Energy aware communication in the smart grid

Recently some countries have investigated the transformation of their existing power grid to the so-called Smart Grid. A Smart Grid adds a communication network, which is the integration of a monitoring and control network, to the power network. In this research we have developed and implemented a communication network architecture for the neighbourhood sub-Grid level of the electrical network where monitoring has not previously been deployed. Since energy efficiency has been identified as one of the major limitations of such networks we have utilized a number of different techniques to tackle this problem. As such, we analyse the optimal topology of network for collecting and transmitting data to the local control unit for applying finer-grained control. Also, we have developed a data reduction algorithm suitable for Smart Grid applications, which can significantly improve the energy efficiency of the communication network by minimizing the communication energy cost and optimizing the network resource consumption while maintaining the integrity and quality of data. To the best of our knowledge, our work is one of the very first efforts to propose an energy efficient ICT architecture, combining power grid objectives, real data characteristics, and application-aware considerations.