Performances of PRIME PLC-RF Hybrid Communication Systems

This paper reviews the main changes in the new version of the PRIME standard, especially its evolution towards a hybrid system combining Power Line Communications (PLC) and Radio Frequency (RF). In particular, the current simulation results are presented by comparing the system performance in three Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) use cases with each other and with the results of a previous work analyzing the new version of the G3 standard. The first case is an environment where all nodes are PLC and the PLC noise level allows connectivity in all areas of the site. The second case is an environment where all nodes are PLC+RF, the PLC noise level does not allow connectivity in some areas, and the system needs to switch to RF. The third case is an environment where half of the nodes are PLC+RF and the others half are RF only. This would be the situation of a system with electricity meters, which are hybrid PLC+RF, and gas or water meters, which are RF only. To evaluate their performance, some Key Performance Indicators suitable for these applications are introduced.