Performance Demonstration of Optical Fiber and Lora Wireless Communication Technology for Smart Power Grid Meter Reading Applications

Abstract

The current electric grid is faced with the problem of slow and ineffective communication between the utility and the end users. Therefore, there was an urgent need for a communication system with automation capabilities and high-speed data transfer. This study sought to demonstrate a communication system performance of a power grid for real-time communication between the utility and the end users using the LoRa and optical fiber technology. The purpose of the study was to characterize and analyze the transmission performance of the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) and Distributed Feedback Laser (DFB) on a G.655 non-zero dispersion shifted fiber transmitting at 1550 nm window. The set-up was evaluated using bit error rates (BER) analysis and eye diagrams for the VCSEL and DFB laser. There results showed successful transmission of 10 Gbps in 25 km and 50 km for VCSEL and DFB respectively. Simultaneous data and clock transmission at 0.4 GHz and 10 Gb/s over 25 km was successfully achieved using a VCSEL. The study utilized the all-optical wavelength reuse for the realization of a cheaper meter reading approach for smart grid application. This technique was demonstrated through the exploitation of the holding beam and the gain saturation of the EDFA. A 10 Gbps data was used to modulate a DFB laser and transmitted downstream over 50 km. The saturated EDFA lowered the downstream data’s extinction ratio from 9.678 dB to 0.702 dB which was significant for both wavelength reuse and data rewrite for upstream transmission. The performance analysis for upstream and downstream transmission was done and the receiver sensitivity at back-to-back (B2B) determined at BER telecommunication threshold of 10-9 . The various eye diagrams were also analyzed for upstream and downstream transmissions. The wireless TTGO Long Range Radio (LoRa) ESP 32 Dev module was characterized. The experiment used a low-frequency clock drive to characterize LoRa. Using a Rohde and Schwarz signal generator and spectrum analyzer, the LoRa input power was set to -8.13 dBm and the frequency range between 600 MHz to 800 MHz. The implication of this was to provide a broadband frequency spectrum from which to select the frequency that would provide the optimum output power for transmitting the signal with the required strength. The strongest signal for transmission and the actuation of gates required for the gathering of meter reading results could be pushed at the low frequency of 730 MHz. The study has demonstrated a pervasive communication system for smart power grid meter reading technology. Further, the study characterised the optical sources necessary for signal generation, data erasure and wavelength reuse. This is crucial for offering an all-optical wavelength reuse option for electrical meter reading applications. The maximization of the available bandwidth (10Gbps) was also demonstrated in the study. Finally, the experiment demonstrated that it is possible to utilize both wireless and wired communication system for upstream and downstream communication for meter reading. The obtained results on data erasure, LoRa (Long Range) technology, and signal transmission using Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSEL) have multiple potential applications across various fields including high-speed data communication, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart metering. The implication to the current system is that aside from communication enhancement, utilities can also be able to use this technology for overall smart metering of electricity, gas and water to provide real-time consumption data to enable better management of the available resources.