Technologies Required for Efficient Operation of a

Smart Meter Network

MD M RAHMAN

AMANULLAH MTO (Author)

School of Engineering and Built Environment,

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health,
CQ University, Rockhampton, Qld 4702, Australia.
Email: m.rahman2@cqu.edu.au

School of Engineering and Built Environment,

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health
CQ University, Rockhampton, Qld 4702, Australia.
Email: a.maungthanoo@cqu.edu.au

AbstractSmart meter network is one of the backbone for

modern power grid or smart grid. It is very critical to have the
right technologies for the efficient operation of smart meter
network. Smart meter network requires the right bidirectional
communications medium and interoperability capability. As
thousands of meters will be interconnected to the distribution
power network, it is vital to combine communications
technologies (communication bandwidth) and interoperability
standards to facilitate two-way information flows and this will
also facilitate further uptake of greenhouse-friendly technology
and enhance energy security.
This paper provides an overview of the characteristic of smart
meter, associated communication standard and bandwidth and
investigates the propagation delay of smart meter via Ethernet
devices using the OPNET IT Guru to ensure efficient operation
of a smart meter network.
Keywords- smart meter network, smart meter, communication
bandwidth, real time Ethernet.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Today, power distribution systems are characterized by

structural weaknesses, geopolitical and environmental
shortcomings. Whilst energy remains a major component of
economic growth, such deficiencies can have a direct impact
on the national economy. The replacement of aging
infrastructure presents an opportunity for imposing new
technologies and to 'future-proof' the network, not only to
meet the continuing growth in peak electricity consumption,
but also to cope with a fundamental change in the delivery of
electricity services. The main limitation of the existing
electricity delivery processes is that consumers are passive
participants, with limited access to information to demonstrate
energy usage and costs. Furthermore, the current design of the
network is a one way flow of both energy and information,
and it will not meet the anticipated expectations of consumers
and key stakeholders in the future, that require two-way
energy and information exchange to support best practice asset

c
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IEEE

management, customer enablement, and the range of emerging

energy storage and renewable generation technologies [1].
While this future is dependent on the uptake of new
technology, the greater dependence is on the need for
consumers to fundamentally change the way that energy is
used. In a power distribution network, it is evident that smart
meter technology is needed to operate power utilities in a
globalised environment and cope with the changing
requirements and technologies. Smart meters in distribution
network are one of the challenging tasks to address in order to
visualize the distribution network in the digital world under
modern communication standard.
A main objective of the smart network is to enable
consumer to show a willingness to become participants in the
energy market, to make choices about their energy use and
increase awareness of climate change. The smart network
allows the additional of an 'intelligence' layer to the core
distribution systems which will enable secure, reliable and
cost effective two-way energy and information flows to and
from consumers and devices on the network, and will be
supported by enabling solutions. The result will be a
transformation from a process characterized by dominant
large-scale generation, with little or no customer involvement
or choice, and with limited information about and control over
the devices by which the infrastructure delivering the energy is
managed, to one which enables and facilitates higher levels of
local, renewable energy generation, customer choice and
participation, plus real-time management and operation of the
network infrastructure [1]. Thus, the smart meter network has
been proposed as an enabling technology to integrate some
critical developments in the future distribution system such as
expansion of network infrastructure to accommodate
renewable resources, penetration of information technology to
implement full digital control in distribution system and
deployment of new applications.

809

II.

information that gives the consumer the ability to

better control their consumption and provision energy;

COMPONENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF

SMART METER NETWORK

The technologies, devices and systems that make up a

smart network will vary across electricity distribution systems,
just as existing electricity networks vary according to the
geographic, climatic, ownership and business parameters.

achieve self-healing (i.e. automatic fault response),

given that integration of devices and sensors with a
secure communications network will automatically
recover unaffected sections of the network and isolate
those elements in need of repair, resistance to security
attack is enhanced as end-to-end cyber security can be
enforced across the network with smart network
security protocols;

enable generation and storage options at the macro and

micro-level by way of participatory networks
established at all levels of the network including
individual and industrial customers;

optimize assets performance to improve operating

efficiency and reduced operating and maintenance
costs by harnessing the information provided by
sensing and monitoring devices and automatic
switching capability; and

enable distribution networks to be more resilient to

natural disasters with rapid restoration capabilities.

A. Components of Smart Meter Network

The smart network components include [2-3]:
integrated communications infrastructure that enables
near real-time, two-way exchanges of information and
power

smarter measurement devices (including advanced

metering infrastructure) that record and communicate
more detailed information about energy usage

sensors and monitoring systems throughout the

network that keep a check on the flow of energy in the
system and the performance of the networks assets

automatic controls that detect and repair network

problems and provide self-healing solutions

advanced switches and cables that improve network

performance, and

IT systems with integrated applications and data

analysis.

III.

DRIVERS FOR IMPLEMENTING OF SMART

DISTRIBUTION NETWOR

Smart distribution network is required to maintain and

enhance energy security. Globally, the indigenous energy
resources to secure energy supplies has driven the
development and deployment of new and renewable
technologies including advancing ways in which energy is
delivered. The implementation of a smart network can
facilitate a step change in the way energy is produced and
consumed.
Smart network faces new challenges and stresses which
may put at risk its ability to reliably deliver power to a
growing economy. The challenges include [1, 5, 6]:

Figure1: Smart network components and opportunities [2]

Figure 1 describes new opportunities that are enabled by
smart networks, rather than being a component part of smart
networks. There are a range of other technologies, devices and
applications that are often associated with smart networks,
such as customers energy management systems, renewable
energy supplies, electric vehicles and energy storage
technologies.
B. Characteristics of Smart Meter Network
The following provides additional attributes of the smart
network characteristics [1, 3, 4]:
active participation of consumers occurs through the
provision of two-way communications specifically

810

A. Network Challenge
Electricity usually is consumed the moment, it is generated.
The main problem is to meet the peak demand. The challenge
for distribution networks are ensuring a two-way flow of
electricity and information between distribution system and
appliances and the distribution network must be designed to
meet peak rather than average demand. There are several ways
to mitigate the challenge of rapidly growing peak demand
such as managing supply, managing demand and solutions to
shift demand away from peaks. A smart network will support
all these solutions.
B. Enabling Climate Change Solutions
A range of policy initiatives have been introduced to reduce
emissions of carbon and other gases into the atmosphere and
moves made to encourage uptake of high levels of low CO
2

emitting renewable energy, promote energy efficiency and

invest in technologies that reduce dependence on traditional
CO emitting energy sources. Now as electric power
2

2011 6th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications

generation accounts for approximately 25% of the worlds

CO emissions, new carbon regulations will have a major
2

impact on the industry. The energy network sector, through

the development and implementation of the smart network,
will play an important role in facilitating the shift to a low
carbon economy.
C. Local Area Issues
Smart distribution networks face community opposition to
the sittings of new infrastructure, particularly substation sites
and feeder corridors and routes. At the distribution level, the
introduction of a smart network alleviates some of these
issues. There should be a reduced need to build distribution
infrastructure. This will result from the greater uptake of
embedded generation, more localized renewable energy and
greater energy efficiency as consumers make informed choices
about the level of their consumption. In order to maximize the
benefits from the introduction of new technologies, industry
and the community will need to become partners in this
process.
D. Energy Security
A smart network facilitates energy security by reducing
total demand as customers respond to price signals and
implement energy saving strategies and responses in their
homes and businesses, developing economical storage system
such as integrating distributed renewable generation adding to
the total generation capability, addressing power-quality
problems that may exacerbate the situation, and enhancing
asset utilization and enhancing reliability by way of real-time
monitoring and control of network performance, rapid fault
diagnosis and response, automated switching under fault
conditions, local generation providing alternatives to central
generation in the event of major disruptions, and greater
interconnection of networks.
As with all critical infrastructures, there has been high
lightened security awareness and specific consideration will
need to be given to securing the new smart network. This will
mean the implementation of security policies for the physical
and cyber components of the network.
E. Cost
Elements of the strategies the energy network sector will
need to adopt to implement smart networks that include
improved asset management and network intelligence
(including real-time control, modeling and monitoring)
enabled by Information Technology (IT) to ensure available
scarce resources (including financial, human, materials and
logistics) deploying as effectively as possible.
Essentially these technologies provide a bridge to the
implementation of future smart technologies where real-time
data will be provided the best practice network and work
management. These technologies will allow real-time asset
management, peak load management, interactive distributed
energy resources (DERs) and cost management and give

customers the ability to choose energy solutions that best

match their requirements including real-time energy pricing.
They will provide a basis for implementing behind the meter
services to provide a range of security, quality, and reliability.
IV.

TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED FOR DESIGNING SMART

METER NETWORK

Smart distribution system design should have superior

levels of safety and reliability as compared to classical design.
The main elements of distribution system assessment are
reliability, efficiency, voltage regulation, cost, environmental
benefit, consumer empowerment and safety and there is a
critical link between these benefits [7,8].
A smart distribution system must be able to make
decisions and those decisions must be based upon real-time
information. A smart distribution system is desirable to
investigate design implications and these design implications
associated with the major technological drivers will be
examined. The concept of smart meter network is attracting
wide interest among utilities, consultants, regulators and other
stakeholders. The smart meter concept is continuing to evolve
and utilities have already deployed, or are planning key
elements or components of smart meter network.
The smart meter need to include control area and balancing
area designs that account for increased penetration of
renewable energy and also provide interoperability standards
and deploy new and old generation sources [9]. The design
implications such as Distributed Intelligence, digital
communication, Decision and control software, and
Communication standard are to be considered together:
A. Distributed Intelligence
The Smart distribution system has a lot to do with
decentralization: including distributed generation (DG) and
storage, distribution system automation and optimization,
customer involvement and interaction and even micro grids.
That means that it will be necessary to have more intelligence
and control not just for throughout the distribution system, but
all the way to the retail consumers side of the meter. This will
involve both fixed and mobile devices.
Fixed devices will include: supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) devices and distribution automation
(DA) devices, automatic meter reading (AMR) devices and
smart meters, retail premises monitoring and control systems
and energy management systems (EMS) and emerging
technologies for monitoring and controls, both for electric
utilities and for consumers[3].
1) Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI): The smart
distribution system will utilise advanced digital meters at all
customer service locations which will have two-way
communication, be able to remotely connect and disconnect
services, record waveforms, monitor voltage and current, and
support time-of-use and real-time rate structures. The meters
will be in the same location as present meters, and therefore
will not have any direct design implications. However, these
meters will make a large amount of data available for
operations control and planning, which can potentially be used

2011 6th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications

811

variety of digital telecommunications including: wired

telephone, fiber optics, power line carrier, and the Internet.
Electric utilities make use of both wholly-owned and operated
networks and third party networks [4].

to achieve better reliability and better asset management.

Perhaps the biggest change that advanced meters will enable is
in the area of real-time rates. True real time rates will tend to
equalise loading patterns distribution system. In additions,
these meters will enable automatic demand response by
interfacing with smart electrical appliances [10].
2) Distribution Automation: Distribution automation (DA)
refers to monitoring, control and communication functions
located out on the feeder network. From a design perspective,
the most important aspects of distribution automation are in
the areas of protection and switching. DA devices today can
cost-effectively serve as an intelligent device or node in the
distribution system. These devices can interrupt fault current,
monitor currents and voltages, communicate with one-another
and automatically reconfigure the system to restore failures.
The ability to quickly and flexibly reconfigure an interconnected network of feeders is a key component of Smart
distribution system. This ability enabled by DA, also requires
distribution devices to have enough capacity to accept the
transfer, and protection system to be able to properly isolate a
fault in the reconfigured topology. Both of these issues have
an impact on system design. Traditional distribution systems
use time-current coordination for protection devices. From a
design perspective, system topology and system protection
will have to be planned together to ensure proper protection
coordination for a variety of configurations.
3) Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
system: Distribution Automation System (DAS) as a system
that enables an electric utility to remotely monitor, coordinate
and operate distribution components, in a real-time mode from
remote locations. The DAS is based on an integrated
technology, which involves collecting data and analyzing
information to make control decisions, implementing the
appropriate control decisions in the field, and also verifying
that the desired result is achieved. The location, from where
control decisions are initiated, is generally called Distribution
Control Centre (DCC). The decision making feature of the
DAS distinguishes it from the normal Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisition (SCADA) system [11]. A communication
infrastructure installed with adequate bandwidth and reliability
to support the use of the SCADA technology will likely meet
the remote monitoring and operational needs of the DAS.
Mobile devices will include: voice and data dispatch radios,
geographic positioning devices (GPS), laptop PCs and other
mobile computing devices, cell phones and other mobile
communications and web access devices [10].

C. Decision and Control Software

The new world of electric utility operations will require the
monitoring and control of every power line and piece of
equipment on the distribution system. It will also involve an
increased level of monitoring and control for every one of the
utilitys retail consumers. Involving retail consumer will most
likely involve multiple monitoring and control devices on the
consumers premises. Immense amounts of data will have to
be organized, analysed and acted upon. Extremely large
numbers of control points will have to be managed. That is
going to require decision software. This software will come in
two basic categories, decentralized, and back office.
1) Decentralized Software: The magnitude of the devices
and data will preclude centralized data collection and
computation. Instead, the devices will increasingly be
intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) that can collect, organize
and analyse data as well as perform computations to determine
what data should be communicated where and what local
control actions may be necessary. Some of this will be
firmware built into the devices, and some will be
programmable settings and functions. For example, a smart
meter would likely have firmware to monitor and record
certain variables like voltage, current, power factor and to
compute kW and kWh. It might also have programmable
capabilities to determine if and when to report variables
outside certain ranges. It might also be used to display / collect
data for the back office software [4].
2) Back Office Software: Most utilities already utilize
some of the following back office software:
a) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software includes
Accounting & Business Systems (ABS), Customer
Information Systems (CIS), Work & Workforce Management,
and Performance & Productivity Management.
b) Engineering & Operations (E&O) software includes
Engineering Analysis, Outage Management System (OMS),
and Active Distribution Grid Management packages; and
c) Technologies Required for Efficient Operation of a
Smart Meter Network Geographic Information Systems
(GIS): Each and every one of these back office software
solutions becomes more powerful and effective by the
deployment of IEDs and two-way digital communications [4].

B. Digital Communication
Remote monitoring and control devices require two-way
communications. The Smart distribution system, by definition,
is about real-time data and active grid management. Fast,
digital, two-way communications will be required throughout
the Smart meter network. It will be required between and
among the electric utility, the consumer, the utilitys devices
and the consumers devices. Electric utilities use a wide

D. Communication Standard
The architecture of monitoring, control, coordination and
communications of the smart network predates the many
advances made in the last 30 years in the fields of computing,
networking and telecommunications. These last 30 years have
seen the development of the internet and networked
communications and the large-scale deployment of wide-area
broadband networking technology [5]. The speed of

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2011 6th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications

development and widespread adoption of smart networks will

depend on national standards being applicable in a number of
major
areas
such
as
end-to-end
cyber-security,
interconnection and interoperability standards for energy
connection, and application-level data communications
standards for digital smart meter networks [1,7].
A potential barrier is the risk associated with installing the
new technologies without agreed standards. A lack of
standards increases the risk of stranded assets for example
when a utility deploys a technology that is no longer supported
by the industry and will require further installation of some
applications prior to the end of the expected lifetime.
Standards can also help to reduce installation complexity,
facilitate interoperability and address security. Interoperability
can provide appliance manufacturers with the confidence and
motivation to install smart meter technology into their
products [12].
The necessity of smart meter system interoperability for the
customer is already well recognized within the industry. Along
with the challenge of developing the three different sets of
standards (substation, feeders and customer devices), comes
the coordination between the different standards. The
development of the Smart meter network interoperability
standards is a dynamic process which will have to adapt to the
new type of loads and generation systems (DERs and DG) to
be connected to the distribution system [13].

of IEC 61850 without degrading the existing communications

with the automated distribution network [13].
E. Bandwidth:
A high bandwidth network capable of intra-substation,
inter-substation, and control centre communication will be
required to facilitate large-scale data collection, local
processing, and distilled information transfer [8].
In the digital smart meter network, literally thousands of
digital data are available in a single IED and communication
bandwidth should not be a limiting factor. A broadband
communications infrastructure is key to enabling
comprehensive system-wide monitoring and coordination to
enable applications as diverse as distribution automation,
demand response, outage management and power quality
monitoring. These applications include requirements for high
bandwidth that require a broadband network [5].
Smart distribution network need an intelligent
communications infrastructure enabling the timely, secure, and
adaptable information flow needed to provide power to the
evolving digital economy. Over the past 35 years, we have
seen communication speeds increase dramatically from
300bps (bits per second) to digital relays that today operate at
100Mbps. Not only have the communication speeds changed,
but the communication protocols have migrated from registerbased solutions to text based data object requests as
implemented through the communication standard IEC61850.
In addition, the physical interfaces have transitioned from RS232 serial over copper to Ethernet over fibre both local and
wide-area. Interoperability has become a reality and todays
devices are self-describing and programmable [14].
F. Case Study:

Figure 2: Distribution network with interoperability

standards [13]
Figure 2 shows an integrated distribution system based on
interoperability standards such as the IEC 61850 series leading
to a plug and play concept for the distribution equipment to
be connected on the future Smart Grid. The illustrated new
communications infrastructure (based on interoperability
standards such as the IEC 61850 series) must have sufficient
bandwidth to support the traditional distribution network as
well as bulk data download to support advanced waveform
and sequence of events analysis. The new infrastructure must
be robust enough to support increased bandwidth requirements

Figure 3: One LAN is connected with a Ethernet switch

2011 6th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications

813

In a smart meter network, the twelve stations (each station

represents one smart meter) shown in Figure 3 are connected
with a real time Ethernet switch [15].
Each workstation is generating 1.6 Mbps of traffic and with
12 nodes in the LAN, this comes to 12*1.6= 19.2 Mbps of
total offered load. The switch is operating at only 10 Mbps
(since we specified 10 Base T links in the configuration) [15].
Then preliminary simulation has shown promising result for
the smart network. The propagation delay obtained from the
simulation so far is between 0.2 and 0.25 ms as shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4: Ethernet delay (sec)

The result has been obtained for transmission delay
experienced by all packets which have been successfully
delivered and the scenario of delay is fairly consistent.
V. CONCLUSION
The technology requirement for smart meter network has
been discussed in this paper. Advanced metering
infrastructure, distribution automation, digital communication,
and standard communication with required bandwidth are all
needed to allow self healing, plus provide high reliability of
power. With the imposing of smart meter network, new ways
are being sought to improve standard communication with the
required bandwidth without diminishing network reliability.
Hence, a reliable and more efficient two-way communications
infrastructure with less propagation delay should be developed
for operation of smart meter network.

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2011 6th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications