# Simulation of Achievable Data Rates of Broadband Power Line Communication for Smart Metering
## 1 Introduction  
The conventional concept of power grids was based on a small number of power plants with huge power. In this concept the power generation was centralized at power plants and power flow was one-way from power plants to customers. Nowadays, the widespread usage of electrical vehicles and renewable energy sources has initiated the need for new concept of power grid topology (called Smart Grid). In this new concept the power generation is decentralized with hierarchical levels. Reliable communication links are needed between the particular hierarchical levels. According to hierarchical levels, the communication link should provide sufficient bandwidth and reliability to be feasible for particular Smart Grids requirements. There is no doubt that future Smart Grids will exploit multiple types of communication links [1; 2; 3; 4]. Therefore, the possibility of using Power Line Communication (PLC) using the power lines that are existing within the power grid is obvious. PLC technologies fall into three areas [3]:  
* Ultra-Narrow Band (UNB) operates at a very low data rate (100 bps) in the low frequency band (0.3-3 kHz). UNB uses one-way communication, used for load control in particular. UNB has a very large operational range (hundreds of kilometres). * Narrowband (NB) operates in the frequency band 3-500 kHz (3-148.5 kHz in Europe). Single-carrier NB technologies achieve data rates of a few kbps-Low Data Rate NB-PLC (LDR NB-PLC). Nowadays, multicarrier technologies are capable of data rates of up to 800 kbps-High Data Rate NB-PLC (HDR NB-PLC). * Broadband (BB) operates in the high frequency band (1.8-30 (250) MHz) and has data rates of several Mbps up to hundreds of Mbps. Nowadays, research efforts [1; 5; 6; 7; 8] and Smart Grids deployments [9] mainly focus on Smart Metring application on the Low Voltage (LV) segment. Smart metering, also known as Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), using Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), enables remote control of utility meters, and therefore control of the power grid and optimizes energy consumption. Several European utilities have chosen PLC for the accomplishment of their Smart Metering national roll-outs. PLC is well suited for quick and inexpensive deployments, but the low voltage (LV) grid is not the same in any utility because of particular grid evolution, architecture, circumstances, material, etc. Therefore, a simulation is a first, sufficient, and inexpensive evaluation of a possible deployment of PLC for particular conditions [5]. Currently we can distinguish three kinds of PLC suitable for the Smart Metering deployment:  
* _Narrowband with a single-carrier (e.g., Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP), Meter and More, or G1-PLC)._ This communication will reach large distances (good coverage). Data rates are adequate for current smart metering needs, though may not be so for next-generation Smart Grid services. Protocols are maximally optimized and proprietary. However, there is a concern that higher throughput would be required to fulfil the evolution of Smart Grid applications (e.g., prediction, real-time control, or control time varying the nature of wind and photovoltaic sources). In view of the lack of standardization, Echelon are trying to implement their OSGP protocol as a standard [10]. * _Narrowband with OFDM (e.g., PRIME, G3-PLC, IEEE P1901.2, and ITU G.Inmem standards)._ In comparison with narrowband with a single carrier it has a smaller range (low coverage), but thanks to DLMS/COSEM it has excellent standardization. Smart meters from different manufacturers can be used side by side in one network. * _Broadband (e.g., TIA-1113, HomePlug, IEEE 1901, ITU-T G.In)._ This communication reaches high data rates but has lower communication distances (coverage) than narrowband and OFDM. BB-PLC provides a solution for high bandwidth requirements to support the evolution of Smart Grid applications, but estimation on why much higher data rates may be needed is still missing.