For 100 years, there has been no change in the basic structure of the electrical power grid. Experiences have shown that the hierarchical, centrally controlled grid of the 20th Century is ill-suited to the needs of the 21st Century. To address the challenges of the existing power grid, the new concept of smart grid has emerged. The smart grid can be considered as a modern electric power grid infrastructure for enhanced efficiency and reliability through automated control, high-power converters, modern communications infrastructure, sensing and metering technologies, and modern energy management techniques based on the optimization of demand, energy and network availability, and so on. While current power systems are based on a solid information and communication infrastructure, the new smart grid needs a different and much more complex one, as its dimension is much larger. This paper addresses critical issues on smart grid technologies primarily in terms of information and communication technology (ICT) issues and opportunities. The main objective of this paper is to provide a contemporary look at the current state of the art in smart grid communications as well as to discuss the still-open research issues in this field. It is expected that this paper will provide a better understanding of the technologies, potential advantages and research challenges of the smart grid and provoke interest among the research community to further explore this promising research area.

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Smart Grid Technologies: Communication Technologies and Standards

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.

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

The present invention provides a system for operating a power line communications system that is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, bypass devices, backhaul devices, wireless backhaul devices, enhanced bypass device, communication interface devices and others. In one embodiment, two groups of network elements in the same electrical distribution system are isolated except selected communication link.

Power line communication system and method of operating the same

The present invention provides a system for operating a power line communications system that employs surface wave communications and conducted communications. The system is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, communication interface devices, backhaul devices, medium voltage transducers, distribution points, aggregation points, and others. In one embodiment, surface waves are communicated over the medium voltage power lines and the conducted communications are communicated via the low voltage power lines to and from customer premises.

Surface wave power line communications system and method

A device for providing communications through power lines that are communicatively coupled to an electrical distribution network infrastructure and to the internal wiring of at least one customer premises having one or more communication devices therein is provided. One embodiment comprises a coupler configured to be coupled to the electrical distribution network infrastructure, a modem in communication with the coupler to communicate data through the power lines; and a wireless transceiver in communication with said modem. In some embodiments, the electrical distribution network infrastructure may be a structure that uses electricity, such as a street light.

Device and method for coupling with electrical distribution network infrastructure to provide communications

A method for communication includes establishing a data link between first and second transceivers (32, 34) over an electric power line (24). A sequence of data packets is received for transmission over the data link, the sequence belonging to a session of a connectionless real-time network protocol. Responsive to a first packet in the sequence, a reliable connection channel for the session is established over the data link between the first and second transceivers. The packets in the sequence are transmitted from the first to the second transceivers (32, 34) over the reliable connection channel.

Multimedia communications over power lines

In 2005 the IEEE P1901 Working Group began standardization activities for broadband over power line networks. The process is now in its final stages, and the latest P1901 draft standard is available for sale to the public. The standard is designed to meet both in-home multimedia and utility application requirements including smart grid. The utility requirements and the resulting features that support those requirements were clustered together and form the basis of what is referred to as the utility access cluster. This article explains the aspects of P1901 power line communication technologies designed to address the access cluster. The differences between access and in-home applications, including addressing methods, clock synchronization, smart repetition, quality of service, power saving, and other access unique mechanisms, are also explained.

IEEE 1901 access system: An overview of its uniqueness and motivation

Systems and methods are described, including a system for electrostimulation. The system includes a patch (22), including a plurality of electrodes (24a, 24b), and a mobile device (28). A processor (30) of the mobile device is configured to receive an input from a subject (20) that indicates that the subject is experiencing a headache, and, in response to the input, while the patch is coupled to the subject, wirelessly communicate a control signal that causes the electrodes to stimulate the subject. Other embodiments are also described.

Treatment of headaches by electrical stimulation

A system, apparatus and method for communication signaling between sending terminals and receiving terminals over power lines, comprises a power level test message configuration unit associated with a respective sending terminal for configuring test signals to send to one or more of said receiving units to determine optimal transmission characteristics for communication between the terminals, the respective test signals being configured per transmission power level. A test message sending unit sends the configured test signals to the various neighboring terminals over the power lines, therefrom to determine optimal transmission power levels for transmission to the various neighboring units.

System, apparatus and method for enabling optimal communication over power lines

A carrier sense multiple access network comprises communication nodes which communicate with other nodes over the network using carrier sense multiple access (CSMA). The nodes further comprise channel support capability to set up multiplex channel connections between specific nodes over the CSMA based network. The network thus may reduce conflict issues raised by CSMA and at the same time improve bandwidth utilization.

Shmuel Goldfisher

Papers

Multimedia communications over power lines

IEEE 1901 access system: An overview of its uniqueness and motivation

Treatment of headaches by electrical stimulation

System, apparatus and method for enabling optimal communication over power lines

Apparatus, network and method for implementing tdm channels over a csma shared media network