With the development of communication technology and computer technology, traditional power grid is evolving towards smart grid with higher reliability, sustainability and flexibility [
1,
2]. Power communication network is an important part of smart grid. The backbone network is composed of switching nodes and optical cable links, which carries the services of power grid production and operation. The transmission and exchange of service data are closely related to the safe operation of power grid [
3,
4]. In the process of high-quality development of power grid, the types and quantities of power services continue to grow, and the reliability and effectiveness of power communication network service transmission must be ensured [
5,
6]. And it is an important method to ensure the safe and reliable operation of power communication network to allocate routes reasonably for power services [
7].
At present, a large number of research results have been published on the research of power service route planning. Literature [
8] calculates the importance of links according to the availability rate of links in the power communication network and the service routes carried, and then analyzes the reliability of each service route. Literature [
9,
10] divide the power communication network into physical link layer, network topology layer and service layer. Based on the three-layer topology structure and its relationship, the reliability of switching equipment and optical cable link is analyzed, and the risk assessment model of service route is established. On this basis, some studies have established different service route planning models considering the risk or risk balance (RB) of power communication network. However, the solution methods are different, which are mainly divided into two categories. One is the use of genetic algorithm. Based on software-defined network architecture, literature [
11] constructs a link importance evaluation algorithm for working route and backup route, and adopts genetic algorithm for service route planning with network risk as optimization objective. In literature [
12], the weighted summation of load pressure, average service delay and risk balance is used as the objective function of route planning, and the improved genetic algorithm is used to solve the problem. Based on service distribution and network attacks, literature [
13] constructs a communication vulnerability index to describe the risk of service transmission, and optimizes routes through an improved fast genetic algorithm. Literature [
14] establishes a multi-objective optimization problem considering risk balance degree and service delay, which was solved by NSGAII algorithm. The other uses algorithms in graph theory, including Dijkstra algorithm [
15] and the
k shortest paths (KSP) algorithm [
16]. Dijkstra algorithm is used to solve the shortest path between two nodes in the graph, while KSP algorithm is an extension of Dijkstra algorithm to solve
k shortest path between two nodes. The KSP algorithm proposed by Yen first finds the shortest path between the source node and the destination node through Dijkstra algorithm, then removes each link on the shortest path in turn, recalculates the shortest path between the source node and the destination node, and repeats the process until
k paths are found. Literature [
17] takes the risk of optical cable link and switching node as its weight, and adopts Dijkstra algorithm to directly obtain the route with the lowest risk value as the service route. Literature [
18] uses KSP algorithm to find multiple reachable routes for services, and selects the route with the least network risk balance as the service route. Reference [
19] considers the case of route recovery after a communication network failure. For services that cannot be transmitted after a communication network fault, the KSP algorithm is used to obtain
k candidate paths based on the link bandwidth and transmission delay, and select the path that meets the bandwidth requirement as the recovery route. Literature [
20] considers the risks of nodes and links, calculates the shortest path of each service based on the intermediary centrality theorem, and modifies the service route several times to improve the risk balance of the network. In addition, literature [
21,
22] adopt the P-cycle protection method to configure prefabricated protection routes for important services, which improves resource utilization but reduces the protection ability for a single service.
As can be seen from the above, current researches focus on reducing network risk and lack consideration of relay protection service overload (RPSO). Relay protection service is the most important service carried by power communication network. To ensure secure transmission of relay protection service, the route planning of relay protection service is restricted by overload. That is, the number of relay protection service carried by an optical cable link cannot exceed the overload threshold. At the same time, the relay protection service requires dual route planning. When the working route fails, the relay protection service quickly switches to the protection route to ensure the transmission of service data. Therefore, a route planning scheme considering RPSO and RB is proposed for overload and dual route planning of relay protection service. The main contributions of the paper can be summarized as follows:
The remainder of the paper is provided as follows.
Section 2 introduces the route planning model of power communication network.
Section 3 describes the route planning problem.
Section 4 describes the single-service route planning scheme.
Section 5 describes the process of route planning for multiple services.
Section 6 provides simulation results with theoretical analysis. In
Section 7, the paper is concluded.