OPNET-based performance analysis of the communication network in a charging station of electric vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) will play an important role in the future smart grids. In order to implement the charging/discharging optimization and control for numerous electric vehicles, a large amount of data will be generated and transmitted. The communication of vast information imposes a significant challenge to the performance of the communication network in a charging station of EVs. Given this background, the characteristics of different types of data are analyzed first. Then, simulations of the communication network in a charging station of EVs are carried out by employing the optimized network engineering tool (OPNET). Simulation results demonstrate that giving a higher priority to the important data is helpful for maintaining the normal work of charging/discharging when the code rate of the video monitoring information is high. In some scenarios, establishing a dedicated network for transmitting video monitoring information is a better option.