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Nowadays, the smart grid is the latest trend for the future power system development and revolution. Many countries, including Thailand, have intensively studied and invested for an early technological breakthrough. Therefore, a review of the recent advances in communication technologies for smart grid application, especially the information flow between a data concentrator unit (DCU) and the smart meters, is of interest. This paper intensively reviews the wire and wireless communication technologies applicable for smart grid application, including PRIME-PLC, G3-PLC, BPL, and ZigBee standards. Some latest information about the deployment of such technologies in many countries is also given. Hence, this paper could pave a good background for the smart grid developer and utility companies in decision making.

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Recently, a powerline communication technology (PLC) has gained a tremendous attention to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems. In this paper, narrowband and broadband PLC technologies have been experimentally examined with a smart meter. Specifically, the communication throughput and distance measurements are evaluated in several situations, including no-load and with-load situations. The experimental results indicate that the investigated broadband PLC has achieved a better performance than the narrowband PLC in terms of throughput because the broadband PLC exploits a much wider bandwidth than the narrowband PLC. In terms of distance, the broadband and narrowband PLCs have achieved a comparable performance such that they both are able to reach a maximum distance of 1.5km in the laboratory test. Therefore, the analysis presented in this paper would help in designing appropriate powerline communication network for better and efficient data transfer in AMI systems. Keywords-Powerline communication (PLC); Broadband over powerline communication (BPL); G3 powerline communication (G3-PLC); Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)I.