Discussion and Testing of 802.11ah Wireless Communication in Intelligent Substation

In response to the application and requirements of all things seamless interconnection, International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has put forward a new generation of standard 802.11 ah, working in Sub-1GHz frequencies, achieving low power consumption and larger wireless local area network coverage. It improves the performance of Wi-Fi which easily affected by the building block, transmission distance and coverage. The new features of 802.11ah makes it more suitable for use in the smart grid. Intelligent substation adopts advanced, reliable, integrated and environment-friendly intelligent equipment. It supports grid real-time controlling, smart adjustment, online analysis and decision-making, collaboration and interaction. All the basic operations, including the information collection, measurement, control, protection, metering and monitoring, are taken automatically. In this paper, the feasibility of the 802.11ah wireless communication applying in intelligent substation is discussed. Besides, the actual performance of 802.11ah module prototype in 110kV substation has been tested. The results are analyzed, further studies and improvements are suggested.