Application-Layer Approach for Efficient Smart Meter Reading in Low-Voltage PLC Networks

This paper presents an efficient method for data acquisition and automatic meter reading (AMR) system from smart electric meters (SM) using power-line communications (PLC) networks. A PLC network uses existing electrical wiring to simultaneously carry both data and electric power. However, since the transmission medium in a PLC network is not designed for high quality data transfer, its efficiency in carrying out AMR applications is limited. The PLC network's traffic load is significantly affected both by the routing algorithm and the polling ordering of the SM. This paper suggests two novel smart polling algorithms based on application layer approach. The proposed algorithms demonstrate efficient utilization of both proactive and reactive routing protocols for AMR applications in narrowband PLCs networks. The benefit of the proposed approach is demonstrated for the two most common protocols, the routing protocol for low-power and lossy networks and the lightweight on-demand ad hoc distance-vector routing protocol.