Smart power outlets with cross-layer communication

Smart grid is expected to extend its ability to optimize power usage control intelligently. We made an end system called Smart Power Outlet (SPO), which effectively functions as a control unit in home and factories. SPO estimates power usage of connected electric appliances, determines to approve their power use or not, and selects in-house branch circuit from which approved appliances draw currents. Connecting SPOs, we need standard which has high universality and strong flexibility because they are to be used in multi-vendor environments and to traverse over administration and technical layers. In this paper, we formulated requirements for such cross-layer communication, and propose a practical frame work satisfying the requirements, and show application examples. Also, we show two typical models of power usage control, i.e. request-approval model and broadcast-margin model. Thus, we propose and verify a practical communication frame work to be used as a basis for evolving smart grid.