Wireless Sensor Network for DC/AC homegrids

Rapidly falling costs of photovoltaic generation and electrical energy storage devices are prompting the proliferation of self-contained electricity systems in homes and buildings, that can be called homegrid, and several of these homegrids form a microgrid. The homegrid consists of local generation, storage and utilization devices, which may or may not interconnect to a central utility system. A critical challenge in operating a homegrid is the energy management of the electrical power system to ensure electricity availability and system stability while meeting customer needs. This paper proposes a wireless communication framework for energy management in homegrids using a Homegrid Sensor Network (HSN) which consists of the HEM (Homegrid Energy Manager) and Homegrid Nodes (HN) which are connected to the required loads/sources. HSN has been realized using an IEEE 802.15.4 based Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with mesh capabilities for control and management of the electrical power system. The paper presents a design framework along with evaluation results using an IEEE 802.15.4 based commercial off the shelf radio chipset and a vendor-supplied cross-layer mesh networking protocol. The paper presents results from link quality estimation using hardware and software-based approaches.