Self-sustaining wireless neighborhood area network design for smart grid

Neighborhood area network (NAN) is one of the most important sections in smart grid communications. It connects residential customers as part of a two-way communication infrastructure responsible for transmitting power grid sensing and measuring status as well as the control messages. In this paper, we propose a cost-effective, flexible, and sustainable NAN design using wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11s and IEEE 802.16, as well as renewable energy such as solar power. We provide analysis to select the optimum number of gateways in a NAN. We also discuss the general way to compute real time power usage for a NAN gateway. In addition, we set the boundary of the gateway power usage under two extreme scenarios to ensure the NAN can be self-sustaining while meeting the critical transmission criteria.