16th Annual Mediterranean Ad Hoc Networking Workshop
Review on Microgrid Communications Solutions: A Named Data Networking – Fog
Approach
Kate Monteiro, Michel Marot, Hatem Ibn-khedher
Département Réseaux et Services de Télécommunications
CNRS SAMOVAR, Institut Mines-Telecom, TSP
Palaiseau, France
keite.monteiro@telecom-sudparis.eu, michel.marot@telecom-sudparis.eu, hatem.ibn_khedher@telecom-sudparis.eu
Abstract—In the Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, smart grids
and more particularly microgrids, bring more intelligence and
innovation to the historic and stablished power grid. However,
the communication demands are elevated. To address
microgrid requirements, an efficient and highly available
communication network is required. This paper focuses on
communication solutions for the microgrid considering the
amount of data generated, the latency requirements and the
security of the communication infrastructure. Named Data
Networking (NDN) is a new Internet paradigm that is content-
centric and it can expedite the data dissemination within the
microgrid communication network. Fog computing pushes the
cloud to the edge, promising low latency which is in accordance
with microgrid communications needs. This paper analyses the
microgrid communications and control and it proposes a NDN-
Fog approach for microgrid communications.
Internet of Things; Microgrids; Named Data Networking;
Fog.(Keywords)
I. INTRODUCTION
Microgrids are small scale smart grids that can be
incorporated in small communities, hospitals, schools,
industrials and commercials areas, reducing transmissions
and distributions losses [1]. To accomplish microgrid
proficiency, parameters such as current, voltage and
frequency measures, and equipment status reports have to be
gathered from multiple sensors and Intelligent Electronic
Devices (IEDs) across the entire power system. The
collected data must be processed, transmitted and stored
securely to reliably control and monitor the whole microgrid.
The microgrid controllers must properly receive that data to
timely instruct actuators. To this end, the communication
infrastructure must provide highly available and secure two-
way communications among several microgrid elements as
well as fulfill time sensitive communication demands and
data priority. The bi-directional communication between the
microgrid and the customers introduces more interactivity.
Hence, it is expected a large amount of information
generated between customer applications, smart appliances,
smart homes, smart building and microgrids.
The microgrid communication network has to efficiently
deliver data but the classical TCP/IP architecture and
protocols are not suited for that. Indeed, in the past the
Internet was essentially built to interconnect remote
computers networks and to share resources, for example
computer mainframes. The main principle behind the classic
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Internet design, based on the TCP/IP protocol suite is a host-
centric model where firstly, two hosts establish a connection
between them and subsequently, they exchange information.
The host-centric communication implies that the hosts must
be location aware. However, this paradigm is not suited for
microgrid where data may be accessed by several
components/actors of the microgrid. Also, more generally
speaking, the nature of the communications has changed.
Nowadays, the Internet is mostly used to disseminate audio,
video and data contents. What content is delivered has
become more noteworthy than where it is delivered. In this
way, an efficient content delivery has been required. New
exigencies that were not envisioned in the original Internet
design, such as mobility and security have surfaced. Also,
the Internet of Things (IoT) has brought new challenges to
TCP/IP networks, as detailed in [2]:
i) Most things operate in restricted conditions, for
instance short battery lifetime, low processing capabilities
and few memory capacities. Because of those limitations,
IoT layer 2 networks often present small MTU, for example
127 bytes considering IEEE 802.15.4. Since the number of
things is significant, a large address space is needed, thus
IPv6 is seemly rather than IPv4 whose address space is
diminishing. Yet, for processing optimization, IPv6 has a
fixed header of 40 bytes plus optional headers which is a
considerable header size for small packets. Also, IPv6
requires a minimum MTU of 1280 bytes to prevent
segmentation but this is unsuitable for constrained IoT
networks. For those reasons, a mechanism to adapt IPv6 to
the packet size of constrained layer 2 protocols is required.
ii) Most things are connected through mesh networks.
IoT mesh networks present multiple layer 2 protocols joined
together without any layer 3 devices, namely routers
between them. They embrace multi-link subnets models that
are not supported by the original IP addressing scheme.
iii) Multicast and broadcast consume a substantial
amount of energy. Many things enter to sleeping mode to
save power. However, a single multicast operation may
require a series of multi-hop forwarding and potentially
wake-up constrained things.
iv) TCP reliable in-order delivery and congestion
control are often inappropriate for IoT networks. The TCP
three-way handshaking introduces latency which most
delay-sensitive things are not able to tolerate. Still, most IoT
communications require the exchange of small amount of
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data, making the connection setup to absorb a significant
part of the session time. Also, TCP requires the buffering of
data both at the source and at the destination for
retransmission and in-order delivery, consuming constrained
thing resources [3].
v) Naming configuration and service discovery
through traditional Domain Name Servers (DNS) are
inadequate for most things, particularly for sensors and
actuators.
To face these new issues, Information Centric
Networking (ICN) has been proposed. Several solutions
appeared like Named Data Networking (NDN) which is a
new concept for the future Internet architecture based on a
content-centric and location unaware model that can help
solving IoT communication demands [4]. NDN has been
applied to IoT domain, for example smart building, smart
homes and smart grids [5], [6], [7], [8] and [9], more
specifically to sensor and actuator things.
In this way, it is arguable that NDN can improve data
dissemination in the microgrid communication context. The
goal of this position paper is to analyze in which extent
microgrid communication solutions can take profit of these
recent advances in networking. We analyze the
requirements of microgrid in terms of communication needs
and the features of NDN and then we propose an
architecture based on an NDN approach for microgrid, in
combination with fog.
Actually, how the collected data is processed and stored
is an important mater to microgrid communications. Fog
computing pushes cloud computing to the edge, improving
communication speed, flexibility and security. It is well
suited for industrial sectors like smart grid where commands
have strong delay constraints.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II
reviews the microgrid and its control methods and
communication solutions. Section III overviews the Named
Data Networking Architecture. Section IV addresses the
NDN-Fog approach. The conclusion closes the paper.
II. MICROGRID CONTROL AND COMMUNICATIONS
BACKGROUD
Several research efforts have been done to define the
concept, control methods, and technological aspects of
microgrid. The Conseil International des Grands Réseaux
Électriques (CIGRÉ) Working Group C6.22 Microgrid
Evolution Roadmap has been established since 2010,
focused on outlining the microgrid architecture as well as its
performing features. In [10] and [11] are presented the
results of such studies. According to WG C6.22, Microgrid
can be defined as a controllable, coordinated electricity
distribution system of small size. Its components are loads,
Distributed Energy Resources (DER), Energy Storage (ES)
and control devices. Microgrid can operate either connected
to the main grid, through a Point of Common Coupling
(PCC) or islanded. While in islanded mode, the microgrid is
disconnected from the main grid due to economic reasons,
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maintenance or failure. Loads are consumers of power, e.g.
plants, households. DER includes different power sources
such as microturbines, fuel cells, photovoltaic generators,
wind generators, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and
small hydropower units. ES are storage devices, e.g.
batteries, that save the excess of the energy produced. The
Energy Management System (EMS) performs control and
management functions within the microgrid. It is viewed as
a set of control strategies and operational practices,
implemented both in software and hardware, to optimize the
energy management of the microgrid [12]. The main goals
of the EMS are guaranteeing the efficient control of the
different DER power output, the load consumption, the ES
storage levels, and assuring the resynchronization after
transitions between grid-connected and island mode [13].
Although microgrids have no specific size, they can be
classified by capacity. In [14] microgrids are listed as simple,
corporate, feeder area, substation area and independent.
Simple microgrids have a capacity inferior to 2 MW and
they serve small independent institutes such as schools and
hospital with multiple loads. Corporate microgrids have a
capacity between 2 and 5 MW, and they include a small
number of household loads, but not commercial or industrial
loads. Feeder area microgrids have a capacity between 5 and
20 MW and they cover some large commercial and industrial
loads. Substation area microgrids have a capacity superior to
20 MW and embrace household, commercial and industrial
loads. Independent microgrids are meant to remote off-grid
areas, for instance islands, rural zones, mountains, and
villages. Their capacity depends on the loads attached to
them.
In [15] are given some examples of microgrids in Europe
as well as their respective control methods and
communications technologies. The Gridnice [16] project
installed in Carros, in Nice city nearby, France, is the first
commercial microgrid pilot in Europe. The project is
coordinated by Electricité Réseau Distribution France
(ERDF), and it was launched in 2012 under the European
program GRID4EU. The microgrid has a capacity of 3.5
MW, and it serves approximately 2500 voluntaries clients.
The main DER components are photovoltaic generators and
the ES are batteries which have an autonomy of 5 hours
when operating in island mode.
A. Control Methods
Concerning the EMS control methods, the centralized and
the decentralized approaches are considered, [17], [18].
Regarding to centralized control, the coordination
functions are attributed to a sole central controller. The
centralized solution is habitually based on Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The
standard IEC 61850 [19] is typically used by SCADA based
electric power grids for communication among the diverse
devices, enabling manufacturers interoperability. Central
control is easy to implement and to operate, and it is
appropriate for small-scale microgrids. However, there are
constrains such as strong computational efforts, e.g. memory
and processing, because of the huge amount of data collected
from several microgrids components, low flexibility and
scalability since it is difficult to add new elements, high
bandwidth, single point of failure which may compromise
the complete system, and Denial of Service (DoS).
Instead, decentralized control allows each element to
perform their self-directed monitoring. The decisions are
taken by local controllers (LC) that command their
corresponding microgrid component. The advantages are the
improvement of communication speed, lower bandwidth
requirements, high modularity, plug and play capabilities
which augments the system expandability, and better fault
tolerance. Nevertheless, the control system should be well-
planned to avoid disorder, leading to microgrid malfunction.
Thus, the implementation of decentralized control is a
complex task. MAS (Multi Agent-based control System) is a
possibility for decentralized control. The Working Group
IEEE Power Engineering MAS [20] has been studying
different technologies, concepts, standards, and challenges so
as to apply MAS on electric power fields [21], [22]. Also in
[23] is examined the application of MAS in microgrid
control. MAS can be considered as a set of two or more
intelligent agents, which are computing entities inserted in
some environment. Intelligent agents react to changes in
their environments, they are autonomous, they are goal-
oriented and they cooperate with each other [21], [22], [23].
They perform their own task independently and
asynchronously, in order to reach predefined objectives [21],
[22], [23]. For instance, in the microgrid context each DER
local controller can be regarded as a single intelligent agent.
Distribution Network Distribution
dispatch center network layer
MGCC Centralized
control layer
Local control layer
LC LC LC
LC
Figure 1. Microgrid hierarchical control model. Adapted
from [14]
Presently, the common microgrid is composed of a three-
level centralized hierarchical control [14], [17]. The fist level
consists of local controllers that interact with sensors
connected to DER, ES and controllable loads, and it
regulates the frequency, voltage and power, enabling
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scalability. The second level englobes a central controller
designated as Microgrid Central Controller (MGCC). The
MGCC monitors the entire microgrid system, and it controls
the frequency, voltage and power deviations of the local
controllers, assuring power quality control. It interacts with
the main grid, enabling smooth transition between islanded
and grid connected mode. The third level is the distribution
dispatch center. The distribution networks dispatch the
microgrid economically and efficiently. Critical and
important decisions are made by the third level which
controls the microgrid. Figure 1 shows the microgrid
hierarchical control model.
B. Communications Technologies
The general smart grid communications network is
segregated in many extents namely Wide Area Network
(WAN), Field Area Network (FAN), Neighboring Area
Network (NAN), Home Area Network (HAN),
Business/Building Area Network (BAN) and Industrial Area
Networks (IAN) [27]. Figure 2 shows the smart grid end-to-
end communication architecture where the microgrid
communication network is included [24].
Figure 2. Smart Grid communications architecture [24]
1) HAN/BAN/IAN comunication technologies
The BAN and the IAN are at industrial and commercial
customer premises. Building automation, heating,
LC
ventilation and air conditioner (HVAC) and industrial
energy management are provided to commercial and
industrial clients. The HAN connects smart appliances,
electrical devices and smart meters at residential customer
premises. Also, HAN assures communications to Home
Energy Management System (HEMS). The main
communication technologies for HAN/BAN/IAN are short
range wireless technologies such as ZigBee, Lo6PWAN and
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and wired technologies namely Ethernet
and PLC [25], [26], [27].
2) NAN/FAN
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is composed of
smart meters, computer hardware and software and
bidirectional communications [25]. The NAN provides
bidirectional connection between the smart meters and the
utility grid. The smart meters periodically measure energy
consumption of the customers. Data Concentrators (DCs) at
the vicinity aggregate the measured data from several smart
meters and send those values to the utility grid. The
measurements are sent to Meter Data Management System
(MDMS) in the utility grid for billing and evaluation. The
measured values can be reported in real time back to the
customers that hence manage their energy consumptions.
Also, the utility can analyze the electricity demand
throughout the time, optimizing the energy production and
distribution accordingly. Real time pricing implicates to
broadcast the electricity price to smart meters and smart
appliances so that the power usage can be planned taking
into consideration the best hour price.
Communication technologies that can be applied to
NAN are for example, Low Power Area Network
(LPWAN), 5G and PLC. LPWAN [28], [29] enables low
power consumption and long range in contrast to cellular
mobile networks that have long range but consume
significant amount of power, and shortrange wireless
networks which are low power networks but are short
ranged. LPWAN technologies work in licensed and
unlicensed spectrum. Proprietary technologies namely
SigFox [30] and LoRa [31] operate in the sub 1GHz
unlicensed spectrum, more precisely in the Industrial,
Scientific and Medical (ISM) 868/915 MHz band. Cellular
mobile IoT optimized technologies such as LTE-M, NB-IoT
and EC-GSM-IoT [32] function in LTE and GSM licensed
spectrum. However, SigFox and LoRa may present
interference issues since they operate in the free-unlicensed
spectrum. Moreover, the AMI frequently requires the
exchange of data, which can be a limitation for SigFox,
whose number of uplink messages per day is 140 messages
of 12 bytes. Also, SigFox presents downlink and uplink
asymmetry. 5G [33] is considered the future mobile
network. It is under specification and is predictable to reach
the market in 2020. 5G will be optimized for IoT and it will
enable various connected devices, low latency, peak rate of
1 Gbps, energy efficiency and scalability. In order to
provide high capacity and many connected devices, 5G is
exploring the millimetric waves (mmWaves) band from 30
to 300 GHz. Nevertheless, mmWaves show considerable
signal attenuation, absorption due to the atmosphere and
rain, propagation and penetration issues into buildings.
Studies have been conducting in the 28, 38 and 73 GHz
bands as alternatives to the congested 700 MHz to 2,6 GHz
bands used by contemporary mobile technologies. Many
research groups are developing the 5G technology. 5GPPP
has presented in [34] the view for 5G in the context of smart
grids. Accordingly, 5G can play an important role within
smart grids assuring low latency, reliability and availability.
The FAN connects distribution substations, Distributed
Generation (DG) and microgrids to the utility grid. The
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technologies suitable to FAN are for example 3G, 4G, 5G,
and PLC.
3) WAN comunication technologies
The WAN connects bulk generation, substations, NAN and
FAN to the utility grid. It covers a large geographic area.
The Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) is a device that
measures the phase and the magnitude of the
electromagnetic wave. It is introduced in strategic points of
the distribution and transmission lines in order to monitor
the power quality and to detect faults in the entire power
grid, including the microgrid. The data collected from
several PMUs are sent to Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC).
The reporting rate of the measurements are 10-30 samples
per second considering the norm IEEE C37-118 and 80-256
samples per second for IEC 61850-90-5 [35]. A Global
Position System (GPS) clock synchronizes the PMU so that
the data is precisely sampled. The WAN connects the PMUs
to the utility grid. Communications technologies such as 4G,
5G, WiMax and Optical Fiber [25], [26], [27] can be
applied, taking into account the distance, frequency of
collected data, and the bandwidth required.
4) EMS
Concerning processing, computing and storage of data
collected for monitoring and controlling activities, cloud
computing and fog computing can be considered as options.
Cloud computing [36], [37] enables to share resources
namely processing, memory, storage, and applications. It
employs the Internet to connect to data centers which
provide services to multiple clients. The cloud computing
offers flexible services to clients since it allows to increase
or to decrease the resources in accordance to the client
needs. The clients have the alternative of not managing
equipment nor dedicated specialized workforce. On the
order hand, the cloud providers can virtualize servers,
operating systems, software etc. The cloud computing
business model furnishes services such as Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as
a Service (SaaS). IaaS delivers to clients computing
infrastructure such as virtual machines, processing, storage
and networking. The clients manage their own operations
systems, middleware, development and execution platforms,
databases and applications. PaaS offers the computing
infrastructure, the operation systems, the middleware and a
cloud platform in which programmers can develop new
applications. This platform includes an application
development and execution environment. In this case, the
clients only manage their database and applications. SaaS
furnishes to client all the resources including applications
and databases. In the client premise, there is no need to
manage or install software and equipment since the client
connects directly to the cloud to access to services and
applications. The EMS can be hosted in the cloud since
cloud computing offers flexibility, huge storage capacity,
processing and virtualization.
Fog computing [38], [39], [40], [41] is the extension of
cloud computing to the network edge. It is a new paradigm
allowing connection, virtualization, processing, computing,
and storage functionalities near to the users where the data
is generated and consumed. To guarantee the
standardization of the fog architecture, the OpenFog
Consortium was formed in 2015. The fog computing has a
hierarchical architecture [42]. The layers are composed of
devices, gateways, fog nodes, and the last layer is the cloud
which is regarded as a counterpart of the fog. The fog nodes
are geographically distributed and at client neighboring.
They can be elements placed anywhere, for example routers,
switchers, servers, access points, base stations and
surveillance cameras with virtualization, storage, and
processing capabilities. The processing and memory
capacities of those equipments are reinforced.
The fog nodes and the cloud complement mutually with
benefits, assuring a continuous service between the cloud
and the end users. Although cloud computing is widely used
by services and applications, it shows constrains namely
delay, since the servers are located far from the clients, and
the bandwidth is not preserved considering the large amount
of traffic in the core network. Real time applications which
are time sensitive pose delay requirements that fog
computer can better achieve. Comparatively to cloud
computing which is a centralized solution, fog computing
presents a distributed approach, with many fog nodes spread
over the network edge. The advantages of fog computing
over cloud computing are lower delay, lower jitter, better
security since the data is less exposed and fewer hops
between the fog nodes and the client, typically one hop
reachable in contrast with many hops for cloud computing,
considering IP networks. Moreover, fog reduces the traffic
in the core network decreasing congestion and latency, and
it eliminates the single point of failure. Taking into account
the advantages, fog has been proposed to the smart grid
domain, particularly to the decentralized microgrid control
approach [43].
III. NAMED DATA NETWORKING OVERVIEW
The necessity to reconsider the classic Internet architecture,
motivated by the need to move the Internet from the user
centric paradigm to the information centric paradigm, made
the researcher community to quest for updated solutions.
The Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is a novel
proposal for the next generation Internet architecture.
Among various ICN research projects, summarized in [44],
[45], [46] is Name-Data Networking (NDN) [47], [48], [49],
a further advance of the Content Centric Networking (CCN)
project [50], [51]. The NDN future Internet architecture
proposes a switch from the host-centric perspective to the
content-centric viewpoint. The content is named and its
delivery is ruled by the name rather than the IP address. The
content to be named can be anything, for instance a data
chunk in a movie or a book, a command to turn on some
lights, etc. [49]. Besides the name based paradigm, the
mobility and the security are native to the NDN architecture.
While the content is delivered based on its name instead of
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its location, location is unaware. The publisher must
cryptographically sign the content with his public key,
assuring content security.
A. NDN Architecture
In NDN communications there are two types of packets,
INTEREST and DATA, illustrated in Figure 4. Both
INTEREST and DATA packets carry a name that identifies
a specific content. The DATA packet also holds the
publisher cryptographic signature. The subscriber sends an
INTEREST packet to request a given content. When the
content is found, a DATA packet comprising the desired
piece of data is sent towards the subscriber. This DATA
packet tracks the INTEREST packet reverse path. Packets
are forwarded hop-by-hop by routers through a name-based
routing scheme. Each router maintains three data structures
which are the Forwarding Information Base (FIB), the
Pending Interest Table (PIT) and the Content Store (CS).
The FIB consists of a routing table and it is built employing
name-based routing protocols. It maps outcoming interfaces
to each name-prefix. Routers forward INTEREST packets
towards the publisher considering the information in the
FIB. The PIT saves all the unsatisfied requests whose
INTEREST packets have already been forwarded by the
router. Each PIT entry records the content name along with
the respective incoming interfaces. This allows the
aggregation of various requests for the same content.
Furthermore, the routers only forward the first INTEREST
packet. Others INTEREST packets for the same content are
discarded. The routers forward DATA packets towards the
subscriber taking in to account the information in the PIT.
The CS temporally caches the DATA packets in order to
satisfy future requests for the same content.
Figure 3 – Interest and Data Packets [48]
B. Naming
NDN names are hierarchically structured. For example, a
command to adjust a DER voltage deviation may have the
name /DER/Solar Panel/ADJUSTVOLTAGE/Value. The symbol
‘/’ delimits name components in text representations like
URLs and it is not part of the name. Another example
illustrates segmentation property, that is the segment 1 and
version 1 of the video class.mpg is named
/TSP/videos/courses/microgrids/class.mpg/1/1. In longest
name-prefix matching a request for a content whose name is
/TSP/videos/courses/microgrids/class.mpg matches the
name /TSP/videos/courses/microgrids/class.mpg/1/1 since
the last one has the first one as prefix. The NDN
hierarchical namespace allows not only to emphasize the
relationship and the context of data elements but also to
aggregate names increasing routing scalability.
C. Packet Routing and Fowarding
The packet routing and forwarding scheme in NDN is name-
based. Publishers announce the name prefix of new content
via the NDN routing system. Once an INTEREST packet is
received, the router examines the content name and it
checks in the CS for name-prefix matching. If the content
name already exists in the CS, the router sends a DATA
packet to the incoming interface. Otherwise, the router
searches for the content name in its PIT. If there is an entry
in the PIT with the content name, the router attaches the
incoming interface to that entry and the INTEREST packet
is discarded. If the content name is not encountered neither
in the CS nor in the PIT, the CR looks up in its FIB. If a
longest name-prefix match occurs, a new entry is added to
the PIT with the content name and its incoming interface.
Then, the INTEREST packet is forwarded towards the
publisher considering the next hop outcoming interface in
the FIB. In case of mismatch, the router broadcasts the
INTEREST packet to all outcoming interfaces or it discards
the packet, depending on the forwarding policies.
When a DATA packet arrives, the router stores its
content in the CS. Then, the router looks up for the name
content in its PIT. If an entry is found in the PIT, the router
sends the DATA packet to all the incoming interfaces
recorded in that PIT entry. This enables multicasting. Next,
that PIT entry is deleted. If a longest name-prefix matching
not occurs, the DATA packet is dropped.
IV. MICROGRID NDN-FOG COMMUNICATION APPROACH
The operations of the microgrid involve the collection of
data from multiple sensors, equipment and intelligent
devices throughout the microgrid system. This data must be
transmitted to controllers for storage, processing and
decisions to be sent to actuators. Furthermore, a certain level
of interaction between the customer and the microgrid is
expected. For instance, the customer is informed about the
energy consumed, and based on that information the energy
usage can be adapted to reduce the electricity bill. Also, in
customer smart homes, intelligent appliances generate
information which is sent to smart meters and it is used for
the microgrid for balance supply. Those operations require a
significant amount of exchanged data that must be
disseminated to various microgrid components.
The NDN, as viewed, presents a content-centric
approach that can help the microgrid communications to
achieve an efficient and secure data delivery. Firstly, NDN
name-based paradigm releases the need to configure
network-dependent addresses for each microgrid component
interface [4]. Names are discovered and advertised directly
at network layer, becoming unnecessary additional
association between names and interface identifiers [4].
Secondly, NDN cashing allows storing widespread
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information such as real-time electricity price information
and weather forecasts across the network. This information
is widely available for customer and controllers, thus
reducing network load. Data such as notifications and alerts
for some or all the microgrid components can be multicast
or broadcast respectively. Lastly, NDN assures security of
the data by demanding publisher to sign DATA packets
with a cryptographic key. The data is secure at network
layer which means that it is needless to secure a channel or a
session in microgrid communications. Also, with the advent
of smart homes and smart building based on NDN [5], [6],
[8] it is expected a profitable synergy and integration
between smart homes, smart buildings and microgrid, all
sustained on the NDN architecture, namely in energy saving
and management.
On the other hand, fog computing extends cloud
computing to the edge of the network. Microgrid time
sensitive data for example, control signals and equipment
alarms and faults can be processed and actuated near to the
controlled devices reducing the transmission delay and
improving communication speeds and microgrid operations.
Remote microgrids can benefit from the advantages of fog
computing such as virtualization, processor capacity and
flexibility, since fog nodes can be placed anywhere namely
in base stations, railway stations etc. Data collected from
several microgrid sensors can be processed, filtered or
aggregated and temporally stored in fog nodes and then
transferred to the cloud for permanent storage. Combining
the advantages of NDN and fog computing leads to a more
flexible, efficient and secure microgrid communications.
A. NDN-Fog High Level Architecture
The proposed microgrid NDN-Fog architecture is illustrated
in Figure 4. The microgrid local controllers are in the fog
nodes since the data must be processed closed to the
controlled microgrid components namely DERs and ESs.
Sensors at DERs and ESs send measured data to LCs for
temporally storage and processing. The MGCC is in the
cloud since it processes a huge amount of data from several
local controllers. The PMUs carefully located in the
microgrid power generation and distribution line sends
those data to PDC via a NDN WAN. The DC close to the
customers, aggregates the data from multiple smart meters
(SM) through the NDN NAN and it sends the measurements
to the MDMS. NDN gateways (GWs) forward the data to
the fog nodes that collect and temporarily store the data
from sensors. The fog nodes and the cloud are
interconnected through the NDN WAN whose routers
forward and route data using NDN interest-data mechanism.
The NDN-Fog architecture is flexible and scalable,
enabling the addition of more microgrid components for
example DERs or loads and the increasing of the MGCC
capacities for instance, memory, processing, storage. Also,
it suits any type of microgrid, simple, independent or
proprietary.
 Since NDN can run above any layer 2 protocol, and it INTEREST packet to its controlled component representing
does not require a minimum MTU, it enables heterogeneous a command to regulate the voltage:
multi-link networks, with a broad set of technologies, Microgrid_ID/DER_ID/LC/REGULATEVOLTAGE/Value/codeKey
without any mechanism to adapt data packet size. This
facilitates the integration with fog which is mainly
supported on various wireless technologies. Also, in NDN
the control functionalities of transport layer such as
retransmissions are pushed to the application layer.
Moreover, it is possible to promptly shift from the
hierarchical control architecture to full decentralized control
one. The decentralized control requires interaction and
cooperation among the local controllers without the Cloud
presence of the MGCC which disappears, constituting a
MGCC
local controller mesh network. NDN facilitates the
communication in mesh networks because it does not
require managing IP addresses. Although the MGCC does
not exist in decentralized control, the cloud is still needed to
permanently store measured data, and it could be a backup
in case of local controller breakdown.
B. NDN Naming and data handling
Fog
The microgrid controllers collect data from sensors and
DC
equipment, and they send control signals to actuators to Fog Fog Fog Fog Fog
perform a specific task. Following the sensor-controller- LC LC LC LC LC
NDN
ND
actuator mechanism in NDN-based smart homes and NDN NDN NDN NDN NDN
NAN

buildings described in [5], [6] and [8], the microgrid

GW GW GW GW GW

components are attached to names that describe tasks, PMU PMU SM

M

commands, measures, alarms, notifications and information. SM

M S
SM

The names are related to the corresponding microgrid

ES Loads
component and specify a task, time, an action, a measure as DER

exemplifying:
/Microgrid_ID/DER_ID/Sensor/Voltage/Value/Timestamp/
/Microgrid_ID/ES_ID/Sensor/Level/Value/Timestamp/
/Microgrid_ID/Load_ID/Smartmeter_ID/Measure/Timestamp
/Microgrid_ID/PMU_ID/Phase/Measure/Timestamp
/Microgrid_ID/DER_ID/LC/ADJUSTVOLTAGE/Value/
The data is collected from sensors, smart meters, PMUs
and IEDs considering the publish-subscribe mechanism
described in [4] and implemented in [52]. After being
notified, the local controllers, PDC and DC issue
INTEREST packets, next they receive DATA packets with
the measures. The MGCC can also request to local
controllers the data collected sending INTEREST packets.
However, for alerts or fault information that require a
promptly action, the push data collection detailed in [4] is
considered where a microgrid component or equipment may
directly send data without following the interest-data
procedure. The data can be inserted in the INTEREST
packed. This solution is only adopted for high priority
situations since it can be not considered as a general
solution [4].
Controllers may send commands to actuators by issuing
INTERESTS packets with the task to be executed in the
name. For instance, a DER local controller may send an
Figure 4. NDN-Fog architecture
Nevertheless, to assure that the command is from the
controller, it must contain a codekey in the name for
authentication of INTEREST packets by the actuators which
should have access to the signature key of the controllers. It
is well the case because the DATA packet already contains
the publisher signature, so the content is secured. All the
microgrid components should be assigned with a key for
security improvement. After validating the INTEREST
message from the controller, the actuator executes the
command and it sends a DATA packet confirming the
execution of the task.
The MGCC can broadcast or multicast general
instructions to the local controllers. The PIT and CS
functionalities assure an efficient delivery.
V. CONCLUSIONS
This paper explored the communication solutions for the
microgrid. It was proposed a NDN-Fog approach which can
solve the current TCP/IP issues for data dissemination in the
microgrids and achieve microgrid communications
requirements such as low latency, security, storage,
processing capabilities and data priority. The proposed
solution is well suited for microgrids and adapted to further
development in control method models.

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