Análise de desempenho de códigos corretores de erros em redes de sensores sem fio para aplicações em Smart Grid

Abstract

The imbalance between generation and energy demand, equipment failures and the lack of efficient monitoring and control techniques indicate that it is time to take steps toward a better integration with communication and control systems. The Smart Grid technology is characterized by its two-way communication, monitoring, sensoring and control infrastructure, and integration with renewable energy and distributed centers of energy generation. Associated to it there is the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), a key technology in the modernization process of the existing Power Grid, with their low-cost deployment and flexibility. However, the Smart Grid and WSN communication channel is affected by hostile environmental conditions, interference, connectivity issues and dynamic topology changes, and so it is indispensable the utilization of error correction control to assure reliability in the data transmission. In this work, two error control codes were studied, Reed-Solomon (RS) and Low Density Parity Check (LDPC), applied to a Wireless Sensor Network with three sensor nodes, and different transmission routes. It was attested that is more efficient to send data packets through multiple nodes and short distances than for longer distances. It was also verified that the LDPC code had a better performance considering bit error rates than the Reed-Solomon code and an uncoded packet. Finally, a few comments are made based on the results for some Smart Grid applications.