An Experimental Evaluation of a Cooperative Communication-Based Smart Metering Data Acquisition System

Smart meters are being deployed globally on a trial basis and are expected to enable remote reading and demand response among other advanced functions, by setting up a two-way communication network. However, it remains to be determined as to how these meters will transmit their data to an aggregation point. An elegant solution to this problem is the use of cooperative communication in a neighborhood area network. This work experimentally compares cooperative networks, deployed in disparate environments, in terms of range extension and energy consumption of the overall network. Data transmissions take place through the universal software radio peripheral platforms. The method has been implemented in both indoor and outdoor environments, with cooperative transmission (CT) taking place over a multihop network, employing the binary phase shift keying scheme. The results indicate that CT can be used to effectively and reliably relay data in a network such as that in a smart grid.