A COMPARISON OF WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS CO-SIMULATION PLATFORMS FOR SMART GRID APPLICATIONS

In the past few years, the smart grids have attracted more and more attention. The fact that these systems are based on the pervasive use of new Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) opens new perspectives in an aim to improve the electrical grid performances. One of the most commonly deployed technologies in such a real environment is the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technology. WSNs are thus used to monitor and control the electrical grid components. In this paper we will give an overview on WSNs applications and challenges for smart grids. One promising research topic, when speaking about WSNs in smart grids, is the co-simulation which allows studying and evaluating any new technique in a near real grid behavior. Hence, in this paper, we will also present and discuss the architectures, the advantages and the drawbacks of the most important smart grids co-simulation platforms used to combine the network behavior with the power grid systems models.