smart home networking lessons from combining wireless and powerline networking智能家居网络教训结合无线和电力线网络.pdf

Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 2011, 2, 136-151 doi:10.4236/sgre.2011.22016 Published Online May 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/sgre) Smart Home Networking: Lessons from Combining Wireless and Powerline Networking Cheng Jin, Thomas Kunz Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Email: {chengjin, tkunz}@sce.carleton.ca Received March 1st, 2011; revised March 30th, 2011; accepted April 4th, 2011. ABSTRACT Integrating the power grid technology with renewable power generation technologies, Demand Response (DR) pro- grams enabled by the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) were introduced into the power grid in the interest of both utilities and residents. They help to achieve load balance and increase the grid reliability by encouraging residents to reduce their power usage during peak load periods in return for incentives. To automate this process, appliances, in-house sensors, and the AMI controller need to be networked together. In this paper, we compare mainstream net- work technologies applicable to home appliance control and propose a solution combining Power Line Communication (PLC) with wireless communication in smart homes for the purpose of energy saving. We extended NS-2, a popular network simulator, to model such combined network scenarios. Using a number of different routing strategies, we then model and evaluate the network performance of DR programs in smart homes in such a combined network. Keywords : Demand Response (DR), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Power Line Communication (PLC), Network Simulator Version-2 (NS-2), Multi-Interface Networking, Multi-Network Simulations 1. Introduction usually met by highly polluting power plants such as coal-fired plants, can help in reducing the overal