Wireless Mesh Network in Smart Grid: Modeling and Analysis for Time Critical Communications

Communication networks are an indispensable component in the smart grid power systems by providing the essential information exchange functions among the electrical devices that are located distributively in the grid. In particular, wireless networks will be deployed widely in the smart grid for data collection and remote control purposes. In this paper, we model the smart grid wireless networks and present the communication delay analysis in typical wireless network deployment scenarios in the grid. As the time critical communications are coupled with the power system protections in the smart grid, it is important to understand the delay performance of the smart grid wireless networks. Our results provide the delay bounds that can help design satisfactory wireless networks to meet the demanding communication requirements in the smart grid.