Optimal positioning of GPRS concentrators for minimizing node hops in smart grids considering routing in mesh networks

Communication systems based on RF Mesh are widely used in various applications of smart metering, an essential component of Smart Grids. The RF Mesh technology has a long history and proved to be highly reliable in remote telemetry and distributed control applications. This paper presents a methodology for optimization of ZigBee mesh networks as the communication technology support for a Smart Grid. More specifically, we propose an algorithm to determine the optimal location of GPRS devices concentrators applied to AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure), considering the traffic behavior in a Smart Grid. We validate the solution of GPRS concentrator positioning given by our algorithm by simulating the Smart Grid scenarios and collecting traffic statistics such as average delay and traffic load in the concentrator.