## 1 Introduction
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Technology** & **Frequency Band** & **Average Data Rate** & **Average Latency** & **Standards** \\ \hline NB-PLC & 3–500 kHz & 200 kbps & 150 ms & \begin{tabular}{c} PRIME, \\ G3-PLC/IEEE 1901.2, \\ ITU-T G.hmem \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline BB-PLC & 2–30 MHz & 100 Mbps & 20–400 ms & \begin{tabular}{c} IEEE1901, ITU-T \\ G.hmem \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline \begin{tabular}{c} Optical \\ Fiber \\ \end{tabular} & \textgreater{}1 THz & Up to 10 Gbps & 5 μs & Ethernet 10 GBASE-SR \\ \hline WiMAX & 2–11 GHz & 75 Mbps & 10–50 ms & \
\begin{tabular}{c} IEEE 802.16, \\ IEEE 802.16d \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline RF Mesh & 900 MHz & 10–100 kbps & 700 ms &
\begin{tabular}{c} IEEE 802.11, \\ IEEE 802.15 \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline LTE & 900 MHz & 384 kbps & 100 ms & LTE-M \\ \hline
3G & 800 MHz & Up to 14.7 Mbps & 120 ms & UMTS \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Wired and wireless technologies for LV smart metering applications. densely populated areas where Wi-SUN coverage may be limited. In this paper, the authors focus their study on Wi-SUN (based on IEEE 802.15.4g) as it is unlicensed, is a low-power technology, and has long-range capabilities. For wired links, several works have been focused on PLC standardizations. For narrowband PLC transmissions, the well-known standards are G3-PLC, PRIME [11], G.hnem [12], and IEEE 1901.2 [13]. In [14], a physical layer standard performance of the three standards, G3, PRIME and IEEE 1901.2, were compared. In [15], the authors proposed a new architecture and new devices for distributed generation (DG) and energy storage system (ESS) management using PLC technology. The architecture was developed in the framework of the SInERT project, financed by the Italy-Tunisia cross-border cooperation program 2014-2020. The project aims at proposing innovative solutions to integrate renewable energy on the Tunisian electrical grid. In particular, this study included tests on PRIME [16] and G3-PLC [17], demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed solution for remote monitoring and control of DG and ESS. In this paper, the authors further investigate the PLC solution, particularly the IEEE 1901.2, which is a revision of G3-PLC operating in the frequency band from 3 kHz to 500 kHz [18; 19; 20]. In fact, G3-PLC offers several advantages when compared with other PLC standards as it provides long-range communications and cost-efficient LV power grids. Moreover, it is designed to operate reliably in impulsive and noisy channel conditions and ensures robust communication. IEEE 1901.2 is a standard for narrowband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (NB-OFDM) power line communication (PLC) technology. The use of OFDM, which is known for its ability to handle multipath propagation and mitigate the effects of noise and interferences, makes a robust communication in challenging environments, such as industrial ones. Many research papers are interested in evaluating communication performance in AMI infrastructures. In [21], authors analyzed communication performances and measured the signal strength and the noise power at different measured and computed the packet error rate (PER). In [22; 23], authors analyzed security vulnerabilities, attacks, and countermeasures for AMI applications. In [24; 25], bit error rate performances (BER) were quantified for a PLC channel using OFDM modulation and a hamming code in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and impulsive noise. However, in this paper, the authors designed an AMI-NAN solution that selected an appropriate link, RF, or PLC to guarantee an uninterrupted communication between smart meters and data concentrators. This greatly depended on the BER, which impacts the PER and depends on the distance between the SM and DC. Moreover, data rates vary depending on factors such as the specific implementation, the quality and conditions of power lines, and the presence of interferences.