Attributes of Big Data Analytics for Data-Driven Decision Making in Cyber-Physical Power Systems

Big data analytics is a virtually new term in power system terminology. This concept delves into the way a massive volume of data is acquired, processed, analyzed to extract insight from available data. In particular, big data analytics alludes to applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning techniques, data mining techniques, time-series forecasting methods. Decision-makers in power systems have been long plagued by incapability and weakness of classical methods in dealing with large-scale real practical cases due to the existence of thousands or millions of variables, being time-consuming, the requirement of a high computation burden, divergence of results, unjustifiable errors, and poor accuracy of the model. Big data analytics is an ongoing topic, which pinpoints how to extract insights from these large data sets. The extant article has enumerated the applications of big data analytics in future power systems through several layers from grid-scale to local-scale. Big data analytics has many applications in the areas of smart grid implementation, electricity markets, execution of collaborative operation schemes, enhancement of microgrid operation autonomy, management of electric vehicle operations in smart grids, active distribution network control, district hub system management, multi-agent energy systems, electricity theft detection, stability and security assessment by PMUs, and better exploitation of renewable energy sources. The employment of big data analytics entails some prerequisites, such as the proliferation of IoT-enabled devices, easily-accessible cloud space, blockchain, etc. This paper has comprehensively conducted an extensive review of the applications of big data analytics along with the prevailing challenges and solutions

Secure Distributed Dynamic State Estimation in Wide-Area Smart Grids

Smart grid is a large complex network with a myriad of vulnerabilities, usually operated in adversarial settings and regulated based on estimated system states. In this study, we propose a novel highly secure distributed dynamic state estimation mechanism for wide-area (multi-area) smart grids, composed of geographically separated subregions, each supervised by a local control center. We firstly propose a distributed state estimator assuming regular system operation, that achieves near-optimal performance based on the local Kalman filters and with the exchange of necessary information between local centers. To enhance the security, we further propose to (i) protect the network database and the network communication channels against attacks and data manipulations via a blockchain (BC)-based system design, where the BC operates on the peer-to-peer network of local centers, (ii) locally detect the measurement anomalies in real-time to eliminate their effects on the state estimation process, and (iii) detect misbehaving (hacked/faulty) local centers in real-time via a distributed trust management scheme over the network. We provide theoretical guarantees regarding the false alarm rates of the proposed detection schemes, where the false alarms can be easily controlled. Numerical studies illustrate that the proposed mechanism offers reliable state estimation under regular system operation, timely and accurate detection of anomalies, and good state recovery performance in case of anomalies

An architecture for distributed ledger-based M2M auditing for Electric Autonomous Vehicles

Electric Autonomous Vehicles (EAVs) promise to be an effective way to solve transportation issues such as accidents, emissions and congestion, and aim at establishing the foundation of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) economy. For this to be possible, the market should be able to offer appropriate charging services without involving humans. The state-of-the-art mechanisms of charging and billing do not meet this requirement, and often impose service fees for value transactions that may also endanger users and their location privacy. This paper aims at filling this gap and envisions a new charging architecture and a billing framework for EAV which would enable M2M transactions via the use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)

Efficiency and Sustainability of the Distributed Renewable Hybrid Power Systems Based on the Energy Internet, Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts-Volume II

The climate changes that are becoming visible today are a challenge for the global research community. In this context, renewable energy sources, fuel cell systems, and other energy generating sources must be optimally combined and connected to the grid system using advanced energy transaction methods. As this reprint presents the latest solutions in the implementation of fuel cell and renewable energy in mobile and stationary applications, such as hybrid and microgrid power systems based on the Energy Internet, Blockchain technology, and smart contracts, we hope that they will be of interest to readers working in the related fields mentioned above

An Efficient and Secure Energy Trading Approach with Machine Learning Technique and Consortium Blockchain

In this paper, a secure energy trading mechanism based on blockchain technology is proposed. The proposed model deals with energy trading problems such as insecure energy trading and inefficient charging mechanisms for electric vehicles (EVs) in a vehicular energy network (VEN). EVs face two major problems: finding an optimal charging station and calculating the exact amount of energy required to reach the selected charging station. Moreover, in traditional trading approaches, centralized parties are involved in energy trading, which leads to various issues such as increased computational cost, increased computational delay, data tempering and a single point of failure. Furthermore, EVs face various energy challenges, such as imbalanced load supply and fluctuations in voltage level. Therefore, a demand-response (DR) pricing strategy enables EV users to flatten load curves and efficiently adjust electricity usage. In this work, communication between EVs and aggregators is efficiently performed through blockchain. Moreover, a branching concept is involved in the proposed system, which divides EV data into two different branches: a Fraud Chain (F-chain) and an Integrity Chain (I-chain). The proposed branching mechanism helps solve the storage problem and reduces computational time. Moreover, an attacker model is designed to check the robustness of the proposed system against double-spending and replay attacks. Security analysis of the proposed smart contract is also given in this paper. Simulation results show that the proposed work efficiently reduces the charging cost and time in a VEN.publishedVersio

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

IoT system for EV charging at shared spaces

In current work, we apply the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm to handle the electric vehicle (EV) charging process in small shared spaces, such as condominiums without requiring the intervention of an external supervision entity, being that role performed by the condominium management. A Mobile App handles the user interaction with the system, authenticating the request to initiate the EV charging process, a microcontroller connected to set of sensors and an actuator is used for measuring energy consumption and for enabling the charging process and, a Management Unit controls the process end to end, providing the required services to the Mobile App and the microcontroller unit while manages the energy sharing between the EV charging stations accordingly the condominium limitations and processes the energy measures to consolidate the EV charging energy transaction. A minimal user interface allows the users to visualise transactions, manage users' preferences, and configure the platform. Additionally, the conceptual model for a scaled solution is presented, supported on blockchain technologies to handle the financial transitions, allowing current approach to be replicated on broader EV charging scenarios, such as public charging systems in a city. The developed system was tested in a shared space with three EVs using a charging infrastructure for 3.5 months.No presente trabalho, é aplicado um paradigma de Internet Of Things (IOT) para agilizar e controlar o processo de carregamento de Veículos Elétricos (VE) em espaços partilhados de menores dimensões, como por exemplo condomínios residenciais, sem que seja necessária a intervenção (a título de prestação de serviços) de uma entidade externa, sendo todo o processo controlado pela gestão de condomínio. Uma aplicação móvel permite ao utilizador interagir com o sistema, permitindo a este autenticar-se no mesmo é condição necessária para que seja despoletado o processo de carregamento do VE. O sistema implementado com recurso a um microcontrolador encontrase ligado a um conjunto de sensores e um atuador permitindo medir a energia que esta ser consumida para carregamento do VE e simultaneamente, ligar e desligar o dispositivo de carregamento do veículo (através do controlo de um interruptor que entrega a energia entregue a este). O processo é controlado por uma unidade de gestão centralizada, que gera a distribuição de energia pelas estações de carregamento de VEs de acordo com as limitações do condomínio através do ligar e desligar destas e em simultâneo regista e processas as medições da energia consumida para consolidar as informações que constituem a transação de carregamento de VE e respetiva contraparte financeira associada à mesma. Adicionalmente, a unidade de gestão centralizada e a aplicação móvel, disponibilizam interfaces de utilizador mínimas para permitir funções como a consulta de transações, gestão e configuração da plataforma. Complementarmente, é apresentado um modelo conceptual permitindo escalar a solução proposta para espaços partilhados de maior dimensão, com recurso à utilização de tecnologias blockchain para gestão e registo das transações financeiras associadas à operação. Propondo uma abordagem, que poderá ser replicável em cenários mais amplos de utilização como por exemplo, a infraestrutura publica de carregamento de VE de uma cidade. O protótipo desenvolvido foi testado num espaço partilhado com três VE, usando uma infraestrutura de carregamento durante 3,5 meses

On Using Blockchains for Safety-Critical Systems

Innovation in the world of today is mainly driven by software. Companies need to continuously rejuvenate their product portfolios with new features to stay ahead of their competitors. For example, recent trends explore the application of blockchains to domains other than finance. This paper analyzes the state-of-the-art for safety-critical systems as found in modern vehicles like self-driving cars, smart energy systems, and home automation focusing on specific challenges where key ideas behind blockchains might be applicable. Next, potential benefits unlocked by applying such ideas are presented and discussed for the respective usage scenario. Finally, a research agenda is outlined to summarize remaining challenges for successfully applying blockchains to safety-critical cyber-physical systems