Telecommunications for a deregulated power industry

Telecommunication plays a very important role in the effective monitoring and control of the power grid. Deregulation of the US power industry has enabled utilities to explore various communication options and advanced technologies. Utilities are increasingly investing in distributed resources, dynamic real-time monitoring, automated meter reading, and value added services like home energy management systems and broadband access for its customers. Telecommunication options like power line communications (PLC) and satellites are fast replacing legacy telephone and microwave systems in the US.;The objective of this thesis is to study the communication options that are available for utilities today. Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are analyzed in detail and communication delays due to the use of PMUs in wide area measurement systems (WAMS) are also studied. The highlight of this thesis is a close look at the characteristics of the power line channel by presenting a power line channel model and the use of digital modulation techniques like SS and OFDM, which help overcome the effects of such a hostile medium of communication. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Design and Implementation of Multiplatform Indoor and Outdoor Tracking System

RFID berupaya mengatasi kekurangan GPS dalam persekitaran yang tertutup. Manakala, WSN mampu untuk memanjangkan jarak komunikasi antara dua nod sensor dan GSM boleh menyokong komunikasi WSN semasa gangguan rangkaian. Oleh itu, satu sistem baru platform pelbagai pengesanan dalaman dan luaran (ER2G) yang beroperasi pada frekuensi 2.4 GHz berdasarkan piawaian ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 diperkenalkan bagi mengatasi kekurangan setiap teknologi. Sistem ER2G dengan fungsi M2M menggunakan mod API untuk menghantar dan menerima data masa sebenar secara wayarles dan menyediakan pensuisan antara lokasi dalamanluaran dan platfom WSN-GSM. Semua ujikaji dijalankan dalam persekitaran sebenar sebagai POC dalam mencapai komunikasi M2M. Prestasi sistem ER2G dinilai dan dibandingkan dengan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dan ERG, dan ianya didapati lebih cekap daripada dua sistem berkenaan. Sistem ER2G menyediakan perambatan isyarat LOS yang lebih baik daripada sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dengan 2.66 % dalaman dan 26.49 % luaran. Kadar pensuisan adalah 0.95 % dan 16.47 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ERG dalam persekitaran dalaman dan luaran. Algoritma yang dicadangkan berdasarkan arahan permintaan AT menggunakan mod API berupaya menghantar dan menerima data dengan 10.11 % lebih cepat daripada mod AT. Purata masa pengumpulan tag bagi sistem ER2G untuk TTF dan RTF protokol adalah 14.29 % dan 7.14 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem RFID yang berdiri sendiri. Daya pemprosesan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri adalah 18.06 % lebih rendah daripada sistem ER2G untuk TTF, manakala 7.09 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ER2G untuk RTF dalam persekitaran pelbagai hop dengan nisbah penghantaran 100 %. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RFID has the potential to address the inadequacy of GPS inside closed environment. While, WSN is capable to extend the communication range between two sensor nodes and GSM supports WSN during network disruptions. Therefore, a new multi-platform indoor and outdoor tracking (ER2G) system that operates at 2.4 GHz based on ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 standards is presented to overcome the disadvantages present in each technology. The ER2G system with M2M functionalities utilizes API mode to transmit and receive real time data wirelessly and provides switching between indoor-outdoor location and WSN-GSM platform. All tests are conducted in real environments as POC in achieving M2M communication. The performance of ER2G system is evaluated and compared with standalone RFID and ERG system, and it is found to be more efficient than both systems. The results indicate that the ER2G system provides better LOS signal propagation than the standalone RFID by 2.66 % indoor and 26.49 % outdoor. In addition, the switching rate between indoor and outdoor is faster than the ERG system by 0.95 % indoor and 16.47 % outdoor. The proposed algorithm based on AT command request using API mode is able to transmit and receive data by 10.11 % faster than the AT mode. The average tag collection times of ER2G system for TTF and RTF protocols are 14.29 % and 7.14 % respectively, which are higher than the standalone RFID. Furthermore, the average throughput of the standalone RFID is 18.06 % lower than ER2G system for TTF and 7.09 % higher than ER2G system for RTF in multi-hops environment with 100 % delivery ratio

Design and Implementation of Multiplatform Indoor and Outdoor Tracking System

RFID berupaya mengatasi kekurangan GPS dalam persekitaran yang tertutup. Manakala, WSN mampu untuk memanjangkan jarak komunikasi antara dua nod sensor dan GSM boleh menyokong komunikasi WSN semasa gangguan rangkaian. Oleh itu, satu sistem baru platform pelbagai pengesanan dalaman dan luaran (ER2G) yang beroperasi pada frekuensi 2.4 GHz berdasarkan piawaian ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 diperkenalkan bagi mengatasi kekurangan setiap teknologi. Sistem ER2G dengan fungsi M2M menggunakan mod API untuk menghantar dan menerima data masa sebenar secara wayarles dan menyediakan pensuisan antara lokasi dalamanluaran dan platfom WSN-GSM. Semua ujikaji dijalankan dalam persekitaran sebenar sebagai POC dalam mencapai komunikasi M2M. Prestasi sistem ER2G dinilai dan dibandingkan dengan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dan ERG, dan ianya didapati lebih cekap daripada dua sistem berkenaan. Sistem ER2G menyediakan perambatan isyarat LOS yang lebih baik daripada sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dengan 2.66 % dalaman dan 26.49 % luaran. Kadar pensuisan adalah 0.95 % dan 16.47 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ERG dalam persekitaran dalaman dan luaran. Algoritma yang dicadangkan berdasarkan arahan permintaan AT menggunakan mod API berupaya menghantar dan menerima data dengan 10.11 % lebih cepat daripada mod AT. Purata masa pengumpulan tag bagi sistem ER2G untuk TTF dan RTF protokol adalah 14.29 % dan 7.14 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem RFID yang berdiri sendiri. Daya pemprosesan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri adalah 18.06 % lebih rendah daripada sistem ER2G untuk TTF, manakala 7.09 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ER2G untuk RTF dalam persekitaran pelbagai hop dengan nisbah penghantaran 100 %. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RFID has the potential to address the inadequacy of GPS inside closed environment. While, WSN is capable to extend the communication range between two sensor nodes and GSM supports WSN during network disruptions. Therefore, a new multi-platform indoor and outdoor tracking (ER2G) system that operates at 2.4 GHz based on ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 standards is presented to overcome the disadvantages present in each technology. The ER2G system with M2M functionalities utilizes API mode to transmit and receive real time data wirelessly and provides switching between indoor-outdoor location and WSN-GSM platform. All tests are conducted in real environments as POC in achieving M2M communication. The performance of ER2G system is evaluated and compared with standalone RFID and ERG system, and it is found to be more efficient than both systems. The results indicate that the ER2G system provides better LOS signal propagation than the standalone RFID by 2.66 % indoor and 26.49 % outdoor. In addition, the switching rate between indoor and outdoor is faster than the ERG system by 0.95 % indoor and 16.47 % outdoor. The proposed algorithm based on AT command request using API mode is able to transmit and receive data by 10.11 % faster than the AT mode. The average tag collection times of ER2G system for TTF and RTF protocols are 14.29 % and 7.14 % respectively, which are higher than the standalone RFID. Furthermore, the average throughput of the standalone RFID is 18.06 % lower than ER2G system for TTF and 7.09 % higher than ER2G system for RTF in multi-hops environment with 100 % delivery ratio

Powerline Communication in Home-Building Automation Systems

Domotics, Smart Home Systems, Ambient Intelligence are all terms that describe the intelligent cooperation of several different equipments to manage the home environment in an intelligent, safe and comfortable way. The same idea is also applicable to bigger constructions, and in that case it takes the name of Building Automation. Whatever term one wants to use, it refers to a multidisciplinary field that includes informatics, electronics, automation and telecommunication, and also touches fields like building constructions and architecture. In fact, during the process of designing a building, people have to consider appropriate spaces for the electric plant, and if the presence of a domotic system is planned, it is better to take it into account during the design phase, just to optimize spaces, the amount of used wires, the position of the modules and so on. There are really many home system producers in the world (Smart Home Systems, EIB-Konnex, Lonworks, Bticino, Vimar, Duemmegi, EasyDom Corporation, Futurware, Digital Cybermasters, Hills Home Systems, Intellihome etc, just to mention a few) , and their products differ from each others in many characteristics, such as functionality, dimension, weight, typology of installation, materials, net topology, power consumes, aesthetic appearance, communication protocol and communication mean. Regarding this last point, the majority of the domotic systems, especially in Europe, tend to use a dedicated bus cable to exchange data among modules, to make the communication link more robust and reliable. Lately, using radio communication is in fashion, but radio modules, respect to their equivalent standard ones, are more expensive, and in the bargain many people don’t want to use them due to the fear of radio signals (even if it were proved that they are completely harmless). Another communication mean, that is often not taken into account, is the powerline. In point of fact, using the installed poweline wires to send information is a very smart idea: there is no additional cost to install other dozens of meters of wires, there is not the necessity to break the walls and to do building works at home, there are no interferences with other devices (like in the radio communication case) or reflection problems (like in the infrared case), there is the possibility to put the modules in every place (it is sufficient to have an electrical socket in the nearness, or to use an extension cable), there is no need to have an extra power source (usually, in a bus cable domotic system, there is a direct voltage generated by a power supply and distribuited on the whole domotic net). Moreover, powerline communication (PLC, also called BPL in the USA, where the acronym stays for Broadband over Power Line, or NPL, Narroband over Power Line) is not only used in a home environment to create a virtual net among domotic modules, but is also used on the power distribution net to perform actions like reading the electricity meter, monitoring the power consumes and the state of a building, finding faults along the net, detecting illegal electricity usages and to solve the so-called last mile problem , that is the problem related to the final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer. In fact a cheap possibility to cover this final leg is using powerline communication. The intent of this work is therefore to illustrate, going into more details, advantages and disadvantages of the powerline communication systems (PLCS), to show the differences between PLCS for power distribution net and PLCS for home and building environments, to indagate the methods to send data over the powerline, to explain which are the automations that is possible to connect and to control in a powerline domotic system and to show some case studies tackled by the authors

Software-Defined Lighting.

For much of the past century, indoor lighting has been based on incandescent or gas-discharge technology. But, with LED lighting experiencing a 20x/decade increase in flux density, 10x/decade decrease in cost, and linear improvements in luminous efficiency, solid-state lighting is finally cost-competitive with the status quo. As a result, LED lighting is projected to reach over 70% market penetration by 2030. This dissertation claims that solid-state lighting’s real potential has been barely explored, that now is the time to explore it, and that new lighting platforms and applications can drive lighting far beyond its roots as an illumination technology. Scaling laws make solid-state lighting competitive with conventional lighting, but two key features make solid-state lighting an enabler for many new applications: the high switching speeds possible using LEDs and the color palettes realizable with Red-Green-Blue-White (RGBW) multi-chip assemblies. For this dissertation, we have explored the post-illumination potential of LED lighting in applications as diverse as visible light communications, indoor positioning, smart dust time synchronization, and embedded device configuration, with an eventual eye toward supporting all of them using a shared lighting infrastructure under a unified system architecture that provides software-control over lighting. To explore the space of software-defined lighting (SDL), we design a compact, flexible, and networked SDL platform to allow researchers to rapidly test new ideas. Using this platform, we demonstrate the viability of several applications, including multi-luminaire synchronized communication to a photodiode receiver, communication to mobile phone cameras, and indoor positioning using unmodified mobile phones. We show that all these applications and many other potential applications can be simultaneously supported by a single lighting infrastructure under software control.PhDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111482/1/samkuo_1.pd

Machine Learning Tips and Tricks for Power Line Communications

4openopenTonello A.M.; Letizia N.A.; Righini D.; Marcuzzi F.Tonello, A. M.; Letizia, N. A.; Righini, D.; Marcuzzi, F

A survey on wireless body area networks for eHealthcare systems in residential environments

The progress in wearable and implanted health monitoring technologies has strong potential to alter the future of healthcare services by enabling ubiquitous monitoring of patients. A typical health monitoring system consists of a network of wearable or implanted sensors that constantly monitor physiological parameters. Collected data are relayed using existing wireless communication protocols to the base station for additional processing. This article provides researchers with information to compare the existing low-power communication technologies that can potentially support the rapid development and deployment of WBAN systems, and mainly focuses on remote monitoring of elderly or chronically ill patients in residential environments

Huawei HCIA-IoT v. 2.5 Evaluation Questions

Cours, école d'ingénieurThis document is oriented towards students preparing for the exam of Huawei Certified ICT Associate (HCIA-IoT) v. 2.5. The main idea of this booklet is to provide students with an evaluation tool for their understanding of the course content. This booklet is not an exam dump, and it should never be handled like that.HCIA-IoT is a course prepared provided by Huawei. It focuses on the Internet of things explaining the technologies used to support it, such as 5G and NB-IoT. It also introduces Huawei products and solutions in this domain.The structure of this document follows the chapters of the course. For each chapter, there are two groups of questions: True or False and Multiple choices questions. Additionally, the booklet includes a table for abbreviations used in this course in alphabetical order