Enhanced intelligent terminal unit under smart distribution network

The smart grid is playing a key role to enable smart cities and smart Internet of things. As an important part of the smart grid, the smart distribution network requires the intelligent terminal unit (ITU) to realize real-time electrical parameters acquisition and effective communication. The traditional ITU uses optical fiber or wireless mechanisms for data transmission among electrical equipment, other units, and master station, which is limited to deployment cost and ambient electromagnetic interference. Therefore, we propose a novel enhanced intelligent terminal unit (E-ITU) under the smart distribution network. First, we propose the E-ITU model that integrates free-space optical communication (FSO) and radio frequency (RF) for ITU to enhance the communication methods. Then, we propose the adaptive hybrid FSO/RF transmission mechanism for the E-ITU to improve the channel transmission performance. Finally, we evaluate our E-ITU performance, and the experiment results show that the E-ITU can effectively reduce system interrupts and improve the system transmission rate, which achieves high robust electrical parameters transmission under the smart distribution network.