Master Thesis Proposal
Mesh-net for Smart Grids Practical Verification System
Contact Persons at Wireless@kth: Mats Nilson, matsnils@kth.se, Cicek Cavdar, cavdar@kth.se
Starting Time: As soon as possible
Contact Person at National Instruments: Payman Tehrani, payman.tehrani@ni.com
Background
This proposal targets the performance measurement and proof of concept in an M2M communication
solution for smart energy grids.
The electrical grid is today based on few points of generation and vast amount of user connections. This
grid is now under a slow conversion where energy will be generated locally in a large number of
locations (solar, wind, sea waves, etc.). To support this increased complexity the need for monitoring
sensors, control points, user data etc. is rapidly also increasing. Efficient and reliable communication
solutions need to be designed to support the needs.
Problem to solve
The use of node to node communicating mesh net strategies to support connections in the smart grid
has been proposed. In detail a method called Network Coding has also been introduced to improve the
reliability of the system.
First problem: A practical implementation will be needed to validate the solution and measure the
performance.
Content
This thesis aims at a high level design of a mesh net test bed (both hw and sw). The basic idea is to use
commercially available DSP platforms, the so called “USRP”:
- Training at National Instruments to use the testing platforms and tools
- Refining a project proposal including a testbed implementation strategy
- Small test implementation
References
Vinnova EMPower project (start 2016)
National Instruments USRP, http://www.ni.com/sdr/usrp/