A hybrid PLC-WiMAX based communication system for advanced metering infrastructure

This paper proposes a new communication system for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in the Intelligent Energy System pilot project at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The proposed communication system utilizes a hybrid power line communications (PLC) - Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology for the last mile and back-haul communications respectively. The PLC-based last mile communication employs a new packet routing protocol to overcome the significant signal attenuation along the power lines. The WiMAX-based communication operates on the 3.5GHz licensed band satisfying the Stanford University Interim (SUI) model for path loss prediction. The performance of the proposed AMI in terms of data collection delay and throughput under impulsive noise interference is analyzed. The proposed AMI completes the data collection of 1250 meter units in less than 210s. The proposed AMI achieves 100% throughput for P_g > 0.5 in environments without impulsive noise interference. It is also able to achieve less than a 5% drop in throughput for light and moderate impulsive noise environments.