negócios é ampla, ou seja, várias configurações de negócio PLC podem ser exploradas. Os resultados numéricos e os benefícios à sociedade obtidos confirmam a relevância da tecnologia PLC. / A presente dissertação tem por objetivo discutir a viabilidade da tecnologia PLC como rede de acesso ou última milha e também como modelo de negócios a ser explorado pelas Empresas Distribuidoras de Energia Elétrica (EDEE). A tecnologia PLC vista como rede de acesso ou última milha é um sistema de comunicacao digital de dados a ser implementado a partir das redes elétricas de distribuição das EDEE. Essas redes apresentam características que dificultam a transmissão de sinais de telecomunicações em banda larga e banda estreita. As várias técnicas apresentadas neste trabalho dão a certeza da robustez e a comprovação da viabilidade da tecnologia PLC como meio de telecomunicação. A melhoria e melhor desempenho das redes PLC será alcançada quando os dados forem colhidos das redes de distribuição das EDEE do Brasil, através de futuros trabalhos de pesquisa da análise dos canais PLC e dos ruídos aditivos nas redes elétricas do nosso país. As EDEE podem aproveitar a tecnologia PLC como modelo de negócio. A idéia PLC como modelo de negócios é ampla, ou seja, várias configurações de negócio PLC podem ser exploradas. Os resultados numéricos e os benefícios à sociedade obtidos confirmam a relevância da tecnologia PLC.