Dive Summary:

• IEEE has announced updates to four wireless communications technologies and formed a new technical advisory group.
• The new standards, which are part of IEEE's 802 family of standards, include a new global standard that provides carrier-grade wireless communications connectivity for large-scale metering applications, while another supports worldwide deployment of interoperable and multi-vendor broadband wireless access products.
• The company also announced its IEEE 802.24 Smart Grid Technical Advisory Group, which will work with multiple IEEE groups as well as smart grid ecosystem stakeholders with the goal of resolving questions regarding smart grid application standards.

From the article:

According to IEEE, the new standards support the global utility industry's needs for smart grid data communications infrastructure and build on the IEEE Standards Association's portfolio of more than 100 active IEEE standards pertaining to the smart grid.

The new IEEE 802 standards include the following:

IEEE 802.15.4g-2012 is a global standard that provides carrier-grade wireless communications connectivity for large-scale smart metering applications and advanced metering infrastructure used in smart grids. It supports geographically diverse networks with minimal infrastructure that can potentially connect millions of end points, IEEE says. ...