Optimization of Key Devices Positions in Large-Scale RF Mesh Networks

At the present time, a great interest has been shown by the research and the industrial community concerning smart grid communications where important technical advances have arisen as a consequence. Concretely, one of the most important goals of RF mesh network is the design and development of an efficient routing protocol to connect different devices of the network between each other. Nevertheless, the overall performance of the RF Mesh network communications depends in high measure on the positions of key devices in Radio Frequency (RF) Mesh network such as routers and collectors. With this in mind, we focus our work in this paper to design a strategy to optimize the positions of the key devices of RF Mesh network such as routers and collectors to achieve the highest possible connectivity between different components of RF Mesh network. To do so, we have used a well-known clustering algorithm called Lloyd's algorithm, to design our strategy, with the clear objective of allocating routers and collectors in their optimal positions in a smart grid scenario. Extensive simulations have been carried out with the proposed strategy, and good results have been obtained.