| the introduction of smart electricity meters with cellular radio interface puts an additional load on the wireless cellular networks . currently , these meters are designed for low duty cycle billing and occasional system check , which generates a low - rate sporadic traffic . as the number of distributed energy resources increases , the household power will become more variable and thus unpredictable from the viewpoint of the distribution system operator ( dso ) . it is therefore expected , in the near future , to have an increased number of wide area measurement system ( wams ) devices with phasor measurement unit ( pmu)-like capabilities in the distribution grid , thus allowing the utilities to monitor the low voltage grid quality while providing information required for tighter grid control . from a communication standpoint , the traffic profile will change drastically towards higher data volumes and higher rates per device . in this paper , we characterize the current traffic generated by smart electricity meters and supplement it with the potential traffic requirements brought by introducing enhanced smart meters , i.e. , meters with pmu - like capabilities . our study shows how gsm / gprs and lte cellular system performance behaves with the current and next generation smart meters traffic , where it is clearly seen that the pmu data will seriously challenge these wireless systems . we conclude by highlighting the possible solutions for upgrading the cellular standards , in order to cope with the upcoming smart metering traffic . |