Practical applications of multi-agent systems in electric power systems

The transformation of energy networks from passive to active systems requires the embedding of intelligence within the network. One suitable approach to integrating distributed intelligent systems is multi-agent systems technology, where components of functionality run as autonomous agents capable of interaction through messaging. This provides loose coupling between components that can benefit the complex systems envisioned for the smart grid. This paper reviews the key milestones of demonstrated agent systems in the power industry and considers which aspects of agent design must still be addressed for widespread application of agent technology to occur

Enabling stream processing for people-centric IoT based on the fog computing paradigm

The world of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is gradually moving from vertical single purpose solutions to multi-purpose and collaborative applications interacting across industry verticals, organizations and people - A world of Internet of Things (IoT). The dominant approach for delivering IoT applications relies on the development of cloud-based IoT platforms that collect all the data generated by the sensing elements and centrally process the information to create real business value. In this paper, we present a system that follows the Fog Computing paradigm where the sensor resources, as well as the intermediate layers between embedded devices and cloud computing datacenters, participate by providing computational, storage, and control. We discuss the design aspects of our system and present a pilot deployment for the evaluating the performance in a real-world environment. Our findings indicate that Fog Computing can address the ever-increasing amount of data that is inherent in an IoT world by effective communication among all elements of the architecture

Tidal stream generators, current state and potential opportunities for condition monitoring

Tidal power industry has made significant progress towards commercialization over the past decade. Significant investments from sector leaders, strong technical progress and positive media coverage have established the credibility of this specific renewable energy source. However, its progress is being retarded by operation and maintenance problems, which results in very low operational availability times, as low as 25 %. This paper presents a literature review of the current state of tidal device operators as well as some commercial tidal turbine condition monitoring solutions. Furthermore, an overview is given of the global tidal activity status (tidal energy market size and geography), the key industry activity and the regulations-standards related with tidal energy industry. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to provide a bird’s view of the current status of the tidal power industry to serve as a roadmap for the academia regarding the real needs of the tidal power industry

Spinning Reserves from Responsive Loads

Report ORNL/TM-2003/1

UC Berkeley's Cory Hall: Evaluation of Challenges and Potential Applications of Building-to-Grid Implementation

From September 2009 through June 2010, a team of researchers developed, installed, and tested instrumentation on the energy flows in Cory Hall on the UC Berkeley campus to create a Building-to-Grid testbed. The UC Berkeley team was headed by Professor David Culler, and assisted by members from EnerNex, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California State University Sacramento, and the California Institute for Energy & Environment. While the Berkeley team mapped the load tree of the building, EnerNex researched types of meters, submeters, monitors, and sensors to be used (Task 1). Next the UC Berkeley team analyzed building needs and designed the network of metering components and data storage/visualization software (Task 2). After meeting with vendors in January, the UCB team procured and installed the components starting in late March (Task 3). Next, the UCB team tested and demonstrated the system (Task 4). Meanwhile, the CSUS team documented the methodology and steps necessary to implement a testbed (Task 5) and Harold Galicer developed a roadmap for the CSUS Smart Grid Center with results from the testbed (Task 5a) and evaluated the Cory Hall implementation process (Task 5b). The CSUS team also worked with local utilities to develop an approach to the energy information communication link between buildings and the utility (Task 6). The UC Berkeley team then prepared a roadmap to outline necessary technology development for Building-to-Grid, and presented the results of the project in early July (Task 7). Finally, CIEE evaluated the implementation, noting challenges and potential applications of Building-to-Grid (Task 8). These deliverables are available at the i4Energy site: http://i4energy.org/

Design Models for Service-based Software Application

Context: The use of a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) offers a new and distinct approach to creating software based applications (SBAs) around the idea of integrating distributed autonomous computing resources. A widely available realisation of an SOA exists in the form of web services. However, to date no standard techniques have emerged for developing SBAs. There is also a lack of consistency in describing the concept itself, and the published literature offers little evidence derived from the experience of developing `real world examples. Aims: The objective of the work described in this thesis was to conduct a series of studies to explore systematically the concept of what constitutes an SOA by using the published literature, to employ this to construct a proof of concept SOA design model based on a real world problem, and in doing so, to investigate how well existing design notations are able to support this architectural style. Method: The research described in this thesis has been conducted in an evolutionary manner by employing a range of empirical methods. A mapping study was performed to investigate how the concept of SOA is interpreted by the research community. Based upon this model of SOA, a participant-observer case study was employed to construct an SOA design model and a use case model for an energy engineering application to demonstrate use for a real world problem. Finally, expert knowledge was employed for evaluation of the case study through the use of walkthroughs. Results: From the mapping study we created an integrated model of what constitutes an SOA for the use with the case study. The case study outcomes include a design for a renewable energy control system together with codified experience of constructing and recording the SOA design model. The experience of employing the walkthrough method for evaluation, and the outcomes of the evaluation are also discussed. Conclusion: From this research we conclude that the SOA research community needs to develop a clearer shared understanding and agreement on the model of what constitutes an SOA and the vocabulary used to describe the SOA concept. This will aid designers to communicate their mental models more effectively and will provide the semantics needed for devising the new notations that this study implies are needed for SBA design. Further, some lessons about SBA design have been derived from the case study experiences

Cloud platforms for remote monitoring system : a comparative case study

Currently, industrial companies are increasingly introducing services to extend their tangible products. Remote monitoring solutions are one of the most implemented services by machine builders to manage their relationship with customers and also improve their business performance in the digital manufacturing era. However, the conventional method of remote monitoring cannot fulfil distributed business environments. Therefore, new solutions are needed to enable remote connection in manufacturing. By reviewing recent literature and proposing new features for software which can be used for remote service and operations, this research paper introduces a remote monitoring system connecting into a central cloud-based system with edge computing network architecture, namely Cloud-based Remote Monitoring (CloudRM). This proposed CloudRM also has been implemented in two different case companies for analysis and evaluation from a value proposition and technical implementation point of view. It shows significant improvement of production management and measurement by using CloudRM.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Environmental Disasters Data Management Workshop Report

The Environmental Disasters Data Management (EDDM) project seeks to foster communication between collectors, managers, and users of data within the scientific research community, industry, NGOs, and government agencies, with a goal to identify and establish best practices for orderly collection, storage, and retrieval. The Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) is assisting NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (ORR) with this effort. The objectives of the EDDM project are to: Engage the community of data users, data managers, and data collectors to foster a culture of applying consistent terms and concepts, data flow, and quality assurance and control; Provide oversight in the establishment and integration of foundational, baseline data collected prior to an environmental event, based on user requirements; Provide best‐practice guidance for data and metadata management; Suggest infrastructure design elements to facilitate quick and efficient search, discovery, and retrieval of data; Define the characteristics of a “gold standard” data management plan for appropriate data sampling, formatting, reliability, and retrievability; and Deliver workshop conclusions to end users in order to promote the use of the protocols, practices, or recommendations identified by participants