25,136 research outputs found
Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions
Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to
address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information
flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs
offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers,
involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems.
SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the
grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises
in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the
tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things
(IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the
generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by
incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as
well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such
devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG
systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes
of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues,
challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems
Intelligent monitoring of the health and performance of distribution automation
With a move to 'smarter' distribution networks through an increase in distribution automation and active network management, the volume of monitoring data available to engineers also increases. It can be onerous to interpret such data to produce meaningful information about the health and performance of automation and control equipment. Moreover, indicators of incipient failure may have to be tracked over several hours or days. This paper discusses some of the data analysis challenges inherent in assessing the health and performance of distribution automation based on available monitoring data. A rule-based expert system approach is proposed to provide decision support for engineers regarding the condition of these components. Implementation of such a system using a complex event processing system shell, to remove the manual task of tracking alarms over a number of days, is discussed
A Practical Searchable Symmetric Encryption Scheme for Smart Grid Data
Outsourcing data storage to the remote cloud can be an economical solution to
enhance data management in the smart grid ecosystem. To protect the privacy of
data, the utility company may choose to encrypt the data before uploading them
to the cloud. However, while encryption provides confidentiality to data, it
also sacrifices the data owners' ability to query a special segment in their
data. Searchable symmetric encryption is a technology that enables users to
store documents in ciphertext form while keeping the functionality to search
keywords in the documents. However, most state-of-the-art SSE algorithms are
only focusing on general document storage, which may become unsuitable for
smart grid applications. In this paper, we propose a simple, practical SSE
scheme that aims to protect the privacy of data generated in the smart grid.
Our scheme achieves high space complexity with small information disclosure
that was acceptable for practical smart grid application. We also implement a
prototype over the statistical data of advanced meter infrastructure to show
the effectiveness of our approach
A new coupling solution for G3-PLC employment in MV smart grids
This paper proposes a new coupling solution for transmitting narrowband multicarrier power line communication (PLC) signals over medium voltage (MV) power lines. The proposed system is based on an innovative PLC coupling principle, patented by the authors, which exploits the capacitive divider embedded in voltage detecting systems (VDS) already installed inside the MV switchboard. Thus, no dedicated couplers have to be installed and no switchboard modifications or energy interruptions are needed. This allows a significant cost reduction of MV PLC implementation. A first prototype of the proposed coupling system was presented in previous papers: it had a 15 kHz bandwidth useful to couple single carrier PSK modulated PLC signals with a center frequency from 50–200 kHz. In this paper, a new prototype is developed with a larger bandwidth, up to 164 kHz, thus allowing to couple multicarrier G3-PLC signals using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) digital modulation. This modulation ensures a more robust communication even in harsh power line channels. In the paper, the new coupling system design is described in detail. A new procedure is presented for tuning the coupling system parameters at first installation in a generic MV switchboard. Finally, laboratory and in-field experimental test results are reported and discussed. The coupling performances are evaluated measuring the throughput and success rate in the case of both 18 and 36 subcarriers, in one of the different tone masks standardized for the FCC-above CENELEC band (that is, from 154.6875–487.5 kHz). The experimental results show an efficient behavior of the proposed coupler allowing a two-way communication of G3-PLC OFDM signals on MV networks
When Mobile Blockchain Meets Edge Computing
Blockchain, as the backbone technology of the current popular Bitcoin digital
currency, has become a promising decentralized data management framework.
Although blockchain has been widely adopted in many applications, e.g.,
finance, healthcare, and logistics, its application in mobile services is still
limited. This is due to the fact that blockchain users need to solve preset
proof-of-work puzzles to add new data, i.e., a block, to the blockchain.
Solving the proof-of-work, however, consumes substantial resources in terms of
CPU time and energy, which is not suitable for resource-limited mobile devices.
To facilitate blockchain applications in future mobile Internet of Things
systems, multiple access mobile edge computing appears to be an auspicious
solution to solve the proof-of-work puzzles for mobile users. We first
introduce a novel concept of edge computing for mobile blockchain. Then, we
introduce an economic approach for edge computing resource management.
Moreover, a prototype of mobile edge computing enabled blockchain systems is
presented with experimental results to justify the proposed concept.Comment: Accepted by IEEE Communications Magazin
Monitoring and Fault Location Sensor Network for Underground Distribution Lines
One of the fundamental tasks of electric distribution utilities is guaranteeing a continuous
supply of electricity to their customers. The primary distribution network is a critical part of these
facilities because a fault in it could affect thousands of customers. However, the complexity of
this network has been increased with the irruption of distributed generation, typical in a Smart
Grid and which has significantly complicated some of the analyses, making it impossible to apply
traditional techniques. This problem is intensified in underground lines where access is limited. As a
possible solution, this paper proposes to make a deployment of a distributed sensor network along
the power lines. This network proposes taking advantage of its distributed character to support new
approaches of these analyses. In this sense, this paper describes the aquiculture of the proposed
network (adapted to the power grid) based on nodes that use power line communication and energy
harvesting techniques. In this sense, it also describes the implementation of a real prototype that
has been used in some experiments to validate this technological adaptation. Additionally, beyond
a simple use for monitoring, this paper also proposes the use of this approach to solve two typical
distribution system operator problems, such as: fault location and failure forecasting in power cables.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Government of Spain project Sistema Inteligente Inalámbrico para Análisis y Monitorización de Líneas de Tensión Subterráneas en Smart Grids (SIIAM) TEC2013-40767-RMinisterio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Government of Spain, for the funding of the scholarship Formación de Profesorado Universitario 2016 (FPU 2016
Evaluating XMPP Communication in IEC 61499-based Distributed Energy Applications
The IEC 61499 reference model provides an international standard developed
specifically for supporting the creation of distributed event-based automation
systems. Functionality is abstracted into function blocks which can be coded
graphically as well as via a text-based method. As one of the design goals was
the ability to support distributed control applications, communication plays a
central role in the IEC 61499 specification. In order to enable the deployment
of functionality to distributed platforms, these platforms need to exchange
data in a variety of protocols. IEC 61499 realizes the support of these
protocols via "Service Interface Function Blocks" (SIFBs). In the context of
smart grids and energy applications, IEC 61499 could play an important role, as
these applications require coordinating several distributed control logics.
Yet, the support of grid-related protocols is a pre-condition for a wide-spread
utilization of IEC 61499. The eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)
on the other hand is a well-established protocol for messaging, which has
recently been adopted for smart grid communication. Thus, SIFBs for XMPP
facilitate distributed control applications, which use XMPP for exchanging all
control relevant data, being realized with the help of IEC 61499. This paper
introduces the idea of integrating XMPP into SIFBs, demonstrates the
prototypical implementation in an open source IEC 61499 platform and provides
an evaluation of the feasibility of the result.Comment: 2016 IEEE 21st International Conference on Emerging Technologies and
Factory Automation (ETFA
TechNews digests: Jan - Mar 2010
TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month
- …