Utilities around the world are under increasing pressure to provide reliable and good quality power supply to their retail customers, and to reduce their operational costs. These concerns call for real-time monitoring and control of the distribution system, which can be accomplished by deploying distribution automation (DA) systems, a key enabling technology for smart grids. This comprehensive book provides a detailed description of all the major components of a DA system, including communication infrastructure and analysis tools, and includes extensive international case studies showing how the technology has been implemented in real-world situations.Researchers and graduate students working in power engineering, and practitioners engaged in distribution automation, such as utility engineers, vendors, and consultants, will find this book of particular interest.