A Review on 5G Technological Intervention in Smart Grid

Abstract

After progressing through the fog and edge computing, and Software Defined Networking (SDN), 5G is leading the way to the next paradigm shift in the networking industry. Several pioneering technologies such as network virtualization and softwarization, and network slicing are blossoming in the networking domain. The integrated intervention of these upcoming 5G technologies is leading to advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure. The smart grid is one of the major vertical which will get a revamp in its communication network infrastructure. The 5G network slicing technology can well address challenges to the communication networks raised by the smart grid services such as orchestration flexibility, reliable isolated networks, security, and ultra-low latency networks. The technological intervention of the 5G network slicing to the smart grid, along with the service management and security aspects, leveraging blockchain network architecture, is reviewed in this paper. A novel conjoint architecture integrating all the network roadmap modernization is also presented. Moreover, technical resource allocation approaches for dynamic allocation of the network slices in the proposed architecture are analyzed.