Data Aggregation in Smart Grid AMI Network for Secure Transfer of Energy User-Consumption Data

Abstract

In a secured smart grid AMI environment, congestion management during data aggregation with security encryption for privacy preservation is a challenging issue. By introducing data communication network schemes into the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), network traffic congestion and service rates can be improved while preserving user’s privacy from the grid operator’s end. In this paper, a resilient architecture called Ring Triangulation Communication Architecture (RTCA) for data aggregation and user privacy protection is proposed. To preserve privacy as well as reducing traffic congestion in the architecture, DMF homomorphic encryption algorithms were formulated for local concentrators while using a global concentrator to check for anomalies in the AMI server clusters. With TCP/IP protocol and IEEE 802.11 MAC/PHY on the network, TCP message flooding was contextualized for congestion scenario. Stochastic TCP congestion management schemes with wired equivalent privacy (WEP) and the Data Minimizing Function (DMF) scheme were compared. Our proposed architecture significantly reduced transmission congestion and cryptographic overheads incurred during message aggregation. The results of the performance of the DMF Homomorphic encryption scheme incorporated into our proposed architecture for the SG AMI were discussed. These include service rate and other QoS metrics which are negatively affected by a congestive network condition.Keywords: Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Data Minimizing Function (DMF), Ring Triangulation Communication Architecture (RTCA), Data Aggregation, Smart Grid (SG), Smart Meter (SM).