Insights of the DYDAS Project: The Use Case Energy

In the current energy transition, Renewable Energy Sources are identified as key enablers for the achievement of the ambitious European target of climate neutrality by 2050; among them, solar and wind energy play a crucial role. The evolution of production, storage and end users’ technologies goes hand in hand with the rapid development of the information sector, where High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructures allow the exploitation of Internet of Things devices and Artificial Intelligence techniques. The use of HPCs in the energy field enables the use, processing and sharing of large volumes of energy data. The funded by the CEF TELECOM 2018 DYDAS (Dynamic Data Analytics Services) Project is carried out in the above-mentioned framework, aiming to create a collaborative platform, called DYDAS, that, using high-performing computers, will offer data, algorithms and data analysis services to a wide range of final users, both private and public. More specifically the paper will focus on the Use Case Energy, whose objective is to test and validate the DYDAS platform, by exploiting meteorological forecast techniques and using satellite information to facilitate and boost up the assessment of both energy demand and power production. Considering the strong dependency on resource availability, the localization of the resources and the related infrastructure is essential for an efficient and strategic energy planning. Therefore, the mix of traditional algorithms, climatic variables and remote sensing techniques represents an added value for supporting decision-makers in the energy planning processes at local and national scales, taking advantage of the geomatics instruments to visualize and monitor decision strategies. Given the role of electricity in the energy transition, the current paper deepens the Use Case Energy focusing on power generation from photovoltaic plants and on-shore and off-shore wind farms located in Italy. The aim of the use case is to estimate the potential local power production, by collecting information about technical features and geo-localization of real plants, and integrating them with georeferenced climatic variables, which can influence the electricity production (e.g., air temperature, solar irradiance, etc.)

Mandate-driven networking eco-system : a paradigm shift in end-to-end communications

The wireless industry is driven by key stakeholders that follow a holistic approach of "one-system-fits-all" that leads to moving network functionality of meeting stringent End-to-End (E2E) communication requirements towards the core and cloud infrastructures. This trend is limiting smaller and new players for bringing in new and novel solutions. For meeting these E2E requirements, tenants and end-users need to be active players for bringing their needs and innovations. Driving E2E communication not only in terms of quality of service (QoS) but also overall carbon footprint and spectrum efficiency from one specific community may lead to undesirable simplifications and a higher level of abstraction of other network segments may lead to sub-optimal operations. Based on this, the paper presents a paradigm shift that will enlarge the role of wireless innovation at academia, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME)'s, industries and start-ups while taking into account decentralized mandate-driven intelligence in E2E communications

Distributed and scalable parsing solution for telecom network data

The growing usage of mobile devices and the introduction of 5G networks have increased the significance of network data for the telecom business. The success of telecom organizations can depend on employing efficient data engineering techniques for transforming raw network data into useful information by analytics and machine learning (ML). Elisa Oyj., a Finnish telecommunications company, receives massive amounts of network data from network equipment manufactured by various vendors. The effectiveness of data analytics depends on efficient data engineering processes. This thesis presents a scalable data parsing solution that leverages Spark, a distributed programming framework, for parallelizing parsing routines from an existing parsing solution. We design and deploy this solution as a component of the organization's data engineering pipeline to enable automation of data-centric operations. Experimental results indicate that the efficiency of the proposed solution is heavily dependent on the individual file size distribution. The proposed parsing solution demonstrates reliability, scalability, and speed during empirical evaluation and processes a 24-hour network data within 3 hours. The main outcome of the project is an optimized setup with the minimum number of data partitions to ensure zero failures and thus minimum execution time. A smaller execution time leads to lower costs of the continuously running infrastructure provisioned on the cloud

Cape Verde's infrastructure : a continental perspective

Cape Verde stands out in West Africa as a country whose economic geography poses major and unique challenges for infrastructure development. Its small population of half a million people is spread across a nine-island archipelago. The islands need complementary infrastructure in terms of roads, water, transport, ports, power, and ICT. Cape Verde already has well-developed infrastructure networks. Road density is relatively high, and most of the national network is paved. Almost all islands have port and airport facilities. Around 70 percent of the population has power and utility water. Indicators for ICT coverage -- penetration, bandwidth, submarine cable, private sector participation -- are relatively good. Nevertheless, prices for all services are exceptionally high. The quality of services is often deficient. At least half of the national road network is in poor condition; power supply is unreliable; and half of the population receives water from standposts. Cape Verde devotes around $147 million per year to infrastructure (almost 15 percent of GDP), among the highest levels of infrastructure spending on the continent. Some$50 million of that is lost each year to operations inefficiencies and underpricing. The country's main challenges are to improve infrastructure management and reduce high costs of services.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Infrastructure Economics,Energy Production and Transportation,E-Business,Banks&Banking Reform

Competition policy's role in network industries: Regulation and deregulation in Estonia

The article analyzes the competition policy's role in network industries (energy, telecommunication and railway sector) from points of view regulation and deregulation and institutional aspects of the competition policy in Estonia taking into account the particular developments in some transition countries and practices, which seem to be relevant for further regulating developments in Estonia. The main objective of the article is to find out, what type of institutional arrangement is suitable for regulating network industries in Estonia. Under the observation are institutional and organizational aspects of competition in abovementioned sectors. The article has two parts: First part focuses on particular law, which regulates network industries in Estonia; the second part analyzes institutional and organizational aspects of regulation and competition policy. Considering possibilities for regulation in network industries there are analyzed three different models: single sector-specific regulators and competition board; integrated multi-sector regulatory institution and separate competition board; and unitary competition supervisory and regulatory institution. --Estonia,competition policy network industries

Is the European Union ready for foreign direct investment from emerging markets?

This chapter asks whether the European Union Member States are ready for inward Foreign Direct Investment from the Emerging Markets. It concludes that European Union Member States have relatively open Foreign Direct Investment regimes in the international context, and yet instances of protectionism have been apparent in the recent period. However, protectionism has occurred both vis-a-vis Foreign Direct Investment from the Global South as well as from within the European Union, particularly in the so-called 'strategic' industries

Appraising the integration of sustainable development into sectoral policies: The case of Turkish Science & Technology policies

This paper presents the results of a study investigating how sustainable development can be integrated in Turkish science and technology policies. It contributes to the elaboration of the national sustainable development strategy and to the implementation of the EU acquis. The project’s originality for Turkey lies in its methodology (a participatory approach), and in its topic since sustainable development integration has never been dealt with in Turkey. Suggestions to improve this integration include strengthening the links between S&T institutions by entrusting the State Planning Organisation with the sustainable development integration mission, and raising awareness about its win-win advantages.Science and technology policy, Sustainable development integration, Participatory public policy, Environment, Turkey

Sierra Leone's infrastructure : a continental perspective

Infrastructure development in Sierra Leone contributed about half a percentage point to the economy's per capita growth rate in 2003-07. But if Sierra Leone could upgrade its infrastructure to the level of the best performer in Africa, per capita growth rates could be boosted by more than three percentage points. After nine years of peace, economic activity is flourishing at every level in Sierra Leone. But the 11-year civil war destroyed the country's infrastructure, and rebuilding the road network and ports while improving the electrical, water, and telecommunications infrastructure is proving difficult. Looking ahead, expanding electrification is a top priority because current access levels, at only 1-5 percent of the urban population and 0 percent in rural areas, are impeding other development. The water and sanitation sector faces similar challenges, as only 1 percent of the rural population has access to piped water. Sierra Leone has been spending about $134 million annually on infrastructure in recent years. About$66 million is lost each year to inefficiencies. Comparing spending needs against existing spending and potential efficiency gains leaves an annual funding gap of $59 to$278 million per year. If savings from greater efficiency could be fully captured, Sierra Leone would not meet its posited infrastructure targets for another 30 years. Sierra Leone needs to make difficult decisions about the prioritization of infrastructure investments and must think strategically about bundling and sequencing investments for maximum returns.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Infrastructure Economics,Energy Production and Transportation,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Public Sector Economics