An Empirical Evaluation of Communication Technologies and Quality of Delivery Measurement in Networked MicroGrids

Networked microgrids (NMG) are gaining popularity as an example of smart grids (SG), where power networks are integrated with communication technologies. Communication technologies enable NMGs to be monitored and controlled via communication networks. However, ensuring that communication networks in NMGs satisfy quality of delivery (QoD) metrics such as the round trip time (RTT) of NMG control data is necessary. This paper addresses the communication network types and communication technologies used in NMGs. We present various NMG deployments to demonstrate real-life applicability in different contexts. We develop a real-time NMG testbed using real hardware, such as Cisco 4331 Integrated Services Routers (ISR). We evaluate QoD in NMG control data by measuring RTT under varying relative network congestion levels. The results reveal that high-variance background traffic leads to greater RTTs, surpassing the industrial communication response time requirement specified by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) by over 25 times.