Title: Self-healing hierarchical architecture for ZigBee network in smart grid application

Authors: Jiasong Mu; Wei Song; Wei Wang; Baoju Zhang

Addresses: Department of Physics and Electronic Information, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China ' Department of Physics and Electronic Information, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China ' Department of Physics and Electronic Information, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China ' Department of Physics and Electronic Information, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China

Abstract: In this paper, by analysing the characteristics of node assignments, network structures and the data transmission in the smart grid, we propose and evaluate a self-healing hierarchical architecture (SHA) for the ZigBee networks in the smart grid application. The SHA could maintain the network structure based on the link quality indication (LQI) and the modified neighbour table information to optimise the parent child relationship from the viewpoint of overall network. A backup loop scheme is also introduced to enhance the robustness. A backup link is calculated for each node based on the network address information. The simulation results show that the SHA achieves better performance by obtaining lower average hops, lower transmitter power and less bit error rates. For the backup loop scheme, the result shows it has a greater packet delivery ratio when network topology is damaged.

Keywords: ZigBee networks; smart grid; link quality; neighbour table; robustness; self-healing architecture; hierarchical architecture; node assignments; network structures; data transmission; simulation; average hops; transmitter power; bit error rate; BER; packet delivery ratio.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2015.067863

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2015 Vol.17 No.2, pp.130 - 137

Received: 18 Mar 2013
Accepted: 02 Oct 2013
Published online: 07 Mar 2015 *

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