Resumo:
As new communication technologies continue to emerge and the integration of these
technologies into the modernization of the electricity grid becomes increasingly necessary,
a variety of communication protocols and combinations are being explored for their
potential use in the smart grid domain. However, given the multitude of technological
possibilities available, choosing the optimal technology capable of adequately addressing
the communication requirements of the intelligent grid remains a challenge for utilities.
This is due, on the one hand, to the fact that different intelligent grid applications have
different qualitative and quantitative communication requirements. Moreover, on the
other hand, each technology has advantages and disadvantages concerning its performance
characteristics in such requirements. This work uses the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)
methodology to select the wireless technology that presents the best performance
characteristics concerning determined requirements. For this, a computational algorithm
was developed in the Matlab programming environment, through which criteria such
as data rate, latency, range, security, reliability, and interoperability were compared to
select the best technological alternative among Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth.
Data collected from the literature review, with the performance characteristics of these
technologies, were applied in a single case study simulating the practical implementation
of this work. Among the analyzed criteria, simulations demonstrated that Wi-Fi was the
winning technology alternative with 32.353%, followed by Z-Wave with 29.865% in second
place, and ZigBee and Bluetooth were ranked third and fourth with 25.255% and 12.527%,
respectively. In addition, sensitivity analysis shows how the AHP methodology can be a
feasible alternative to assist decision-making in the smart grid domain.
