On the role of 5G Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) in applications extending Smart Grid (SG) capabilities

Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) is the promising feature of 5G New Radio (NR) technology that will support a wide range of time-critical communication use cases in Smart Grid (SG). The key technologies enabling the URLLC are emphasized in the paper. Applications extending SG capabilities by means of URLLC services are identified. The following use cases are analyzed: Line differential protection, Fault location, isolation, and system restoration (FLISR), Wide-area monitoring systems using Phasor measurement units (PMUs), and Demand response (DR) for power balancing. This paper presents an attempt to summarize the URLLC role in SG-related applications requiring near real-time data interchange with high reliability.