# An Efficient Interface for the Integration of IoT Devices with Smart Grids
## 2 Background
### Smart Grids  
SGs introduced a new paradigm for electrical power systems, and this technology is being developed in order to meet the rising electricity requirement [10]. This concept intrinsically carries a set of features, including efficiency, intelligence, quality, accommodation, reliability, green, and resilience [11]. SGs are complex CPSs that take the benefit of several embedded intelligent technologies to improve the reliability and the safety of power grids.  
The main changes with regards to the implementation of SGs [12]: the use of smart meters, the increase of information provided to the consumers, the possibility of consumers to supply energy (renewable and intermittent energy sources) to the grid, the impact of electric vehicles as generating and storage batteries to the reliability of the distribution networks, and the need for extensive use of technologies to increase the safety and reliability of the electrical distribution systems. Furthermore, SGs have some particular features [11], which include: (i) self-healing capability, which means the distribution network has both self-diagnosis and self-decision abilities; (ii) the consumer becomes empowered, not only because he/she will be a continuous source of information and data, but also will be able to receive information and commands from the electrical utility when participating in a demand response program; (iii) tolerant to physical and cyber-attacks; as well as (iv) to provide quality of energy to the consumers. It is also necessary to accommodate a wide variety of renewable energy sources (distributed generation) in the SGs to reduce the environmental impact of generation systems, and to enable the competitive energy markets.  
It is important to emphasize that communication technologies and network security issues will play a crucial role in the SGs. This role is due mainly to some intrinsic characteristics of these grids: a large number of electronic meters, sensors, electric vehicles, control and automation devices, and distributed generation. Besides, the implementation of self-healing actions in the SGs depend on communication quality [13]. Concerning the cybersecurity, in [14], the authors pointed up the need for this service, enabling the electrical network to identify, react to attacks, and prevent failures in real-time.  
The consumer empowerment in SGs is also emphasized in [5; 15]. In [5], the author comments that this empowerment is due mainly to the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which is used to measure, acquire, and analyze the energy consumption data in order to supply information for each consumer. This process involves both bidirectional and cost-efficient communication. On the other hand, in [15], is presented the term prosumer for representing consumer importance, and he has an active role in the SG context. This fact can be observed, especially concerning the microgrids.  
In [6], the authors tackle the aspects to be observed in the communication architecture design for SGs, considering the presence of renewable energy sources. In this case, according to [6], three aspects must be taken into account: Feasibility: possibility of having different protocol standards and IP address mechanism in the grid; Scalability: it refers to the data flow from distributed generation as well as the transmission systems; Reliability: it means the definition of some performance metrics is necessary, especially concerning latency and packet loss rate. Then, the importance of communication infrastructure and its technologies, including communication protocols, is quite evident in the SGs context.