Biconnected tree for robust data collection in advanced metering infrastructure

Although mesh and tree communication network topologies both bear some advantages, none of them alone can satisfy the robustness and real-time requirements of data collection in the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). To address this problem, a biconnected tree based topology is proposed in this work. Specifically, in order to mitigate the effects of unreliable spanning tree-based communication links, an augmented tree with 2-connectivity is designed to enhance the robustness of the AMI tree yet keeping the overhead and delay low. As a result, the proposed biconnected AMI tree will continue to sustain the communication between functioning Smart Meters (SMs) when any single communication link fails. At the same time, it maintains low signaling overhead and meets the real-time requirement of data collection. The detailed algorithms to create such biconnected AMI tree and related theoretical analysis are provided. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.