Toward smart distribution management by integrating advanced metering infrastructure

The advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has been recognized as a key communication mechanism in the modern distribution grid. As a result, integrating AMI with distribution management system (DMS) has become the focal point of distribution utilities during the past several years with the objective of enabling new applications and enhancing existing ones. This paper presents a unified integration solution that enables DMS systems to flexibly adapt to various AMI systems with different communication protocols and meter data models. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed solution are demonstrated through practical test scenarios.