A WSN Integrated Supporting System Deployment of an HVDC Converter Station

In recent years, using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to build the intelligent functions in the Smart Grid has become one of the key development strategies of China State Grid Corporation. As a fundamental technology building block to IoT, wireless sensor network (WSN) technology faces greater technical challenges in power grids than in most of other domains. In the harsh deployment environment of a power grid, satisfying requirements such as low power consumption, good transmission coverage and high reliability are the key focuses for the WSN design. This paper presents our WSN design techniques that address the requirements for Smart Grid facilities. We demonstrate our WSN design in the supporting system of the LingZhou HVDC converter station with over 1600 wireless sensors installed. Our WSN system not only makes the converter station smarter, but also significantly reduce the cost of the installation and maintenance of the supporting system of the station.