Impact of equalization on hybrid communication system for smart grid

This paper investigates the impact of advanced signal processing techniques on a communication through Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in smart grid. While the Narrowband Powerline channel (NB-PLC) is very harsh, we propose to use two h e t e r o g e n e o u s environments: wireless (RF) and wired (NB-PLC) channels. Authors present channel estimation techniques based on Least Squares (LS) and Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) algorithms and channel equalization based on Zero Forcing (Z F) and Minimum Mean Square Error (M M SE) methods. Performances analysis show that the MMSE channel estimator is better than the LS estimator in terms of mean square error for the two environments and the MMSE equalizer used for NB-PLC channel do not have good performances. Therefore, environment diversity can be exploited to enhance our system reliability.