SMART GRID WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY COMPARISON CHART
wireless choices for smart grid
Smart Grid is an enabling
opportunity for operators to seek
new market positions and revenue
streams in an all-important effort
to more intelligently and efficiently
address energy generation and
consumption.
Smart Grid operators can use
this comparison chart to clarify
the various choices for wireless
connectivity – from access to
backhaul, for data or management
transmission, using any one or
combination of various technologies.
SMART GRID
WIRELESS
TECHNOLOGY
COMPARISON CHART
Microwave 5.8, 6, 11, 18, 23, 60-80 GHz
Aviat Networks offers advanced
wireless transmission equipment
including microwave backhaul
and WiMAX connectivity. We also
provide turnkey Professional
Services such as network design,
system integration and deployment,
network managed services
(including Network Operation
Center services) in all areas of
wireless transmission.
Our advanced networking and
transmission experts can help you
build your foundation for Smart
Grid and other intelligent efforts for
enabling wireless transport around
the world.
WIMAX (802.16 d/e/m)
Description
High capacity point-to-point wireless transport for
backhaul or backbone of telecommunication systems.
Standards
FCC Part 101, Part 15
HOW to use in Smart Grid
Backhaul and backbone transport for various
applications such as SCADA, AMI, Distribution
Automation and Demand Response.
Key Advantages
Wide range of available capacities, frequencies,
configurations; lower cost than fiber build; well-
understood deployment and ROI models;
highly secure.
Notable Weaknesses
Point-to-point configrations only; Frequency
congestion in highly populated areas; Best for high
capacity , full duplex, transmission applications.
3G Cellular
Description
3G includes wide-area wireless voice telephone, video
calls, and wireless data, all in a mobile environment.
Standards
UMTS, CDMA2000, EV-DO, EDGE
HOW to use in Smart Grid
AMI Backhaul, Communications Network,
Mobile Workforce
Key Advantages
Widely deployed, stable and mature; standardized;
equipment prices keep dropping; Readily available
expertise in deployments; cellular chipset very
inexpensive; Large selection of vendors.
Notable Weaknesses
Technology is in the transition phase to LTE
deployment; Public cellular networks not as stable/
secure for mission critical/utility applications;
Not well-suited for large data/high bandwidth
applications.
Mesh (802.11 or 802.16)
Wireless metropolitan area network (MAN)
ecosystem including access, ASN and CSN for end-
to-end.
IEEE 802.16d-2004, 802.16e-2005, 802.16m
AMI Backhaul, SCADA Backhaul, Demand Response,
Mobile Workforce, Video Surveillance.
Efficient backhaul of data - aggregating 100s access
points; QoS supports Service Assurance; Battery-
backup improves reliability and security; Simple,
scalable network rollout and CPE attachment; Faster
speeds than 3G cellular; Large variety of CPE and
gateway/base station designs.
Limited access to spectrum licenses in the US;
Trade off higher bitrates over longer distances;
Assymetrical up and down link speeds; Bandwidth
is shared among users; Competing against future 4G
cellular standards for high-capacity, all-IP networks.
Power Line Carrier
Systems for carrying data on a conductor that is also
used for electric power transmission.
Several competing: G.hn/G.9960; IEEE P1901 (draft)
Substation Automation, AMI Backhaul, Remote
Monitoring, Distribution Automation.
Piggyback onto existing network of power
transmission cables, as long as cables can easily
reach population centers, residences, businesses,
etc. Viable business model for municipalities because
of close proximity to customers.
Specilized equipment remains high cost; Owned by
power companies that might prefer to use microwave
or fiber and sell/lease excess capacity; Standards in
draft stages; Electromagnetic interference because
power lines are unshielded.
LTE
Outdoor wireless mesh network (WMN) is a
communications network made up of radio nodes
organized in a mesh topology.
IEEE 802.11, 802.16, operating on
FCC Part 15 Rules
Last-mile access connection to residence and
building nodes; AMI backhaul, distribution
automation, demand response, remote monitoring.
Non-line-of-sight, MIMO configurations, integrated
antenna to handle wide range of deployment issues;
Easily scalable; Mesh design allows improved
coverage around obstacles, node failures and path
degradation; Rapid deployment using unlicensed;
Security - SNMPv1/2/3 and data encryption;
QoS available.
Increased delay/latency introduced by multiple hops;
Increased complexity of protocols (MAC, routing,
management, security); Mesh architecture increases
the cost and complexity of the network with each
additional node.
WLAN (802.11b/g/n )
Indoor wireless local area network (WLAN );
home area network (HAN).
IEEE 802.11b/g/n; IEEE Working Group provide
support and update.
Home area network, home automation.
Low-cost chip sets - inexpensive consumer devices;
Widespread use and expertise - low-cost application
development; Stable and mature standards.
Small coverge and short distances limit widespread
use; Security issues with multiple networks
operating in same locations.
Company Headquarters
Aviat Networks
5200 Great America Parkway
Enhancements to 3G Universal Mobile Santa Clara, CA 95054
Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile
networking, providing for enhanced Contact info:
multimedia services. Tel: 408.567.7000
Fax: 408.567.7001
Contact sales:
3GPP Release 9
smartgrid@aviatnet.com
w w w.aviatnetworks.com
AMI Backhaul, SCADA Backhaul, Demand Response,
Mobile Workforce, Video Surveillance.
Low latency, high capacity; Fully integrated with
3GGP, compatible with earlier 3GPP releases; Full
mobility for enhanced multimedia services; Carrier
preferred protocol; Low power consumption.
Not readily available in many markets/still in testing
phases in others; Equipment cost high; vendor
differentiation still unclear; Lack of expertise
in designing LTE networks; Utilities’ access to
spectrum.
Zigbee (802.15.4)
Low-cost, low power, wireless mesh standard for
wireless home area networks (WHANs) or personal
area network (PAN).
IEEE 802.15.4-2003; ZigBee Alliance maintains
the standard
Home area network for energy management and
monitoring: Smart meters; Smart lighting, appliances
and electronic equipment.
Low cost - for inexpensive consumer devices;
Low power consumption - up to 2 year battery life;
Self-organizing mesh network - secure, reliable
networking; Low data rates - network can support
large number of users.
Smart energy specifications are still under
development; Developer must join ZigBee Alliance. Aviat, Aviat Networks, and the Aviat logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aviat Networks, Inc. 

© Aviat Networks, Inc. (2010) All Rights Reserved.
Data subject to change without notice.
_z_SmartGrid_ANSI_24Sep10

Microwave 5.8, 6, 11, 18, 23, 60-80 GHz
General usage
Point-to-point wireless transport for voice, data,
video, etc. for various network configurations
including Radio access network (RAN), WAN,
backhaul, backbone, trunking, etc.
Frequency Range
5, L6, U6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, 23, 26, 32, 38 GHz;
E-band 70-80 GHz;
Unlicensed: 2.4, 5.8, GHz
Channel Bandwidth
5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 80 MHz (ANSI/FCC)
Coverage capabilities
Depends on frequency and terrain, but point-to-
point links are achievable up to 40 miles
Peak single user data rate
Capacity/throughput (per channel, per
polarization): typically up to 310/360 Mbit/s
TDM/Ethernet; Beyond 1 Gbit/s using cross
polarization, etc.
Cost
Low - Moderate. Lower cost compared to fiber
with greater ease of deployment. Cost/capacity
equipment costs declining; Infrastructure costs
including labor, tower space rent are increasing.
Technology Maturity
Utilities have deployed microwave networks
for decades due to its high reliability and high
performance network requirements.
WIMAX (802.16 d/e/m)
Mobile broadband or at-home broadband
connectivity across whole cities or countries
(alternative to GSM, CDMA); Cost-effective delivery
to sparsely populated or underserved areas; Triple
play delivery - broadband Internet, VoIP and
IPTV services.
2.3, 2.5, 3.5 GHz licensed bands;
450 MHz, 700 MHz also used
Typical channel bandwidth allocations are 20 or 25
MHz (United States) or 28 MHz (Europe)
3-4 miles; longer distances capable with
lower bit rates
Typical 4-16 Mbps
Moderate - CapEx is moderately high, OpEX is
low; various CPE designs available at commodity
pricing; Chip prices continue to drop in price.
Mature; 500+ deployments worldwide.
New 802.16m standard is proposed - up to 4x
current speeds.
SMART GRID WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY COMPARISON CHART
Mesh (802.11 or 802.16)
Popular for last mile, broadband access in
municipal and rural areas; Mesh networks support
improved reliability and scalability, can overlay or
replace copper-DSL or FTTH
900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz (unlicensed)
20 MHz for 802.11 a/g;
20/40 MHz for 802.1n
Coverage at access points is similar to 802.11 b/g/n.
Distance between radio nodes varies between
frequency and line of sight (0-15 miles) or non-line
of site (0-3 miles) between links
Data rates dependent on link distance; Optimal
data rates similar to 802.11 b/g/n (54, 48, 36, 24, 18,
12, 9, 6, 4,5, 3, 2.25, 1.5 Mbps); as high as 300 Mbps
for outdoor.
Moderate - Mature technology: Low to moderate
CapEx, depending on capacity and advanced QoS
and routing features. Integrated antenna and
zero-footprint means installation costs depends on
number of nodes and gateways deployed.
Mesh is a mature technology with large variety
of vendors and devices, already widely used for
Smart Grid apps.
LTE
Mainly for mobile carrier adoption; Next-generation
network for mobile telecommunication providing
high spectral efficiency, very low latency, improved
user experience.
700 MHz, AWS 1700/2100 MHz, IMT 2500 MHz, GSM
900 MHz, UMTS 1900/2100 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz,
PCS 1900 MHz, Cellular 850 MHz
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz, scalable carrier
bandwidths, supports both FDD and TDD.
2-3 miles radius (urban area)
5-7 miles radius (rural)
SISO peak rates of 100 Mbps (DL), 50 Mbps (UL),
min; 2x2 MIMO 172.8 Mbps (DL);57.6 Mbps (UL); 4x4
MIMO 326.4 Mbps (DL) 86.4 Mbps (UL)
High - early adoption stage in pricing for equipment,
products availability and development;
Spectrum costly.
Technology demonstrations worldwide starting in
2010; Deployments currently in trial phase; large
scale deployments in 2-3 years.
3G Cellular
Mobile handset, tablet connectivity for
voice and video calling, Internet access
and Mobile TV.
GSM: 380 MHz-1.9 GHz;
CDMA/EV-DO: 800 MHz to 1.9 GHz;
GSM: 200 kHz;
CDMA: 1.23 MHz (1.25 MHz for EV-DO)
3-5 miles (hilly terrain)
up to 30-45 miles (flat terrain)
cdma2000/EVDO rev B: Up to 14.7 Mbps
HSPA+: Up to 28 Mbps (DL), 22 Mbps (UL)
Moderate - High. 3G cellular deployments will incur
growing, recurring costs per megabyte. No control
over network can lead to downtimes.
Very mature but will be phased over to future
standards such as LTE over the next few years.
Power Line Carrier
Also known as power line communication,
Broadband over Power Lines; Systems for carrying
data on a power conductor, for WAN applications;
Popular in Europe where power grid design
supports residential access.
The RF frequencies travel at frequencies of
1.7-80 MHz. Most providers rely on the 1-30 MHz
spectrum bandwidth for BPL transmission.
Wide band 1200 (Hz); Medium band 600 (Hz)
Distances of more than 15 km can be achieved over
a medium voltage network; In-building data rates
for Internet access, limited to short
distances <1000m
Data rates vary broadly - approximate DSL speeds.
Low-frequency (100-200 kHz) carriers: Few
hundred bits per second; Higher data rates mean
shorter ranges. Speeds up to 10 Mbps have
been achieved.
High - not widely adopted in North America: High
cost of implementation and lack of vendors. Typical
US city grid system is poor design for BPL - will
need 10x repeaters compared to similar size
European city.
More popular in Europe than North America.
Both one-way and two-way systems have been
successfully used for decades.
WLAN (802.11b/g/n)
Wireless networking for LAN and WAN; widely
used for indoor wireless LAN; Outdoor networks
implement mesh-like architecture for more
resilient coverage.
Unlicensed: 2.4 and 5 GHz;
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), OFDM
20 MHz for 802.11 a/g; 20/40 MHz for 802.1n
Indoor: up to 100 m;
Outdoor: up to 250 m
802.11b: up to 11 Mbps;
802.11a/g/h/j: up to 54 Mbps;
802.11n: >100 Mbps
Low - widely used and deployed in the consumer
market; Commodity pricing on chip sets.
WiFi is a mature, proven interoperable technology.
Wide variety of vendors and pricing structures
available.
Zigbee (802.15.4)
Targeted radio frequency apps requiring
low data rate, long battery life and secure
networking; In-between WiFi and Bluetooth.
ISM: 868 MHz , 915 MHz, 2.4 GHz (unlicensed);
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum coding.
Nominal bandwidth of 22 MHz
Up to 50 meters
20 to 250 kbps, depending on frequency band.
Low - intended as a low cost, low power
product for low bandwidth applications.
Fairly new; specifications ratified in 2004,
ongoing specifications still in process.