Pass/Fail Quality Assessment in Last Mile Smart Metering Networks Based on PRIME Interface.

The pass/fail form is one of the presentation methods of quality assessment results. The authors, as part of a research team, participated in the process of creating the PRIME interface analyzer. The PRIME interface is a standardized interface-considered as communication technology for smart metering wired networks, which are specific kinds of sensor networks. The frame error ratio (FER) assessment and its presentation in the pass/fail form was one of the problems that needed to be solves in the PRIME analyzer project. In this paper, the authors present their method of a unified FER assessment, which was implemented in the PRIME analyzer, as one of its many functionalities. The need for FER unification is the result of using different modulation types and an optional forward error correction mechanism in the PRIME interface. Having one unified FER and a threshold value makes it possible to present measurement results in the pass/fail form. For FER unification, the characteristics of FER vs. signal-to-noise ratio, for all modulations implemented in PRIME, were used in the proposed algorithm (and some are presented in this paper). In communication systems, the FER value is used to forecast the quality of a link or service, but using PLC technology, forecasting is highly uncertain due to the main noise. The presentation of the measurement results in the pass/fail form is important because it allows unskilled staff to make many laborious measurements in last mile smart metering networks.

Selection of the Optimal Smart Meter to Act as a Data Concentrator with the Use of Graph Theory.

Changing the construction of mart Meter (SM) devices, more specifically equipping them with more than one communication module, facilitates the elimination of a Transformer Station Data Concentrator (TSC) module, moving its function to one of the SMs. The opportunity to equip a chosen device in an additional communication module makes it possible to use it as an acquisition node. The introduction of this solution creates a problem with the optimum selection of the above-mentioned node out of all the nodes of the analyzed network. This paper suggests the criterion of its location and, as per the criterion, the way of conduct using the elements of the graph theory. The discussion is illustrated with the examples of the possibility to use the method for the optimization of the architecture of the network. The described method makes it possible to choose the location of a backup acquisition node as well as locate intermediary nodes (signal repeaters) in case of a failure (removal) of some SM devices. In the era of the common introduction of dispersed telemetric systems requiring an adequate level of performance and reliability of information transmission, the offered method can be used for the optimization of the structures of Smart Grids.