Visible to the public IPv6-Based Smart Grid Communication over 6LoWPAN

TitleIPv6-Based Smart Grid Communication over 6LoWPAN
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2019
Authorsvan Kerkhoven, Jason, Charlebois, Nathaniel, Robertson, Alex, Gibson, Brydon, Ahmed, Arslan, Bouida, Zied, Ibnkahla, Mohamed
Conference Name2019 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC)
Date Publishedapr
Keywords6LoWPAN, Carleton University, CAS, communication network, communication technologies, composability, customer agents, electric grid, electric utilities, energy data, energy usage, future demand growth, IEEE 2030.5, IEEE 802.15 Standard, IoT, IP networks, IPv6, IPv6-based smart grid communication system, local electric transformer, Low-Power and Lossy Networks, MESH network, Mesh networks, OpenLab IEEE 802.15.4 chips, personal area networks, pubcrawl, reliability, Resiliency, Routing, Routing Protocol, Routing protocols, RPL, security, self-healing mesh network, Smart City concept, Smart grid, Smart grids, smart power grids, transformer agent, Two-Way Communication, two-way communication system, utility, wireless LAN, Zigbee
AbstractSmart Grid is a major element of the Smart City concept that enables two-way communication of energy data between electric utilities and their consumers. These communication technologies are going through sharp modernization to meet future demand growth and to achieve reliability, security, and efficiency of the electric grid. In this paper, we implement an IPv6 based two-way communication system between the transformer agent (TA), installed at local electric transformer and various customer agents (CAs), connected to customer's smart meter. Various homes share their energy usage with the TA which in turn sends the utility's recommendations to the CAs. Raspberry Pi is used as hardware for all the CAs and the TA. We implement a self-healing mesh network between all nodes using OpenLab IEEE 802.15.4 chips and Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL), and the data is secured by RSA/AES keys. Several tests have been conducted in real environments, inside and outside of Carleton University, to test the performance of this communication network in various obstacle settings. In this paper, we highlight the details behind the implementation of this IPv6-based smart grid communication system, the related challenges, and the proposed solutions.
DOI10.1109/WCNC.2019.8885625
Citation Keyvan_kerkhoven_ipv6-based_2019