Development of an IoT system with smart charging current control for electric vehicles

This paper presents the development and test of an Internet of Things (IoT) system for monitoring and control of electric vehicles. The IoT architecture, which was developed using the Firebase platform, allows the synchronization of the vehicles' data to the online server, as well as the access to the data outside of the vehicle, though the Internet. The smart charging system proposed in this paper allows the control of the electric vehicle's battery charging current in real time, based on the demand at the residence (home current), which is measured using a residential wireless sensor network (WSN). An Android mobile app was developed to access the vehicle's data. This app communicates with the wireless sensor nodes of an intra-vehicular wireless sensor network (IVWSN), which was developed using the Bluetooth Low Energy (RLE) protocol. A real time notification system was also implemented to alert users about certain events, such as low battery and full battery charge. The main features of the proposed IoT system are validated through experimental results.This work is supported by FCT with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2013, COMPETE 2020 with the code POCI 01-0145-FEDER-006941

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

BlockChain: A distributed solution to automotive security and privacy

Interconnected smart vehicles offer a range of sophisticated services that benefit the vehicle owners, transport authorities, car manufacturers and other service providers. This potentially exposes smart vehicles to a range of security and privacy threats such as location tracking or remote hijacking of the vehicle. In this article, we argue that BlockChain (BC), a disruptive technology that has found many applications from cryptocurrencies to smart contracts, is a potential solution to these challenges. We propose a BC-based architecture to protect the privacy of the users and to increase the security of the vehicular ecosystem. Wireless remote software updates and other emerging services such as dynamic vehicle insurance fees, are used to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed security architecture. We also qualitatively argue the resilience of the architecture against common security attacks

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)

Design and development of smart interoperable electric vehicle supply equipment for electric mobility

The transportation industry at present is moving towards electrification and the number of electric vehicles in the market increased with the different policies of the directorate. Consumers, who wish to contribute to green mobility are concerned about the limited availability of charging points due to high manufacturing costs and the interoperability issues related to smart charging. This work proposes an Internet of things-based low-cost, interoperable smart electric vehicle supply equipment for deploying in all charging stations. The device hardware is designed to monitor, analyze, and collect consumed energy by the vehicle and transfer this data to a connected network. The pre-defined messages associated with the firmware will help to record this data with a remote management server for further processing. The messages are defined in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), which helps to overcome the interoperability issue. The device is smart because it can gather energy usage, detect device faults, and be intimate with the controller for a better operational environment. The associated management servers and mobile applications help to operate the smart device remotely and keep track of the usage statics. The developed low-cost, interoperable smart model is most suitable for two and three-wheeler vehicles