The development of a modern electric power grid has triggered the need for large-scale monitoring and communication in smart grids for efficient grid automation. This has led to the development of smart grids, which utilize cognitive radio sensor networks, which are combinations of cognitive radios and wireless sensor networks. Cognitive radio sensor networks can overcome spectrum limitations and interference challenges. The implementation of dense cognitive radio sensor networks, based on the specific topology of smart grids, is one of the critical issues for guaranteed quality of service through a communication network. In this article, various topologies of ZigBee cognitive radio sensor networks are investigated. Suitable topologies with energy-efficient spectrum-aware algorithms of ZigBee cognitive radio sensor networks in smart grids are proposed. The performance of the proposed ZigBee cognitive radio sensor network model with its control algorithms is analyzed and compared with existing ZigBee sensor network topologies within the smart grid environment. The quality of service metrics used for evaluating the performance are the end-to-end delay, bit error rate, and energy consumption. The simulation results confirm that the proposed topology model is preferable for sensor network deployment in smart grids based on reduced bit error rate, end-to-end delay (latency), and energy consumption. Smart grid applications require prompt, reliable, and efficient communication with low latency. Hence, the proposed topology model supports heterogeneous cognitive radio sensor networks and guarantees network connectivity with spectrum-awareness. Hence, it is suitable for efficient grid automation in cognitive radio sensor network–based smart grids. The traditional model lacks these capability features.

现代电网的发展引发了对智能电网中大规模监控和通信的需求，以实现高效的电网自动化。这导致了智能电网的发展，它利用认知无线电传感器网络，这是认知无线电和无线传感器网络的组合。认知无线电传感器网络可以克服频谱限制和干扰挑战。基于智能电网的特定拓扑结构的密集认知无线电传感器网络的实施是通过通信网络保证服务质量的关键问题之一。在本文中，研究了 ZigBee 认知无线电传感器网络的各种拓扑结构。提出了在智能电网中采用 ZigBee 认知无线电传感器网络的节能频谱感知算法的合适拓扑。分析了所提出的 ZigBee 认知无线电传感器网络模型及其控制算法的性能，并将其与智能电网环境中现有的 ZigBee 传感器网络拓扑结构进行了比较。用于评估性能的服务质量指标是端到端延迟、误码率和能耗。仿真结果证实，基于降低的误码率、端到端延迟（延迟）和能耗，所提出的拓扑模型更适用于智能电网中的传感器网络部署。智能电网应用需要快速、可靠、高效且低延迟的通信。因此，所提出的拓扑模型支持异构认知无线电传感器网络，并通过频谱感知保证网络连接。因此，它适用于基于认知无线电传感器网络的智能电网中的高效电网自动化。传统模型缺乏这些能力特征。