The Smart Grid, regarded as the next generation power grid, uses two-way flows of electricity and information to create a widely distributed automated energy delivery network. In this article, we survey the literature till 2011 on the enabling technologies for the Smart Grid. We explore three major systems, namely the smart infrastructure system, the smart management system, and the smart protection system. We also propose possible future directions in each system. colorred{Specifically, for the smart infrastructure system, we explore the smart energy subsystem, the smart information subsystem, and the smart communication subsystem.} For the smart management system, we explore various management objectives, such as improving energy efficiency, profiling demand, maximizing utility, reducing cost, and controlling emission. We also explore various management methods to achieve these objectives. For the smart protection system, we explore various failure protection mechanisms which improve the reliability of the Smart Grid, and explore the security and privacy issues in the Smart Grid.

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Smart Grid — The New and Improved Power Grid: A Survey

Smart Grid - The New and Improved Power Grid:

Are Power Line Communications (PLC) a good candidate for Smart Grid applications? The objective of this paper is to address this important question. To do so, we provide an overview of what PLC can deliver today by surveying its history and describing the most recent technological advances in the area. We then address Smart Grid applications as instances of sensor networking and network control problems and discuss the main conclusions one can draw from the literature on these subjects. The application scenario of PLC within the Smart Grid is then analyzed in detail. Because a necessary ingredient of network planning is modeling, we also discuss two aspects of engineering modeling that relate to our question. The first aspect is modeling the PLC channel through fading models. The second aspect we review is the Smart Grid control and traffic modeling problem which allows us to achieve a better understanding of the communications requirements. Finally, this paper reports recent studies on the electrical and topological properties of a sample power distribution network. Power grid topological studies are very important for PLC networking as the power grid is not only the information source but also the information delivery system-a unique feature when PLC is used for the Smart Grid.

/pdf/for-the-grid-and-through-the-grid-the-role-of-power-line-u1a0j36lkc.pdf

For the Grid and Through the Grid: The Role of Power Line Communications in the Smart Grid

There has been a great deal of material in the area of discrete-time transforms that has been published in recent years. This book does an excellent job of presenting important aspects of such material in a clear manner. The book has 11 chapters and a very useful appendix. Seven of these chapters are essentially devoted to the Fourier series/transform, discrete Fourier transform, fast Fourier transform (FFT), and applications of the FFT in the area of spectral estimation. Chapters 8 through 10 deal with many other discrete-time transforms and algorithms to compute them. Of these transforms, the KarhunenLoeve, the discrete cosine, and the Walsh-Hadamard transform are perhaps the most well-known. A lucid discussion of number theoretic transforms i5 presented in Chapter 11. This reviewer feels that the authors have done a fine job of compiling the pertinent material and presenting it in a concise and clear manner. There are a number of problems at the end of each chapter, an appreciable number of which are challenging. The authors have included a comprehensive set of references at the end of the book. In brief, this book is a valuable contribution to the general areas of signal processing and communications. It can be used for a graduate level course in perhaps two ways. One would be to cover the first seven chapters in great detail. The other would be to cover the whole book by focussing on different topics in a selective manner. This book  by  Elliott  and Rao  is extremely  useful to researchers/engineers who are working  in the areas of signal processing and communications. It i s also an excellent reference book, and hence a valuable addition to one’s library

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5/31347/01457444.pdf

Multirate digital signal processing

Future smart grid systems will intelligently monitor and control energy flows to improve the efficiency and reliability of power delivery. This monitoring and control requires low-delay, highly reliable communication between customers, local utilities, and regional utilities. A vital part of future smart grids is the two way communication links between smart meters at the customer sites and a (decentralized) command and control center operated by the local utility. To enable these two-way communication links, narrowband power line communication (PLC) systems operating in the 3-500 kHz band are attractive because they can be deployed over existing outdoor power lines. Power lines, however, have traditionally been designed for one-directional power delivery and remain hostile environments for communication signal propagation. In this article, we review signal processing approaches to model channel impairments and impulsive noise and mitigate their effects in narrowband PLC systems. We examine ways to improve the communication performance based on current and emerging standards.

/pdf/local-utility-power-line-communications-in-the-3-500-khz-1ly6o95mrx.pdf

Local Utility Power Line Communications in the 3–500 kHz Band: Channel Impairments, Noise, and Standards

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the properties of indoor power line communications channels when they are used for broadband transmission. It will be shown that these channels exhibit a short-term variation, due to the fact that high-frequency parameters of electrical devices depend on the instantaneous amplitude of mains voltage. This phenomenon leads to a channel model proposal based on a linear periodically time-varying system and cyclostationary random noise. A measurement system, designed to capture these time variations in real power networks, and some of the most significant results obtained with it, are presented. In addition, a statistical analysis of the measurements performed in several indoor power line scenarios is included, so that the relevance of time variations in actual channels can be evaluated.

/pdf/analysis-of-the-cyclic-short-term-variation-of-indoor-power-24sl9rjeop.pdf

J.A.C. Arrabal

Papers

Analysis of the cyclic short-term variation of indoor power line channels