A Study on Communication Network Reliability for Advanced Metering Infrastructure in Smart Grid

One of the critical challenges remained in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in smart grid is communication network reliability. Ensuring a high communication network reliability for smart grid AMI is a fundamental requirement, which defines the availability of assured data transmission and information delivery. The traditional communication architecture of an AMI follows an access network structure with a tree-based topology, which does not always satisfy high network robustness and is prone to network failures. To address the challenge, this paper conducts a reliability study on the distributed AMI communication networks. First, this paper examines the underlying connectivity issues of an AMI, and proposes two new solutions to the existing communication architecture of an AMI. Second, a mathematical model is formulated to solve a network connectivity problem, where we try to maintain a high overall network reliability, while satisfying the communication deployment cost constraint at the same time. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the overall network reliability in terms of single link reliability and communication architecture.