Real-Time Scheduling in LTE for Smart Grids

The latest wireless network, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), is considered to be a promising solution for smart grids because it provides both low latency and large bandwidth. However, LTE was not originally intended for smart grids applications, where data generated by the grid have specific delay requirements that are different from traditional data or voice communications. In this paper, the specific requirements imposed by a smart grids on the LTE communication infrastructure is first determined. The latency offered by the LTE network to smart grids components is investigated and an empirical mathematical model of the distribution of the latency is established.