Modeling Advanced Metering Infrastructure with Bidirectional Traffic in Smart Grids

Traditional power grids have been predominantly one-way delivery systems. Recently, a two-way power delivery and communication system has been proposed to be incorporated into the current power grid system, thereby establishing a Smart Grid, to alleviate the challenges associated with one-way systems. The advanced system includes a large number of sensors deployed at multiple locations and consumer sites (e.g. Smart Meters) for monitoring usage and faults. The two-way communication infrastructure provides the utility control centers with the means to collect data on power usage from the smart meters, along with the ability to communicate back operation-critical information and control actions to their client's smart meters, thus establishing an infrastructure for both monitoring and controlling different services on the grid. In this paper, we suggest a framework of the network model for analyzing the performance of bidirectional data communication in the advanced metering infrastructure, along with our future directions.