Modelling and delay analysis of wireless home area networks in a smart grid

Smart grids are networks composed of several interconnected layers. The lowest layer consists of the Home Area Network (HAN), in which a set of Electrical Devices (EDs) communicate with a mesh client. This client then communicates with the mesh router of the wireless mesh network. EDs generate critical information packets, and these must be passed to a control station with minimal delay. In this paper, the modelling and delay of HANs is considered under several architectures for the communication of critical information packets to mesh clients. Bounds on achievable delay are derived as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio, number of electrical devices, number of channels, and channel interference range. We find that transmitting critical reports under a time division multiple access scheme suffers less delay than other schemes.