Interference issues in Smart Grid Home Area Network to enable Demand Response and Advanced Metering Infrastructure: survey and solutions

Abstract

The electric power grid has served us well for the past years. However, they are not designed to meet the
demand of the future needs including the ever-rising energy demand, integration of the micro generation
with the grid, reliability and security. Therefore, recently, an efficient electric energy system called the
Smart Grid (SG) has been proposed as the next-generation electrical power system technology that
embraces advanced communications technologies and ubiquitous computing capabilities in every aspect
of electricity generation, transmission, distribution and consumption. The core component of the SG is a
communication networks which comprises a variety of wireless communication technologies. In this
paper, we present a survey on the interference issues in the SG communication network specifically the
Home Area Network (HAN) utilizing low-power based wireless technology in enabling the Demand
Response (DR) and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) functionalities. We also discuss the current
proposed methods in mitigating, avoiding and dealing with the interference problem. Finally, we discuss
the utilization of cognitive radio based technique as a promising method in solving the interference
problem and in enabling optimal communication service for Smart Grid HAN (SG-HAN).