Secure multipath routing for AMI network in Smart Grid

A Smart Grid is the modernization of the electricity grid using communication technology with the prime goals of reducing energy consumption as well as cost increasing reliability and creating new services for all participants. It comprises key components such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) that includes Neighborhood area network (NAN). When multi-hopping is considered in wireless communication, especially in WiFi and ZigBee, the range of communication can be extended to communicate with the gateway collector in AMI network. Wireless mesh AMI network may have smart meters, NAN gateway, and fixed as well as mobile repeaters. Though many techniques have been developed to secure on-demand routing protocols in wireless multi-hop ad hoc networks, these protocols have shortcomings. In this paper, we propose an efficient and robust security mechanism for multipath routing protocol in wireless mesh AMI networks. We have analyzed its robustness to various attacks. The simulation results show that the proposed mechanism is better than existing secure routing protocols.