Client/server multi-frame data exchange architecture embedded in residential smart meters

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a client/server architecture with multi-frame capability, which is embedded in a residential smart meter hardware focusing on data exchange between utility and smart meters. It is worthwhile to mention that for the data exchange, the TCP/IP protocol is employed and all the performance analysis is performed on an experimental environment. Some scenarios are defined in order to evaluate the traffic of packets through the network as well as the presence of errors on some frames. The analysis of such scenarios permits to verify the feasibility of this architecture in a real field application using a hardware that can be applied on smart meters' design. Our results show that even for the worst scenario, the system can reach transfer rates capable of sustaining an efficient and robust data exchange. Therefore, the architecture presented in this work proves to be feasible for this application context.