Practical Evaluation of UK Internet Network Characteristics For Demand-Side Response Applications

Internet based communications is a necessary solution for enabling smart grid services such as demand side management, automatic metering infrastructure, and virtual power plants. However, the speed and reliability of the Internet for providing smart grid services needs practical investigation. In this paper, we evaluate the robustness of the U.K. Internet network for demand response services, based on the latency, packet loss and jitter for smart grid communication. We use the ping tool to identify the minimum achievable latency within a national internet topology and the analysis has also been extended to consumer internet access. Further, the internet connectivity of consumer's premises has been evaluated regarding suitability of these solutions for demand response applications.