Data Logging and Control of a Remote Inverter Using LoRa and Power Line Communication

Abstract

For decades, the power system was highly centralized. With the growing integration of distributed generations into the system, there is a necessity for bi-directional communication methods to monitor and control the remote assets. The primary objective of this paper is to develop a communication link for monitoring and controlling a grid-connected inverter in a remote location. Furthermore, the paper presents developments that have been incorporated to improve the communication link. The literature survey indicates that LoRa is superior compared to other technologies, but has some security and reliability issues. This paper also presents an encryption algorithm to improve the security of the LoRa link. Local data storage added to the system before transmitting data increases the system reliability. A display at the transmission end is added to improve the user-friendliness of the communication link. A Powerline Communication link is parallelly added to the LoRa link to improve the reliability. Finally, tests are conducted with an actual inverter and the results are presented. The tests show that the developed communication link has improved security and reliability, while its open nature makes it highly scalable and adaptable for employment in other smart grid applications.