1. Master’s Thesis Proposal
SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS OF WIRELESS MESH NETWORK IN ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE
Dear Dr. Chow, Dr. Kalita, and Dr. Lewis
I would like to talk about the proposal for my master thesis.
Its title is “Simulation and Analysis of Wireless Mesh Network in Advanced Metering Infrastructure”.
Thank you Dr. Chow for being my Advisor!
Thank you Dr. Kalita, and Dr. Lewis for being my Thesis Committee Members!
PHILIP HUYNH
April 21, 2010
Advisor Dr. EDWARD CHOW

2. COLORADO SPRINGS AMI COMMUNICATION NETWORK
The picture shows us the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in Colorado Springs.
What is AMI?
Smart Grid/AMI is a fully configured infrastructure that must be integrated into the existing and new utility processes and applications.
This infrastructure includes
Home Network Systems: communicating thermostats and other in-home controls, smart meters
Communication Networks from Smart Meters to Local Data Concentrators
Backhaul Communication Networks to Corporate Data Centers
Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS)
Data integration into existing and new software application platforms
At the bottom, on left, it is he specifications for AMI meter data collection app.
Meter Data Collection Process
The wireless network works on the low data transmission rate frequency of MHz)
Transmission interval for Electric (every 5 minutes), Gas (every 15 minutes) and Water (Every 15 minutes)
It is not a real-time data collection process.
Source: Chow Edward, “Secure Smart Grids”, pp. 6 [2]
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3. MOTIVATIONS Benefits of Real-time Meter Data Advantages of WMN
Utilities reduces Electricity Production Cost
Production Cost = Operation & Maintenance + Fuel
Adjusting Fuel usage depend on Electricity Power usage
Advantages of WMN
Low cost of Management and Maintenance
Increased Reliability
Scalability, Flexibility, and low Cost
Robust Security
What is the Motivations of the thesis?
This thesis is about the applying of WMN technologies to AMI for meter data collection in real-time.
So, what are the benefits of real-time data?
Electricity generation plants can use the real-time meter data to plan how much power they need to generate instantly.
The gap between the electricity power supply and demand is close. The fuel will be saved. Then, the utilities can save millions of dollars for fuel spending.
When WMN is employed to the AMI communication network solutions, it has many advantages compared to other communication technologies.
Low cost of Management and Maintenance because WMN is self-organizing, and requires no manual address/route/channel assignment.
Increased Reliability: there are redundant routing paths between the sender and receiver.
Scalability, Flexibility, and low cost: the network coverage area can be extended by adding more routers to existing WMN without the need for new gateway, and backhaul network devices.
Robust security: There are security standards for WMN.
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4. GOALS
Research and Developing an AMI’s Communication Network Solution using WMN technologies
Develop tools and techniques to assist the research and development, especially for the real- time Meter Data Collection application
Focus on the WMN properties
Performance
Scalability
The goals of the thesis are research and apply the WMN into the AMI’s Communication Network solutions with the focus on the network performance and scalability properties. The tools and techniques are develop to assist the research and development of AMI’s Communication Network using WMN technologies, especially for the real-time meter data collection application.
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5. PROBLEM STATMENTS
Designing and Deployment using WMN techniques - Challenge Questions
Does the WMN meet the network performance requirements for real-time Meter Data Collection?
What is the trade-off between the Scalability and the Performance?
The WMN contributes many advantages to the AMI Communication Network solution.
But there are challenge questions in designing and deployment of WMN.
Is the capacity of WMN qualified for real-time meter data collection application?
For cost optimization, what is the trade-off between the Performance and Scalability?
This thesis will answer these challenge questions by using simulation method.
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6. APPROACH Develop a Network Model for Communication Network
It is a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
We are interested in a Hybrid WMN Architecture
High Scalability
Integrated Technologies: ,
An Important Architecture in the Future
Develop an AMI application: MeterReportingSim
To simulate the process of meter data reporting
Simulate the AMI Meter Data Reporting process
Develop and Implement the Scenarios in Network Simulator SW
Analyze the Results
Statistical End-to-end Network Performance: Throughput, Delay
Trade-off between Scalability and Performance of network model.
Number of WLANs vs. Throughput and Delay
Number of Hops vs. Throughput and Delay
To solve the problems, we are following the steps:
Develop a model for AMI’s Communication Network
Develop an AMI application which is called MeterReportingSim: this application simulates the process of Meter Data Reporting between Smart Meters and Datacenter.
Simulate the process, including develop and implement Scenarios, Setup the parameters of Network Model, and Run the MeterReportingSim on top of the network model.
Analyze the simulation results: the statistical numbers of end-to-end network performance will be computed and used to analyze the trade-off between the Scalability and Performance for the optimization in design.
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7. TASKS Already Complete
Research AMI, WMN/Hybrid WMN Architecture, NS-2, NCTUns 6.0
Develop a Network Model
Develop the technique for the simulation of Network Model with a large number nodes.
Develop the AMI Application: MeterReportingSim
In Progress: Intent to complete in Spring Semester
Develop and Implement the Simulation Scenarios in NCTUns 6.0
Future: Intent to complete in Spring 2010 Semester
Simulate the Scenarios in the NCTUns 6.0
Analyze the Simulation Results
Write Thesis Report
The completed tasks are:
Research the AMI, WMN/Hybrid WMN, network simulator SW NS-2, NCTUns 6.0
Develop Network model, a methodology for the simulation of WMN w/ large number of wireless nodes (100,000 nodes), and the AMI meter data collection application
The picture show us the proposed Network Model using WiMAX, and Wi-Fi technology.
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8. TASKS cont.
Figure 1: AMI’s Communication Network Model using Wi-Fi, and WiMAX
Figure 2: MeterReportingSim Application
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9. TASKS cont.
Figure 3: Network Model is implemented with Network Simulator NCTUns 6.0
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10. DELIVERABLES The MeterReportingSim Application Thesis Report
Source Code
Program User Guide
Thesis Report
WMN Technologies
Network Model
Simulation Technique for Network Model
Simulation Scenarios: Descriptions, Parameter Settings for network model
Simulation Results and Analysis
Network Simulator SW: NCTUns 6.0
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11. REFERENCES
[1] “Smart Grid”, <
[2] Edward Chow, “Secure Smart Grids”, Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, 2009.
[3] “Advanced Metering infrastructure”, National Energy Technology Laboratory white paper, February 2008.
[4] Prasant Mohapatra, “Wireless Mesh Networks”, Department of Computer Science University of California, Davis.
[5] I. F. Akyildiz, X. Wang, and W. Wang, "Wireless Mesh Networks: A Survey," Computer Networks Journal (Elsevier), vol. 47, no. 4, pp , Mar
[6] Srini Krishnamurthy, “Smart AMI Network Solutions Enable the Smart Grid”, ElectricEnergyOnline.com, <
[7] “Understanding Wi-Fi and WiMAX as Metro-Access Solutions”, Intel Corporation white paper,
[8] B. Liu, Z. Liu, and D. Towsley, "On the capacity of hybrid wireless networks", in Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM, Mar. 2003, vol. 2, pp
[9] S. Zhao and D. Raychaudhuri, "On the Scalability of Hierarchical Hybrid Wireless Networks, Proceedings of the Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS 2006), March 2006, pp
[10] S. Zhao, I. Seskar and D. Raychaudhuri, "Performance and Scalability of Self-Organizing Hierarchical Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks," Proceedings of the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC'04), Atlanta, GA. March 2004, pp
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12. REFERENCES Cont.
[11] J. –H. Huang, L. -C. Wang, C. -J. Chang, “Wireless Mesh Network: Architecture and Protocols”, chapter title “Architectures and Deployment Strategies for Wireless Mesh Networks”, Springer
[12] “OSI Model”, <
[13] IEEE Standard 802 Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, 2007.
[14] IEEE Standard 802 Part 15.1: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Personal Area Networks (WPANs), 2005.
[15] IEEE Standard 802 Part 16: Air Interface for Broadband Wireless Access Systems, 2009.
[16] WiMAX community, <
[17] The Network Simulator Ns-2, <
[18] NCTUns 6.0 Network Simulator and Emulator, <
[19] “The Protocol Developer Manual for the NCTUns 6.0”, Network and System Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan 2010.
[20] S.M. Huang, Y.C. Sung, S.Y. Wang, and Y.B. Lin, “NCTUns Simulation Tool for WiMAX Modeling,” Third Annual International Wireless Internet Conference, October 22 – 24, 2007, Austin, Texas, USA. (EI and ISI indexed, sponsored by ICST, ACM, and EURASIP)
[21] N.B. Salem and J.-P. Hubaux, "Securing Wireless Mesh Networks," Wireless Comm., vol. 13, no. 2, 2006, pp. 50–55.
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