Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice

for the Smart Grid

Greg Ennis
Technical Director
Wi-Fi Alliance

February 11, 2010

 Wi-Fi today - An unrivaled success

• 10% of the world’s population uses Wi-Fi

• About two billion cumulative shipments

• Double-digit growth year over year … strong

momentum continues

• Wi-Fi is now ubiquitous in home, enterprise,

industry, education and government
environments

• Consumers love Wi-Fi*

*7 out of 10 users would rather give up chocolate than Wi-Fi (Millward-Brown, 2008)

73% of university students say Wi-Fi helps them get better grades (Kelton Research,
2008)

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 2

Wi-Fi Alliance snapshot

Full list of member companies at www.wi‐fi.org

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 3

Wi-Fi industry to ship 800M+ units this year
Double-digit growth continues

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Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™: Enabling Wi-Fi adoption and
proliferation for 10 years and going strong

• More than 6,600 product certifications completed since March 2000

• 1460+ certifications in 2009 – a 42% increase over 2008
• Thirteen Wi-Fi Authorized Testing Laboratories worldwide
– Most labs have been certifying Wi-Fi for > 5 years

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 5

Wi-Fi Alliance certification and
market-enabling programs

Available today Ahead

Voice-Enterprise
Core PHY layer interoperability: Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
a/b/g/n
Mesh networks

WPA2® (Wi-Fi Protected Access): Standards- Wireless Network Management

based, government-grade security protections,
additional EAP-types for enterprise
Smart Grid
Voice-Personal: Best user experience with Voice
over Wi-Fi n the home and small office setting Wi-Fi Direct
WMM® Power Save: Advanced power-saving
mechanisms for battery-operated devices Enterprise
Wi-Fi Protected Setup™: ease set up of security-
protected home and small office Wi-Fi networks Display
CWG-RF (with CTIA): Performance mapping of RF in
mixed-radio environment WMM® Admission Control

WMM® (Wi-Fi Multimedia) Quality of Service: Tunneled Direct Link Setup

Prioritize latency-sensitive streams for multimedia
applications such as gaming, voice and video

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Wi-Fi Alliance activities underway to
address Smart Grid uses of Wi-Fi technology

• Smart Grid Task Group in Wi-Fi Alliance provides a forum for industry
collaboration
– Evaluate needs for additional testing/certification programs
– Provide industry input to government agencies and regulators (US and
worldwide) regarding use of Wi-Fi in Smart Grid
– Chair: Mark Thompson (Aclara), Vice-Chair: Phil Beecher (Gainspan)

• Wi-Fi Alliance also a participating member of NIST’s Smart Grid

Interoperability Panel (SGIP)
– Wi-Fi Alliance offers expertise in Wi-Fi technology for multiple Smart
Grid applications (Home, Neighborhood, WAN) and operating a best-
in-class interoperability certification program for 10+ years
– Member of SGIP Test and Certification Committee

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Wi-Fi in the Neighborhood Area Network

• Wi-Fi is highly suitable for large outdoor

networks to connect smart meters to a
neighborhood area network.
• Wi-Fi has already been deployed in
city-scale networks for both wireless
access and backhaul.
• Wi-Fi technology supports many
different configurations – point-to-point,
point-to-multipoint, distributed mesh.
• IEEE 802.11s, which standardizes Mesh over 802.11, will drive industry
coalescence around self-healing large-scale Wi-Fi networks.

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 8

Wi-Fi: The world’s preferred HAN technology

• Loved by consumers and specified by broadband service providers

• Wi-Fi is at the heart of the smart home, connecting computers, entertainment
devices, appliances, and Smart Grid devices on a single technology
• Whole-home coverage and industry-
supported easy setup protocols
• Versatile technology: multiple
interoperable versions ranging from
low-power to high-performance
• Resilient to interference and
coexists well with other technologies
• Government-grade security mechanisms
required for certification of all devices

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Some benefits of Wi-Fi in the Smart Grid

Ubiquity > 1 billion devices. Home, enterprise, metro

networks. Wide range of device types.

Range Whole house coverage. Kilometer outdoor point-

to-point. 802.11n MIMO.

Bandwidth Interoperable, auto-rate capability from megabit

to 600 megabit

Power Consumption WMM Power Save. New low-power chips

supporting >10 year battery life.

Application Scope Native IP support. Wide range of interoperable

power/performance profiles. Huge
commercial investment in Wi-Fi application
development .

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Wi-Fi Features for Smart Grid: Ubiquity

• Wi-Fi is already the dominant HAN within US homes

• Wi-Fi is already deployed as a neighborhood network in many metropolitan

areas

• Wi-Fi is already in a wide variety of devices: computers, consumer electronics,

smart phones, handhelds, industrial control, …
– Wi-Fi is best positioned to be the only communications technology that is in common
among all devices

• Wi-Fi is being integrated into key Smart Grid components: meters, appliances,
thermostats, …

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Wi-Fi Features for Smart Grid: Range

• Wi-Fi can provide whole-house coverage in most US homes without the need for
additional routers or mesh implementations

• Greater range minimizes the issue of problematic appliance locations

• Auto-rate capability can adjust signalling modulation downwards to ensure best

performance at a given range

• 802.11n MIMO provides best range/robustness

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 12

Wi-Fi Features for Smart Grid: Bandwidth

• For Smart Grid, Wi-Fi can support low-bandwidth devices/applications cost

effectively – and can interoperably support higher bandwidth applications as
well
– Wi-Fi products support rates ranging from megabit to 100’s of megabits -- interoperably

• Future Smart Grid monitoring and control applications may require greater data
rates than those anticipated today

• Auto-rate capability ensures that the modulation technique and data rate are
optimized for given range and signal environment

• Higher data rates means both support of new applications and support of more
total traffic

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 13

Wi-Fi Features for Smart Grid: Low Power
Consumption

• This is important, for example, in integrated metering scenarios

(water/gas/electric)

• 802.11 MAC protocol incorporates effective power saving mechanisms

• Wi-Fi Alliance’s WMM Power Save certification program

• New lower power, lower complexity Wi-Fi chipsets are now able to achieve > 10
year battery life

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 14

Wi-Fi Features for Smart Grid: Application Scope

Wi-Fi is best suited to support the full range of future Smart Grid applications

• Wi-Fi supports IP and hence can support all IP-based protocols

• Smart Energy Profile 2.0 support will be available on Wi-Fi
• Wi-Fi’s large set of interoperable profiles (e.g. supporting different power
consumption requirements and data rates) allows for optimal support of a wide
range of applications
• Wi-Fi’s presence in other devices such as handhelds and consumer electronics
(independent of specific Smart Grid requirements) opens up possibilities for
application development that other technologies cannot support
• Huge – and growing -- installed based provides attractive market incentives for
developer investment in Wi-Fi-based applications

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 15

 In Summary: is this really a Smart Energy Home?

Utility
AMI
Network

Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 16

 The Wi-Fi Smart Energy Home

Utility
AMI Internet
Network Internet

Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi: The Intelligent Choice for the Smart Grid 17
Questions?

Contact info:

Greg Ennis
Technical Director, Wi-Fi Alliance
+1 310 399-5052

gennis@wi-fi.org

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