Optimal frequency control in microgrid system using fractional order PID controller using Krill Herd algorithm

This paper investigates the use of fractional order Proportional, Integral and Derivative (FOPID) controllers for the frequency and power regulation in a microgrid power system. The proposed microgrid system composes of renewable energy resources such as solar and wind generators, diesel engine generators as a secondary source to support the principle generators, and along with different energy storage devices like fuel cell, battery and flywheel. Due to the intermittent nature of integrated renewable energy like wind turbine and photovoltaic generators, which depend on the weather conditions and climate change this affects the microgrid stability by considered fluctuation in frequency and power deviations which can be improved using the selected controller. The fractional-order controller has five parameters in comparison with the classical PID controller, and that makes it more flexible and robust against the microgrid perturbation. The Fractional Order PID controller parameters are optimized using a new optimization technique called Krill Herd which selected as a suitable optimization method in comparison with other techniques like Particle Swarm Optimization. The results show better performance of this system using the fractional order PID controller-based Krill Herd algorithm by eliminates the fluctuations in frequency and power deviation in comparison with the classical PID controller. The obtained results are compared with the fractional order PID controller optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization. The proposed system is simulated under nominal conditions and using the disconnecting of storage devices like battery and Flywheel system in order to test the robustness of the proposed methods and the obtained results are compared.У статті досліджено використання регуляторів пропорційного, інтегрального та похідного дробового порядку (FOPID) для регулювання частоти та потужності в електромережі. Запропонована мікромережева система складається з поновлюваних джерел енергії, таких як сонячні та вітрогенератори, дизельних генераторів як вторинного джерела для підтримки основних генераторів, а також з різних пристроїв для накопичування енергії, таких як паливна батарея, акумулятор і маховик. Через переривчасту природу інтегрованої відновлювальної енергії, наприклад, вітрогенераторів та фотоелектричних генераторів, які залежать від погодних умов та зміни клімату, це впливає на стабільність мікромережі, враховуючи коливання частоти та відхилення потужності, які можна поліпшити за допомогою вибраного контролера. Контролер дробового порядку має п’ять параметрів порівняно з класичним PID-контролером, що робить його більш гнучким та надійним щодо збурень мікромережі. Параметри PID-контролера дробового порядку оптимізовані за допомогою нової методики оптимізації під назвою «зграя криля», яка обрана як підходящий метод оптимізації порівняно з іншими методами, такими як оптимізація методом рою частинок. Результати показують кращі показники роботи цієї системи за допомогою алгоритму «зграя криля», заснованого на PID-контролері дробового порядку, виключаючи коливання частоти та відхилення потужності порівняно з класичним PID-контролером. Отримані результати порівнюються з PID-контролером дробового порядку, оптимізованим за допомогою оптимізації методом рою частинок. Запропонована система моделюється в номінальному режимі роботи та використовує відключення накопичувальних пристроїв, таких як акумулятор та маховик, щоб перевірити надійність запропонованих методів та порівняти отримані результати

Improvement of mechanical properties of railway track concrete sleepers using ultra high performance concrete (UHPC)

In recent times, the shape of the beams evolved from wooden sleepers and then to steel sleepers until they reached concrete sleepers. These sleepers play a very important role in transferring the loads from the train wheels to the subgrade layers fixed by the railway. This development took place in concrete sleepers until we reached mono-block concrete sleepers. This paper discusses, through laboratory experiments, the effect of ultra-high performance concrete mixtures on the behavior of mono-block concrete sleeper B70. The ability of these new sleepers to resist train loads was also studied, compared to its conventional concrete sleepers. This research aimed to determine through experiment if these sleepers' behavior fulfilled the European requirements standers for prestressed concrete sleepers, and make comparisons between the UHPC sleepers and conventional concrete sleepers. All these sleepers were tested under static load tests at the rail seat and center section and pull-out tests for cast-in fastening components. These initial results suggest that a new generation of Ultra-high performance concrete sleepers can be created; the long-term efficiency of this category of sleeper will need to be confirmed by dynamic and fatigue tests and practical use

Encryption Efficiency Analysis and Security Evaluation of RC6 Block Cipher for Digital Images

This paper investigates the encryption efficiency of RC6 block cipher application to digital images, providing a new mathematical measure for encryption efficiency, which we will call the encryption quality instead of visual inspection, The encryption quality of RC6 block cipher is investigated among its several design parameters such as word size, number of rounds, and secret key length and the optimal choices for the best values of such design parameters are given. Also, the security analysis of RC6 block cipher for digital images is investigated from strict cryptographic viewpoint. The security estimations of RC6 block cipher for digital images against brute-force, statistical, and differential attacks are explored. Experiments are made to test the security of RC6 block cipher for digital images against all aforementioned types of attacks. Experiments and results verify and prove that RC6 block cipher is highly secure for real-time image encryption from cryptographic viewpoint. Thorough experimental tests are carried out with detailed analysis, demonstrating the high security of RC6 block cipher algorithm. So, RC6 block cipher can be considered to be a real-time secure symmetric encryption for digital images

Reduced complexity optimal detection of binary faster-than-Nyquist signaling

In this paper, we investigate the detection problem of binary faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling and propose a novel sequence estimation technique that exploits its special structure. In particular, the proposed sequence estimation technique is based on sphere decoding (SD) and exploits the following two characteristics about the FTN detection problem: 1) the correlation between the noise samples after the receiver matched filter, and 2) the structure of the intersymbol interference (ISI) matrix. Simulation results show that the proposed SD-based sequence estimation (SDSE) achieves the optimal performance of the maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) at reduced computational complexity. This paper demonstrates that FTN signaling has the great potential of increasing the data rate and spectral efficiency substantially, when compared to Nyquist signaling, for the same bit-error-rate (BER) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)

A Very Low Complexity Successive Symbol-by-Symbol Sequence Estimator for Faster-Than-Nyquist Signaling

In this paper, we investigate the sequence estimation problem of binary and quadrature phase shift keying faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling and propose two novel low-complexity sequence estimation techniques based on concepts of successive interference cancellation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach in the literature to detect FTN signaling on a symbol-by-symbol basis. In particular, based on the structure of the self-interference inherited in FTN signaling, we first find the operating region boundary---defined by the root-raised cosine (rRC) pulse shape, its roll-off factor, and the time acceleration parameter of the FTN signaling---where perfect estimation of the transmit data symbols on a symbol-by-symbol basis is guaranteed, assuming noise-free transmission. For noisy transmission, we then propose a novel low-complexity technique that works within the operating region and is capable of estimating the transmit data symbols on a symbol-by-symbol basis. To reduce the error propagation of the proposed successive symbol-by-symbol sequence estimator (SSSSE), we propose a successive symbol-by-symbol with go-back-$K$ sequence estimator (SSSgb$K$SE) that goes back to re-estimate up to $K$ symbols, and subsequently improves the estimation accuracy of the current data symbol. Simulation results show that the proposed sequence estimation techniques perform well for low intersymbol interference (ISI) scenarios and can significantly increase the data rate and spectral efficiency. Additionally, results reveal that choosing the value of $K$ as low as $2$ or $3$ data symbols is sufficient to significantly improve the bit-error-rate performance. Results also show that the performance of the proposed SSSgb$K$SE, with $K = 1$ or $2$, surpasses the performance of the lowest complexity equalizers reported in the literature, with reduced computational complexity.Comment: IEEE Access, accepte

Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude of Health Care Workers Regarding Continuous Professional Development Programs, Alexandria, Egypt

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) refers to the educational pursuits that professionals make after completing their basic education and continues throughout their professional working lives in order to improve their knowledge, proficiency, and personal skills. CPD programs are crucial for enhancing the abilities of healthcare professionals and allowing them to provide patients with better care. However, few studies have discussed on this issue in Egypt. We conducted the current study to assess the knowledge and attitude of health care workers regarding CPD programs in a tertiary care hospital. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Sporting Tertiary Care Hospital, Alexandria after the acceptance from Ethical Committee. The data were collected by interviewing questionnaire from a purposive sample of thirty-two healthcare workers who are representative of stakeholder groups to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding continuous professional programs. The questionnaire consists of three divisions, the first one is concerned with personal data, second one covers the knowledge assessment, and the last one embraces the attitude evaluation section. The study lasted 3 months. Data were analyzed by using a suitable statistical software. We found that majority of the participants had good knowledge level (96.9%) and strongly positive attitude (75%) regarding CPD programs. In conclusion, the study findings demonstrated a significant level of knowledge and attitude of the participants regarding continuous professional programs which opens the way for further research that assess the implementation and standardization of CPD programs in the future