IMS signaling for Smart Grid home controllers

This paper discusses the viability of using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) transport for Smart Grid signaling. Smart grids will jointly optimize energy production and demand, in a scenario with millions of smart meters and microenergy sources (e.g. solar panels or electric cars). This will place stringent requirements on telco networks. Information technologies will have to provide scalable signaling solutions that meet quality of service goals. SIP is a good candidate to serve Smart Grid communication needs. It is widely used in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Instant Messaging (IM) and is the base protocol of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), on which all VoIP networks will rely. The adoption of SIP as a Smart Grid transport protocol may be a first step towards Smart Grid becoming an IMS service.