Open-source testing tools for smart grid communication network

Abstract

In any smart grid communication implementation, to determine the performance factor of the network, a testing of an end-to-end process flow is required. Therefore, an effective testing tool plays a crucial role in evaluating the performance of smart grid communications. Currently, there are a large number of tools and utilities that are available to study different performance parameters of a network. However, there have been a few studies investigating the testing tools for smart grid communication system. Moreover, most research works done previously focused on only one or two performance metrics such as delay and/or throughput. Plus, diverse communication technologies in smart grid creates major challenges for conventional testing software, for legacy testing programs are designed only for a single communication technology or standard in the network. Therefore, this paper discusses various open-source monitoring and testing tools and determines which set of tools is the most suitable for evaluating the performance of smart grid communication network. © 2013 IEEE.