The Smart Grid is based on Advanced Metering Infrastructure that mostly relies on Narrow Band Power Line Communication (PLC). In such network, using a single communication interface does not fulfill the primary requirement of 99.99% reading rates and coverage. Hybrid communication, by adding an additional radio interface, is a solution to provide the quality of service required by Smart Grid applications. However, dedicated routing protocols usually operate with a single communication technology. In this paper we present three solutions to enhance the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL)-a well-known routing protocol for smart grid application-for handling multi-interface devices called the Multiple RPL Instances, the Interface Oriented and the Parent Oriented. By means of simulation we show how the network can provide a higher quality of service and a better resilience to failure.

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The emergence of microgeneration systems steadily increases, and it raises concerns regarding their impact on the power grid. It is, therefore, crucial to efficiently integrate them into future smart grid architectures, as there is not any standard way to monitor production units. More-over, current data collection systems are simple and do not consider their impact on local area networks. This pa-per presents a set of proposed mechanisms that reduces the monitoring traffic, while offering management flexibility on large-scale systems. This study is illustrated with mea-surements performed on a small grid, and it shows that, for monitoring a photovoltaic production, both 1-min and 1-s intervals provide the same production estimation, while significantly decreasing the associated traffic. It can be reduced even more by aggregating several measurements during a given period before sending them and by using specific mechanisms to ensure reliability. This experiment also helps authors identify best practices for monitoring different equipment based on their behaviors.

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