System on a Programmable Chip Design of a Wireless Transceiver Prototype for Smart Grid Applications

Abstract

When compared to digital signal processors (DSPs), filed programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have more computation power where functions are realized by hardware modules operating in parallel, instead of by instructions executing in sequence in DSPs. In this contribution, a large scale low duty smart utility network (SUN) radio upon the IEEE 802.15.4g standard (draft) for smart grid applications is implemented. Unlike the current wireless sensor network (WSN) using Zigbee radios, which is mainly used in a local scale, say less than tens of meters, SUN focuses on large scale WSN, which is able to access to the infrastructure at a distance up to kilometers. At the moment of composing this article, the IEEE 802.15.4g standard is still under developed. However, the narrow band, less than 1MHz, orthogonal frequency multiplexing division (OFDM) technology is identified to be adopted to realize robust link in large scale outdoor environments. Funded by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Department of Energy (DoE) in 2011 and then collaborated with Shanghai Research Center for Wireless Communications, a SUN radio prototype based on an Altera FPGA chip is firstly implemented and evaluated. The system design, baseband signal processing, medium access control (MAC) protocols and interfaces to computers are detailed in the article. An embedded processor within the FPGA chip is used to realize MAC protocol simplifying the system design. Moreover, such a FPGA based prototype serves as a universal system on programmable chip for a board range wireless communications. Experiments results demonstrate satisfied processing latency and bit error rate (BER) for smart grid applications.