A review of wireless communications for smart grid

Smart grid is envisioned to meet the 21st century energy requirements in a sophisticated manner with real time approach by integrating the latest digital communications and advanced control technologies to the existing power grid. It will connect the global users through energy efficiency and awareness corridor. This paper presents a comprehensive review of Wireless Communications Technologies (WCTs) for implementation of smart grid in a systematic way. Various network attributes like internet protocol (IP) support, power usage, data rate etc. are considered to compare the communications technologies in smart grid context. Techniques suitable for Home Area Networks (HANs) like ZigBee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 6LoWPAN and Z-Wave are discussed and compared in context of consumer concerns and network attributes. A similar approach in context of utilities concerns is adopted for wireless communications techniques for Neighborhood Area Networks (NANs) which include WiMAX and GSM based cellular standards. Smart grid applications, associated network issues and challenges are elaborated at the end.