Robust and cheating-resilient power auctioning on Resource Constrained Smart Micro-Grids

The principle of Continuous Double Auctioning (CDA) is known to provide an efficient way of matching supply and demand among distributed selfish participants with limited information. However, the literature indicates that the classic CDA algorithms developed for grid-like applications are centralised and insensitive to the processing resources capacity, which poses a hindrance for their application on resource constrained, smart micro-grids (RCSMG). A RCSMG loosely describes a micro-grid with distributed generators and demand controlled by selfish participants with limited information, power storage capacity and low literacy, communicate over an unreliable infrastructure burdened by limited bandwidth and low computational power of devices. In this thesis, we design and evaluate a CDA algorithm for power allocation in a RCSMG. Specifically, we offer the following contributions towards power auctioning on RCSMGs. First, we extend the original CDA scheme to enable decentralised auctioning. We do this by integrating a token-based, mutual-exclusion (MUTEX) distributive primitive, that ensures the CDA operates at a reasonably efficient time and message complexity of O(N) and O(logN) respectively, per critical section invocation (auction market execution). Our CDA algorithm scales better and avoids the single point of failure problem associated with centralised CDAs (which could be used to adversarially provoke a break-down of the grid marketing mechanism). In addition, the decentralised approach in our algorithm can help eliminate privacy and security concerns associated with centralised CDAs. Second, to handle CDA performance issues due to malfunctioning devices on an unreliable network (such as a lossy network), we extend our proposed CDA scheme to ensure robustness to failure. Using node redundancy, we modify the MUTEX protocol supporting our CDA algorithm to handle fail-stop and some Byzantine type faults of sites. This yields a time complexity of O(N), where N is number of cluster-head nodes; and message complexity of O((logN)+W) time, where W is the number of check-pointing messages. These results indicate that it is possible to add fault tolerance to a decentralised CDA, which guarantees continued participation in the auction while retaining reasonable performance overheads. In addition, we propose a decentralised consumption scheduling scheme that complements the auctioning scheme in guaranteeing successful power allocation within the RCSMG. Third, since grid participants are self-interested we must consider the issue of power theft that is provoked when participants cheat. We propose threat models centred on cheating attacks aimed at foiling the extended CDA scheme. More specifically, we focus on the Victim Strategy Downgrade; Collusion by Dynamic Strategy Change, Profiling with Market Prediction; and Strategy Manipulation cheating attacks, which are carried out by internal adversaries (auction participants). Internal adversaries are participants who want to get more benefits but have no interest in provoking a breakdown of the grid. However, their behaviour is dangerous because it could result in a breakdown of the grid. Fourth, to mitigate these cheating attacks, we propose an exception handling (EH) scheme, where sentinel agents use allocative efficiency and message overheads to detect and mitigate cheating forms. Sentinel agents are tasked to monitor trading agents to detect cheating and reprimand the misbehaving participant. Overall, message complexity expected in light demand is O(nLogN). The detection and resolution algorithm is expected to run in linear time complexity O(M). Overall, the main aim of our study is achieved by designing a resilient and cheating-free CDA algorithm that is scalable and performs well on resource constrained micro-grids. With the growing popularity of the CDA and its resource allocation applications, specifically to low resourced micro-grids, this thesis highlights further avenues for future research. First, we intend to extend the decentralised CDA algorithm to allow for participants’ mobile phones to connect (reconnect) at different shared smart meters. Such mobility should guarantee the desired CDA properties, the reliability and adequate security. Secondly, we seek to develop a simulation of the decentralised CDA based on the formal proofs presented in this thesis. Such a simulation platform can be used for future studies that involve decentralised CDAs. Third, we seek to find an optimal and efficient way in which the decentralised CDA and the scheduling algorithm can be integrated and deployed in a low resourced, smart micro-grid. Such an integration is important for system developers interested in exploiting the benefits of the two schemes while maintaining system efficiency. Forth, we aim to improve on the cheating detection and mitigation mechanism by developing an intrusion tolerance protocol. Such a scheme will allow continued auctioning in the presence of cheating attacks while incurring low performance overheads for applicability in a RCSMG

An Approach to Guide Users Towards Less Revealing Internet Browsers

When browsing the Internet, HTTP headers enable both clients and servers send extra data in their requests or responses such as the User-Agent string. This string contains information related to the sender’s device, browser, and operating system. Previous research has shown that there are numerous privacy and security risks result from exposing sensitive information in the User-Agent string. For example, it enables device and browser fingerprinting and user tracking and identification. Our large analysis of thousands of User-Agent strings shows that browsers differ tremendously in the amount of information they include in their User-Agent strings. As such, our work aims at guiding users towards using less exposing browsers. In doing so, we propose to assign an exposure score to browsers based on the information they expose and vulnerability records. Thus, our contribution in this work is as follows: first, provide a full implementation that is ready to be deployed and used by users. Second, conduct a user study to identify the effectiveness and limitations of our proposed approach. Our implementation is based on using more than 52 thousand unique browsers. Our performance and validation analysis show that our solution is accurate and efficient. The source code and data set are publicly available and the solution has been deployed

Privacy in the Smart City - Applications, Technologies, Challenges and Solutions

Many modern cities strive to integrate information technology into every aspect of city life to create so-called smart cities. Smart cities rely on a large number of application areas and technologies to realize complex interactions between citizens, third parties, and city departments. This overwhelming complexity is one reason why holistic privacy protection only rarely enters the picture. A lack of privacy can result in discrimination and social sorting, creating a fundamentally unequal society. To prevent this, we believe that a better understanding of smart cities and their privacy implications is needed. We therefore systematize the application areas, enabling technologies, privacy types, attackers and data sources for the attacks, giving structure to the fuzzy term “smart city”. Based on our taxonomies, we describe existing privacy-enhancing technologies, review the state of the art in real cities around the world, and discuss promising future research directions. Our survey can serve as a reference guide, contributing to the development of privacy-friendly smart cities

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Low-carbon Energy Transition and Planning for Smart Grids

With the growing concerns of climate change and energy crisis, the energy transition from fossil-based systems to a low-carbon society is an inevitable trend. Power system planning plays an essential role in the energy transition of the power sector to accommodate the integration of renewable energy and meet the goal of decreasing carbon emissions while maintaining the economical, secure, and reliable operations of power systems. In this thesis, a low-carbon energy transition framework and strategies are proposed for the future smart grid, which comprehensively consider the planning and operation of the electricity networks, the emission control strategies with the carbon response of the end-users, and carbon-related trading mechanisms. The planning approach considers the collaborative planning of different types of networks under the smart grid context. Transportation electrification is considered as a key segment in the energy transition of power systems, so the planning of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen refueling infrastructure for fuel cell electric vehicles is jointly solved with the electricity network expansion. The vulnerability assessment tools are proposed to evaluate the coupled networks towards extreme events. Based on the carbon footprint tracking technologies, emission control can be realized from both the generation side and the demand side. The operation of the low-carbon oriented power system is modeled in a combined energy and carbon market, which fully considers the carbon emission right trading and renewable energy certificates trading of the market participants. Several benchmark systems have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed planning approach. Comparative studies to existing approaches in the literature, where applicable, have also been conducted. The simulation results verify the practical applicability of this method

Economics of Electricity Battery Storage

This chapter deals with the challenges and opportunities of energy storage, with a specific focus on the economics of batteries for storing electricity in the framework of the current energy transition. Storage technologies include a variety of solutions that have been used for different grid services, including frequency control, load following, and uninterrupted power supply. A recent interest is being triggered by the increasing grid balance requirements to integrate variable renewable sources and distributed generation. In parallel, lithium-ion batteries are experiencing a strong market expansion driven by an uptake of electric vehicles worldwide, which is leading to a strong decrease of production costs, making Li-ion batteries an attractive solution also for stationary storage applications

The Palgrave Handbook of International Energy Economics

This open access handbook is distinguished by its emphasis on international energy, rather than domestic energy policies or international geopolitic aspects. Addressing key topics such as energy production and distribution, renewables and corporate energy structures, alongside global energy trends, regional case studies and emerging areas such as the digitalization of energy and energy transition, this handbook provides a major new contribution to the field of international energy economics. Written by academics, practitioners and policy-makers, this handbook is a valuable and timely addition to the literature on international energy economics. This book was published open access with the support of Eni

Secure Geo-location Techniques using Trusted Hyper-visor

Για πολλούς, η γεωγραφική θέση είναι μια απλή διαδικασία όπου με τη χρήση του GPS ένα άτομο μπορεί να εντοπιστεί όπου και όποτε ζητείται. Ωστόσο, ακόμη και αν η χρήση του GPS για γεωγραφική τοποθέτηση είναι ο πιο συνηθισμένος τρόπος και ταυτόχρονα ακριβής ως σύστημα, αποτελεί μια τεράστια κατανάλωση ενέργειας για να επιτευχθεί αυτή η διαδικασία και υστερεί σε μηχανισμούς και τεχνικές ασφαλείας. Σκοπός αυτής της εργασίας είναι να παρουσιάσουμε μια άλλη όψη για το πώς μπορούμε να εντοπίσουμε μια άγνωστη θέση ενός κόμβου σε ένα σύστημα και πώς θα μπορούσε να δημιουργηθεί ένα ασφαλές περιβάλλον για αυτόν τον κόμβο. Βασική μας ιδέα ήταν η δημιουργία ενός μηχανισμού όπου θα μπορούσαμε να δημιουργήσουμε ένα τρισδιάστατο πεδίο στο οποίο θα μπορούσε να εντοπιστεί άγνωστος κόμβος και στη συνέχεια θα δημιουργηθεί ένα ασφαλές περιβάλλον για τον νέο κόμβο. Μετά από μια έρευνα σε δημοσιεύσεις σχετικά με τρισδιάστατους μηχανισμούς και τεχνικές γεω-εντοπισμού, παράλληλα με την έννοια των hypervisors για τη δημιουργία ασφαλούς περιβάλλοντος με την αξιοποίηση της κρυπτογραφίας, καταλήξαμε στο συμπέρασμα της δημιουργίας ενός πλαισίου που θα ικανοποιούσε αυτά απαιτήσεις. Δημιουργήσαμε ένα τρισδιάστατο πεδίο τεσσάρων σταθμών κόμβων, όπου χρησιμοποιήσαμε δύο αλγορίθμους εντοπισμού, χωρίς GPS, για τον εντοπισμό της θέση ενός πέμπτου άγνωστου κόμβου παράλληλα με έναν hypervisor για τη δημιουργία περιβάλλοντος εμπιστοσύνης. Χρησιμοποιήσαμε ένα TPM για τη δημιουργία κρυπτογραφικών μηχανισμών και κλειδιών ασφαλείας. Σε αυτή την εργασία δημιουργήσαμε μια προσομοίωση όπου συγκρίνουμε την απόδοση αυτών των δύο αλγορίθμων γεωγραφικής τοποθέτησης από την άποψη της ταχύτητας και της ακρίβειας του υπολογισμού, παράλληλα με την απόδοση των μηχανισμών ασφαλείας του hypervisor και την ικανότητά του για ασφάλιση ακεραιότητας δεδομένων. Εκτός από τα συστατικά του προτεινόμενου μηχανισμού, παρουσιάζουμε και άλλες πληροφορίες που βρήκαμε σε σχετικά έγγραφα, όπως μια ποικιλία από hypervisors και μια ποικιλία τεχνικών εντοπισμού, για περισσότερες πληροφορίες για μελλοντικές εργασίες παράλληλα με τα βήματα υλοποίησης και εκτέλεσης.For many, geo-location is a simple process where with the utilization of GPS a person can be located wherever and whenever is requested. However, even if the utilization of GPS for geolocation is the most common way and accurate as a system, it is a huge consumption of energy in order to achieve this process and it lucks on safety mechanisms and techniques. The purpose of this paper is to present another view of how we could locate an unknown node position in a system and how a safe environment could be created for this node. Our main idea was about the creation of a framework where we could create a three-dimensional field in which an unknown node could be located and afterwards a safe environment would be created for the new node. After a research on papers relevant with three-dimensional geo-localization mechanisms and techniques, alongside with the concept of hypervisors for the creation of safe environment with the utilization of cryptography, we came to the conclusion of the creation of a framework which would satisfy those requirements. We created a 3-Dimentional field of four base nodes stations, where we utilized two localization GPS-free algorithms for the location of a fifth unknown node alongside with a hypervisor for the trust environment creation. We utilized a TPM for the cryptography mechanisms and safety keys creation. In this paper we created a simulation where we compare the performance of those two geolocation algorithms in terms of accuracy and computation speed and accuracy, alongside with the hypervisor’s security mechanisms performance and its ability for data integrity insurance. Except our proposed framework components, we present also further information that we found in relevant papers, such as a variety of hypervisors and a variety of localization techniques, for more information for future work alongside with implementation steps and guidanc