• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.49-57
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• 2010

In order to provide electricity to users economically and safely, distribution automation systems (DASs) monitor and operate components of distribution systems remotely through communication networks. The fiber optic communication network has been mainly installed for the DAS of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) because of its huge bandwidth and dielectric noise immunity. However, the fiber optic communication network has some shortcomings that its installation cost and communication fee are expensive. This paper proposes a complex network where WLANs are combined with conventional fiber optic communication networks in order to expand DAS easily and inexpensively. A fixed wireless bridge communication unit (FWB-CU) for the proposed complex network is implemented using IEEE 802.11a WLAN technology. The proposed complex network is built actually to verify its feasibility experimentally as a DAS communication network.