A new approach for comparing communication infrastructures of power systems

Power system communication infrastructures are responsible for data transmitting among different entities in power systems. System data and information (provided by sensors) are crucial for monitoring, operating and controlling reasons. On the one hand, real-time and near real-time processes of power systems utilize communication infrastructure for sharing their information. On the other hand, power system sensors and actuators are distributed in wide geographical area and they belong to communication system. Consequently, some network parameters e.g. communication delay and reliability; which may be not essential in other communication systems; have become a major concern in power system communication infrastructures. This study aims to propose a method for comparing any given power system communication infrastructures in terms of latency (delay) and reliability. The simulation results indicate that although two communication networks may be similar in the view of cost and service, our proposal method can recognize reliable communication network with better latency condition.