Ensuring Uninterrupted MTC Service Availability during Emergencies Using LTE/5G Public Mobile Land Networks

Abstract

During emergencies LTE/5G-based public mobile land networks (PLMNs) restrict network access by normal users, which means a lack of service reliability which limits application of LTE/5G for machine-type communication (MTC) in critical applications, such as power systems This paper shows how existing LTE/5G features can be used to differentiate MTC of devices in a microgrid from other MTC or human-to-human (H2H) communication and ensure that these microgrid devices have service during emergencies, which enables use of LTE/5G communication to co-ordinate the use of distributed energy resources (DER) in microgrids, so that they can autarkically perform blackout recovery of an islanded microgrid. It is shown that this method allows the blackout recovery 100 times faster than with a conventional black start. The microgrid blackout recovery is demonstrated using the LTE/5G PLMN Access Barring feature. The disadvantage of using PLMN-based Access Barring is the need to define two separate PLMNs in one radio cell, which is an inefficient use of radio spectrum. However, this can be avoided by using the Extended Access Class Barring (EAB) override or application-specific congestion control (ACDC) features of the CAT-M1 low-power wide-area MTC technology, which are included in LTE and 5G standards.

HyDSMaaS: A Hybrid Communication Infrastructure with LoRaWAN and LoraMesh for the Demand Side Management as a Service

“…Some technologies can cover a large area within the city, however it requires a lot of investment and many devices which also increases the complexity of implementing this infrastructure. Additionally, the hybridization proposed when it comes to the use of different network topologies, is only possible if different technologies are used, such as the use of 5G together with LTE [32] as well as the hybridization of services in the cloud [29], which may make the infrastructure budget even more unfeasible.…”