Optimized routers positions for large-scale RF mesh networks based on clustering algorithms

Nowadays, a great interest to upgrade the existing power grid to become smart grid (SG) has been put by both, the research and the industrial community. More specifically, smart metering and communications method are recently and extensively getting studied in SG. However, the design and development of an efficient routing protocol in Radio Frequency (RF) mesh network to connect the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to collectors and vice versa highly depends on the positions of the routers. In this spirit, we focus our work in this paper to optimize the positions of the available routers to bring out the highest possible connectivity between smart meters and collectors. To do so, we have used two well-known clustering algorithms, the maximum distance to average vector (MDAV) and the Lloyd algorithm, to allocate routers in their optimized positions in a smart grid scenario. An extensive simulations have been carried out with the proposed algorithms, where significant improvement has been shown with respect to the initial distribution of routers. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.