## 2 Selection of Communication Technology
The distinction between PLC and fiber optics communication is that PLC communicates over existing electrical lines, whereas optical fiber communication involves the installation of fiber optics cables. It offers high bandwidth, low attenuation, small interference, and enhanced signal to noise ratio (SNR), making it a commonly utilised cable communications technology in the smart grid [8]. Despite the advantages, the most significant drawback of fiber optics communication is its high cost of installation. Furthermore, because the installation of fiber optic cables involves a significant amount of time, they are not ideal for quick deployment. Connecting geographical regions located in rocky or steep terrain is also difficult [8]. Zigbee is a wireless technology built on the IEEE standard 802.15.4 that is widely used in wireless communication for home or building automation, energy monitoring, managing industrial plants, as well as AMI applications [5]. As a result of its low power consumption and low deployment cost, it has been widely used in many smart grid applications in distributed automation, control, monitoring, management, and fault identification. Zigbee operates in unlicensed industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands. However, since it shares the same spectrum with other wireless communication mediums, it is most likely to suffer from interference between the mediums [9]. Cellular networks, one of the most rapidly growing communication technologies, is also considered. This technology has rapidly evolved, starting from the 2G, 3G, 4G; the most recent is 5G technology. These cellular networks, particularly 4G, LTE, and 5G, provide numerous wide-area services to smart grid applications at a low cost [5]. For example, cellular networks can enable smart metering deployments in a wide area environment [6]. In addition, because of the existing network, the cellular network is ideal for rapid rollout. This technology is being used for AMI, home area network (HAN), wide area networks (WAN), and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, among other applications [8]. Some of the features of cellular networks are that they offer high data rates, large coverage, high reliability and flexibility, and operate in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. However, because the cellular system is shared by many users, it cannot support mission-critical applications that require uninterrupted service [8]. For 5G, there are some concerns on security and privacy issues, apart from the expected high deployment cost. Additionally, the long-term environmental impacts of 5G are still unknown. Because of their stability and capabilities, only 4G, 5G, and private long-term evolution (LTE) are considered in this research Furthermore, 1G, 2G, and 3G technologies are not included because they are considered sunset technologies and are no longer available in most parts of the world. WiFi is a wireless network that is based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. In the IEEE 802.11 family, there are other standards, such as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g (also known as enhanced WiFi), 802.11n (WiFi 4), 802.11 ac (WiFi 5) and 802.11 ax (WiFi 6). Each of the standards differs in terms of speed and the frequency band used. Some of the standards only utilise 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, and some can utilise both frequencies. WiFi is mostly used in gadgets that utilise HAN technology, such as mobile phones, laptops, and personal computers [10]. From the research in [11], WiFi wireless sensor networks offer more advantages than Zigbee, such as large coverage, high bandwidth, cost effective, and ease of expansion. It also offers the advantage of high data rates, IP support, wide availability, and scalability [10]. However, the big challenges in using Wi-Fi for smart grid HAN applications are the interference between other wireless mediums and security issues. LoRa (short for long range) is a wireless technology that provides long-distance, low-power, and secure data transfer for machine-to-machine (M2M) and internet of things (IoT) applications.