A human-in-the-loop approach based on explainability to improve NTL detection

Implementing systems based on Machine Learning to detect fraud and other Non-Technical Losses (NTL) is challenging: the data available is biased, and the algorithms currently used are black-boxes that cannot be either easily trusted or understood by stakeholders. This work explains our human-in-the-loop approach to mitigate these problems in a real system that uses a supervised model to detect Non-Technical Losses (NTL) for an international utility company from Spain. This approach exploits human knowledge (e.g. from the data scientists or the company's stakeholders) and the information provided by explanatory methods to guide the system during the training process. This simple, efficient method that can be easily implemented in other industrial projects is tested in a real dataset and the results show that the derived prediction model is better in terms of accuracy, interpretability, robustness and flexibility.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Review of Non-Technical Losses Identification Techniques

Illegally consumption of electric power, termed as non-technical losses for the distribution companies is one of the dominant factors all over the world for many years. Although there are some conventional methods to identify these irregularities, such as physical inspection of meters at the consumer premises etc, but it requires large number of manpower and time; then also it does not seem to be adequate. Now a days there are various methods and algorithms have been developed that are proposed in different research papers, to detect non-technical losses. In this paper these methods are reviewed, their important features are highlighted and also the limitations are identified. Finally, the qualitative comparison of various non-technical losses identification algorithms is presented based on their performance, costs, data handling, quality control and execution times. It can be concluded that the graph-based classifier, Optimum-Path Forest algorithm that have both supervised and unsupervised variants, yields the most accurate result to detect non-technical losses

Internet of things (IoT) based adaptive energy management system for smart homes

PhD ThesisInternet of things enhances the flexibility of measurements under different environments, the development of advanced wireless sensors and communication networks on the smart grid infrastructure would be essential for energy efficiency systems. It makes deployment of a smart home concept easy and realistic. The smart home concept allows residents to control, monitor and manage their energy consumption with minimal wastage. The scheduling of energy usage enables forecasting techniques to be essential for smart homes. This thesis presents a self-learning home management system based on machine learning techniques and energy management system for smart homes. Home energy management system, demand side management system, supply side management system, and power notification system are the major components of the proposed self-learning home management system. The proposed system has various functions including price forecasting, price clustering, power forecasting alert, power consumption alert, and smart energy theft system to enhance the capabilities of the self-learning home management system. These functions were developed and implemented through the use of computational and machine learning technologies. In order to validate the proposed system, real-time power consumption data were collected from a Singapore smart home and a realistic experimental case study was carried out. The case study had proven that the developed system performing well and increased energy awareness to the residents. This proposed system also showcases its customizable ability according to different types of environments as compared to traditional smart home models. Forecasting systems for the electricity market generation have become one of the foremost research topics in the power industry. It is essential to have a forecasting system that can accurately predict electricity generation for planning and operation in the electricity market. This thesis also proposed a novel system called multi prediction system and it is developed based on long short term memory and gated recurrent unit models. This proposed system is able to predict the electricity market generation with high accuracy. Multi Prediction System is based on four stages which include a data collecting and pre-processing module, a multi-input feature model, multi forecast model and mean absolute percentage error. The data collecting and pre-processing module preprocess the real-time data using a window method. Multi-input feature model uses single input feeding method, double input feeding method and multiple feeding method for features input to the multi forecast model. Multi forecast model integrates long short term memory and gated recurrent unit variations such as regression model, regression with time steps model, memory between batches model and stacked model to predict the future generation of electricity. The mean absolute percentage error calculation was utilized to evaluate the accuracy of the prediction. The proposed system achieved high accuracy results to demonstrate its performance

Bridging the gap between energy consumption and distribution through non-technical loss detection

The application of Artificial Intelligence techniques in industry equips companies with new essential tools to improve their principal processes. This is especially true for energy companies, as they have the opportunity, thanks to the modernization of their installations, to exploit a large amount of data with smart algorithms. In this work we explore the possibilities that exist in the implementation of Machine-Learning techniques for the detection of Non-Technical Losses in customers. The analysis is based on the work done in collaboration with an international energy distribution company. We report on how the success in detecting Non-Technical Losses can help the company to better control the energy provided to their customers, avoiding a misuse and hence improving the sustainability of the service that the company provides.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Blockchain based digital forensics investigation framework in the internet of things and social systems

The decentralised nature of blockchain technologies can well match the needs of integrity and provenances of evidences collecting in digital forensics across jurisdictional borders. In this work, a novel blockchain based digital forensics investigation framework in the Internet of Things (IoT) and social systems environment is proposed, which can provide proof of existence and privacy preservation for evidence items examination. To implement such features, we present a block enabled forensics framework for IoT, namely IoT forensic chain (IoTFC), which can offer forensic investigation with good authenticity, immutability, traceability, resilience, and distributed trust between evidential entitles as well as examiners. The IoTFC can deliver a gurantee of traceability and track provenance of evidence items. Details of evidence identification, preservation, analysis, and presentation will be recorded in chains of block. The IoTFC can increase trust of both evidence items and examiners by providing transparency of the audit train. The use case demonstrated the effectiveness of proposed method

Electrical and Computer Engineering Annual Report 2016

Faculty Directory Faculty Highlights Faculty Fellow Program Multidisciplinary Research Fills Critical Needs Better, Faster Technology Metamaterials: Searching for the Perfect Lens The Nontraditional Power of Demand Dispatch Space, Solar Power\u27s Next Frontier Kit Cischke, Award-Winning Senior Lecturer Faculty Publications ECE Academy Class of 2016 Staff Profile: Michele Kamppinen For the Love of Teaching: Jenn Winikus Graduate Student Highlights Undergraduate Student Highlights External Advisory Committee Contracts and Grants Department Statistics AAES National Engineering Awardhttps://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/ece-annualreports/1002/thumbnail.jp

Non-technical losses detection in energy consumption focusing on energy recovery and explainability

Non-technical losses (NTL) is a problem that many utility companies try to solve, often using black-box supervised classifcation algorithms. In general, this approach achieves good results. However, in practice, NTL detection faces technical, economic, and transparency challenges that cannot be easily solved and which compromise the quality and fairness of the predictions. In this work, we contextualise these problems in an NTL detection system built for an international utility company. We explain how we have mitigated them by moving from classifcation into a regression system and introducing explanatory techniques to improve its accuracy and understanding. As we show in this work, the regression approach can be a good option to mitigate these technical problems, and can be adjusted in order to capture the most striking NTL cases. Moreover, explainable AI (through Shapley Values) allows us to both validate the correctness of the regression approach in this context beyond benchmarking, and improve the transparency of our system drastically.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version