The Role of Smart Metasurfaces in Smart Grid Energy Management

The recent advances in communication, sensing, and monitoring technologies hold a promise to revolutionize electrical power networks into smart grids that are decentralized, green, and responsive to changes in the network. On the other hand, due to safety, security, and design of power networks, most of the critical devices are located indoors, making it challenging for wireless networks to support applications that require low latency and high-speed communications. Smart metasurfaces are an emerging technology that is designed to provide uninterrupted wireless connectivity by sensing ambient environments via sensors and adaptively adjusting electromagnetic waves to enhance reception quality. Integrating metasurfaces in smart buildings can improve communication capabilities, which presents a direct impact on the responsiveness of smart power grids. In this chapter, first, we present the emerging smart metasurfaces technologies. Second, we present a systematic overview of emerging smart grid applications and explain how smart metasurfaces can be instrumental in enhancing the performance of power systems. Finally, we present real-world signal measurements of 4G networks and show how smart metasurfaces can improve the system performance.