> REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (DOUBLE-CLICK HERE TO EDIT) < 1 Abstract— The smart grid paradigm is set to revolutionize electrical energy delivery over the next two decades. The advantages will be manifold but the challenges to realization will be correspondingly great and the cost will be large. The probable structure of the smart power grid is reviewed and contrasted with that of the traditional grid. The requirements of the communications component of the smart grid are outlined and the possible roles of wireless communication technologies highlighted. The electromagnetic environment in which smart grid wireless technology will have to operate is discussed as is the application of radio science to insulation condition monitoring and asset management of plant. Index Terms— Smart grid, communication architecture, wireless, partial discharge, radiometer, condition monitoring, asset management. I. INTRODUCTION he smart grid is a paradigm shifting concept for the delivery of electrical energy. The essence of the paradigm shift is a change from a largely passive, radial, delivery network ‘broadcasting’ energy at a rate instantaneously matched to a set of time-varying, but uncooperative, loads to a predominantly active, meshed, delivery network that routes energy to loads which cooperate in balancing energy supply and demand. In contrast to a passive network, an active delivery network requires control. The implication is that the smart grid will need orders of magnitude more monitoring and automation than the traditional grid, requiring the incorporation of sensors, control algorithms and actuators on a massively increased scale. Data transmission from sensors to intelligence, and the transmission of control signals from intelligence to actuators, requires a communication system. Intelligence, in this context, includes traditional (deterministic) control loops, artificial intelligence (expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic, multi-agent systems etc.) and (human) operator intervention; the latter both to set policy and make high-level operational decisions. Such operator intervention will be at the highest, most demanding, cognitive level and the quality of decisions will depend sensitively on the clarity, objectivity and ergonomic design of I. A. Glover is with the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XW, UK (e-mail: ian.glover@strath.ac.uk) the grid-human interface [1]. This aspect of smart grid design will be as important as the quality of the grid automation.) The requirement for intelligence (information processing) and communications in a smart grid has resulted in it being characterized as the application of ICT to the power network. The smart grid has also been referred to as the convergence of the power and communications networks. No single, universally accepted, definition of the smart grid has yet emerged. A definition (one of many) is offered here: A smart grid is a generation, transmission, distribution and utilization grid to which sensors, intelligence and actuators have been massively applied realizing a more robust, more efficient, more adaptive, more sustainable and cheaper supply system. One, more, or all of the improvements listed in the above definition may derive in whole, or in part, from the active engagement of consumers as energy generating, storage and load-regulating agents; their behaviour in these roles motivated by, and mediated through, appropriate tariff structures. II. THE TRADITIONAL POWER GRID The traditional power system comprises:  Generation  Transmission  Distribution  Loads Generation is predominantly confined to a (relatively) small number of large, centralized, generating sets. The voltage is stepped up from tens of kilovolts to hundreds of kilovolts for transmission of bulk energy over long distances. The principal characteristics of this long-distance transmission network (apart from its high voltage) are that (i) it has a mesh structure and (ii) the direction of energy transport along any of the interconnecting lines may be in either direction, depending on the geographical distribution of load and the geographical distribution of available, or preferred, plant. (Availability of plant may change, of course, due to faults and maintenance and preferred plant may change in response to changing operating costs.) At the edge of the transmission network the voltage is then stepped down for more local distribution to individual consumers. The principal characteristic of the Radio Science and Wireless Communications for the Smart Grid I. A. Glover 1,2 , J. M. R. de Souza Neto 2 , S. Bhatti 1 , J. S. da Rocha Neto 2 , M. F. Vieira 1,2 , R. Atkinson 1 , M. Judd 1 and J. J. Soraghan 1 1 Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK 2 Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Campina Grande - PB, Brazil T