On applications of short distance RF for smart grid at distribution level

Power distribution system is one of the important parts of smart grid. Due to its large scale, only a small part in power distribution system employs optical fiber infrastructure. In this paper, we propose an architecture of hybrid short distance RF and wide band communication. We analyze why these two technologies complementary well in power distribution level. We summarized three short distance RF network models according to different traffic mode. Then we discuss four essential issues when applying short distance RF regard our experience. Finally, we illustrate three successful use cases in China mainland. We believe that short distance RF can play an effective role only in the condition of binding with the application scenarios tightly.