1. Wireless Solutions for Smart Grid deployments
Alok Sharma, Aviat Networks

2. Agenda Introduction Microwave (PTP) Backhaul
Smart Grid Communication Tiers & Design Goals
Microwave (PTP) Backhaul
Bridging Tier 1 and Tier 2 Communication Layers
Tier 2 (PMP) Communication Layer
Requirements & Technology Choice
Tier 3 Communication Layer
TV Whitespace
Self Organizing Networks (SON)
Managing network complexity
Closing Remarks

3. Smart Grid Communication Tiers
Fiber or Microwave/High Bandwidth
HAN
RF/Low Bandwidth
RF/Med Bandwidth
Source: Doug McGinnis, Exelon Business Services - UTC Telecom 2010

4. Communications – Design Goals
Security
Aligned with industry best practices (FIPS compliant or certified)
Converged Communications
Converged communications infrastructure with logical isolation of services (tunneling)
Interoperable
Utilize industry standard open (IP) protocols
Privately Owned Communications
Enable governance and control over all aspects of the technology
No Unanalyzed Single Points of Failure(Self Healing)
No unanalyzed single points of failure
Failure modes and backup schemes to form a “self healing” architecture
Maintenance, Management & Monitoring
Maintain, monitor and control network devices.
Focus of the talk
Source: Doug McGinnis, Exelon Business Services - UTC Telecom 2010

5. Microwave (PTP) Backhaul Bridging Tier 1 and Tier 2 Communication Layers

6. Smart Grid Places Demands on Legacy Microwave Systems
Many new IP endpoints
Support converged MPLS transport network
Security (authentication, intrusion detection, encryption etc.)
QoS Requirements: traffic under emergency situations
New remote sites and coverage areas
Overall capacity demands
TDM-based Microwave Systems Need Upgrading for Smart Grid
What are the options?
Critical to put foundation in place to build smart grid upon

7. Landscape: Network Migration Plans and Today’s Microwave Systems
All TDM Today
Network migration path
TDM IP
Region of Effectiveness
Region of Effectiveness
TDM ONLY Radio
Legacy systems
Optimized for TDM
Not designed for IP – poor packet efficiency
IP ONLY Radios
Built to carry IP
Typically no native TDM (forces use of yet to be fully tested Pseudo wire)
HYBRID Radio
Native TDM, Native IP transport for effective migration to IP

8. Hybrid Microwave Radio
HYBRID Microwave Radio Enables Seamless Migration from TDM to ALL-IP Future
Hybrid simultaneously enables:
TDM IP
Emulated TDM over IP
OR any combination of the three
HYBRID Radio
Flexible Bandwidth Allocation
Native TDM
Native IP
TDM
IP/Ethernet
PWE
Integrated Pseudowire
HYBRID Microwave Radios combine traditional microwave requirements with new IP features – all in a single platform

9. Tier 2 (PMP) Communication Layer Requirements & Technology Choice

10. Tier 2 Communication Layer - Requirements
Tier 2 communication layer is Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) network that bridges Field Area Network (FAN) to the backbone network.
Key Requirements:
Wireless (economics & ease of installation)
IP based (Open Standards)
Broadband (High Spectral Efficiency – OFDMA, MIMO, Beam Forming)
Mobility/Portability (workforce automation)
2 leading technology choices
WiMAX
LTE (and 3G)
Question: Which technology to select for Smart Grid?

11. Tier 2 Communication Layer – Technology Choice
3G & LTE Evolution
LTE infrastructure includes legacy support for:
GSM, GPRS, EDGE, EGPRS, IS95, CDMA 1xRTT, CDMA 1xEVDO, WCDMA, HSPA, HSPA+, IMS, LTE R8, R9, R10
Legacy support adds tremendously to LTE infrastructure & device complexity leading to significantly higher CapEx & OpEx
WiMAX is purpose built for 4G Mobile Broadband and does NOT have any legacy issues.
WiMAX infrastructure and devices have significantly lower CapEx & OpEx
WiMAX is the recommended technology choice

12. Tier 3 Communication Layer TV Whitespace

14. What is TV Whitespace? White space
Source: C. R. Stevenson, G. Chouinard, W. Caldwell:“Recommended Practice for the Installation and Deployment of IEEE Systems,” IEEE802, San Diego, CA, 7/17/06

15. IEEE 802.22 – TV Whitespace Standard
Sub-GHz frequency band with excellent propagation characteristics
100x reach of WiFi (30km vs. 300m)
Ideal for AMI and Sensor data collection
Simple & Predictable Single Hop Tier 3 layer vs. Complex and Unpredictable Mesh architectures
(Source: IEEE)
Technically, similar to WiMAX
Interference mitigation via co-ordination with FCC database & spectrum sensing

16. TV Band White Spaces
Very little channel overlap between neighboring metro areas
Lots of white space in between licensed channels

17. TVWS Bandwidth Available
Source: Free Press and New American Foundation 17

18. Self Organizing Networks (SON) Managing network complexity

19. Future Wireless Networks: New H-RAN Architecture
MACRO: Solving initial coverage issue; Existing networks
10x Lower COST/Mb
PICO: Solving street, home and enterprise coverage & capacity issues
Results
10x CAPACITY Improvement
Near 100% COVERAGE
FEMTO: solving home and enterprise coverage & capacity issues
Hierarchical RAN (H-RAN) = macro overlay + clusters of small cells

20. Lots of configuration parameters
3G and 4G technologies have more than 100 parameters each to be configured just for the RF:
Some of them are vendor specific
Some of them are project specific
Pico/Femto cells bring completely new dynamics into the wireless network deployments

21. Adding new site to the 3G/4G network
Activity
Effort (MD – Man Days)
New site verification 1
On site visit: site details verification
0.5
On site visit: RF survey
New site RF plan 2
Neighbors, frequency, preamble/scrambling code plan
Interference analyses on surrounding sites
Capacity analyses
Handover analyses
Implementation on new node(s)
Field measurements and verification
Optimization
Total activities
7.5
5M Pico base stations in 2015:
37.5M Man Days = ~103k Man Years
Challenges:
OpEx – 103k = ~$11B + network planning tools + maps
Skilled Engineers – where to get 103k skilled engineers?
Networks Dynamics – add 5M base stations a year
If nothing changes – additional OpEx of >$11B
Source: ABI Research

22. SON Functionality AIR Adaptive Interference Reduction
SON Solution
Simplifies Operations by removing manual planning, deployment and operations
AIR Adaptive Interference Reduction
- Dynamic scanning algorithm
- Dynamic segment/channel selection
- Scanning support for ANR formation
- Decision based on MS measured data
NNI Node-to-Node Interface
- Secure communication between cell sites & SON Server
- Configuration predictions
- Optimal route selection based on various parameters
NCM Network Capacity Maximization
- MIMO usage
- Intelligent and Dynamic Automatic Neighbor cell list distribution
- Enhanced Network Initiated Handover
- Fractional Frequency Reuse
pHO Pico Handover
- time critical decisions on SON Agent
- data intensive statistics , predictions on the SON Server
- intra-Pico and Macro-Pico Handovers

23. Example 1: Congestion avoidance
In wireless access total available link budget/capacity changes dynamically:
Link quality of the existing MS changes
New MS joins the Base station
Total possible throughput depends on the link quality->modulation used by each and every MS
Two parameters are constantly monitored:
Air interface utilization Uair
Relative committed traffic rate Rrel

24. Example 1: Congestion avoidance (cont.)
All the parameters are constantly monitored
When utilization crosses the trigger line one of the following actions is executed:
Neighbor lists of the neighbors are changed
Network initiated HO is initiated

25. Example 2: Power savings - GreenSON
Utilizing mobile station behavior statistics, Base stations can be dynamically reconfigured (time of day, day of week) to reduce the total network power consumption

26. Closing Remarks

27. Security: What is important?
Source: WSJ, NY Times, eWeek
Stuxnet virus defeated all the typical defenses (digital certificates, firewall signature analysis …) defined by IEEE, 3GPP & FIPS specifications and deployed across current networks.
As electric grid becomes an extension of internet through Smart Grid initiatives, grid infrastructure security will become a paramount issue.
For further information, please read “Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It” by Richard Clarke & Robert Knake.

28. Thank You!