Jamming-Resilient Backup Nodes Selection for RPL-based Routing in Smart Grid AMI Networks

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is the core component of the smart grid. As the wireless connection between smart meters in AMI is featured with high packet loss and low transmission rate, AMI is considered as a representative of the low power and lossy networks (LLNs). In such communication environment, the routing protocol in AMI network is essential to ensure the reliability and real-time of data transmission. The IPv6 routing protocol for low-power and lossy networks (RPL), proposed by IETF ROLL working group, is considered to be the best routing solution for the AMI communication environment. However, the performance of RPL can be seriously degraded due to jamming attack. In this paper, we analyze the performance degradation problem of RPL protocol under jamming attack. We propose a backup node selection mechanism based on the standard RPL protocol. The proposed mechanism chooses a predefined number of backup nodes that maximize the probability of successful transmission. We evaluation the proposed mechanism through MATLAB simulations, results show the proposed mechanism improves the performance of RPL under jamming attack prominently.