Wi-Fi

Some analysts are describing Wi-Fi as one of the “keystones” of the Smart Grid. It is a mature technology with over a billion nodes deployed, and has several offerings for utilities that are keeping cost in mind. With Wi-Fi chipsets becoming increasingly cheaper to make and shipments exceeding one million units per day, economies of scale keep costs down. Wi-Fi is also seen as a versatile technology scaling from a single pair of devices to thousands of access points and clients, all employing standard TCP/IP communications, conforming to IPv4 and IPv6, and delivering speeds from 1 Mbps to 600 Mbps.

A Smart Grid can be segmented into three network types – home area network (HAN), neighborhood area network (NAN) and wide area network (WAN). Wi-Fi can be utilized in all three areas. It is already widely used in the home for many demanding applications, such as distributing high-definition video. Many utilities envision that devices such as home appliances can be connected to the HAN and help customers monitor usage and save energy. Wi-Fi can also be used for NANs, such as security networks, employing flexible mesh connections that can provide point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links in a larger area. And Wi-Fi WANs can serve as excellent backhaul networks that can aggregate data from NANs for AMI and SCADA networks.