Optimizing Relay Placement and Multi-Hop Routing for Smart Meter Networks

Smart meter networks play a crucial role in modern utility management, supporting efficient and reliable data transmission for monitoring energy, water, and gas consumption across urban and rural areas. However, ensuring reliable communication poses challenges related to signal quality, coverage, and load balancing. This paper introduces QLiCk, a novel max-min optimization model that enhances network resilience and scalability by optimizing relay placement and supporting multi-hop routing. By maximizing minimum link quality and minimizing installation costs, the model provides reliable communication while ensuring fairness in load distribution, a key aspect for achieving energy consumption efficiency. Using real-world data from 35,000 meters and 100 concentrators, numerical results show QLiCk's ability to improve network performance, offering practical solutions for scalable, cost-effective and energy-efficient smart meter networks.