TITLE:
Exploiting the Cellular Infrastructure for Data Transmission in Smart Metering Systems
AUTHORS:
Athanasios Giannakopoulos, Panayotis G. Cottis
KEYWORDS:
Smart Metering (SM), SM Access Communication Networks, Cellular Communication Networks, Power Line Communications
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Computer and Communications,
Vol.4 No.7,
May
25,
2016
ABSTRACT: To implement the access and backhaul
networks for Smart Metering (SM) systems various technologies are combined with
the existing communications infrastructure. This paper deals with data
transmission in SM systems, focusing on how the existing cellular networks
infrastructure is employed to implement SM access communication networks. The
analysis aims at analyzing the role of the cellular communications
infrastructure taking into account the spatial distribution and installation
points of the smart meters, the urban and topological characteristics of the SM
deployment areas and the common practice so far followed by the utilities. It
is demonstrated that cellular communications, either exclusively or combined
with power line communications, enable immediate and scalable deployment of SM
access communication networks at low installation cost, thus constituting the
basic option for the implementation of smart metering.