A real-time middleware platform for the smart grid

The currently used communications layer in the electric power grid is heavily outdated and thus not able to cope with emerging Smart Grid application requirements. Notably, new measurement devices and advanced control applications are being deployed with the aim to greatly improve the stability and efficiency of the grid. A communication infrastructure together with a middleware that delivers updates across wide areas in a timely and reliable manner is thus a cornerstone in the emerging Smart Grid. In this paper, we analyse distributed computing technologies that meet the stringent communications requirements.We show that the solutions and practices developed for Machine-To-Machine (M2M) communications, ETSI M2M middleware in particular, can be successfully applied to future Smart Grid networks. The pitfalls of the proposed architecture are identified and an upgrade is devised to provide for the critical event-driven, real-time communication required by some applications.