On the Challenges and Opportunities of Smart Meters in Smart Homes and Smart Grids

Nowadays, electricity companies have started applying smart grid intheir systems rather than the conventional electrical grid (manualgrid). Smart grid produces an efficient and effective energy managementand control, reduces the cost of production, saves energy and it is morereliable compared to the conventional grid. As an advanced energy meter,smart meters can measure the power consumption as well as monitor andcontrol electrical devices. Smart meters have been adopted in manycountries since the 2000s as they provide economic, social andenvironmental benefits for multiple stakeholders. The design of smartmeter can be customized depending on the customer and the utilitycompany needs. There are different sensors and devices supported bydedicated communication infrastructure which can be utilized toimplement smart meters. This paper presents a study of the challengesassociated with smart meters, smart homes and smart grids as an effortto highlight opportunities for emerging research and industrialsolutions

A unified approach to combinatorial key predistribution schemes for sensor networks

There have been numerous recent proposals for key predistribution schemes for wireless sensor networks based on various types of combinatorial structures such as designs and codes. Many of these schemes have very similar properties and are analysed in a similar manner. We seek to provide a unified framework to study these kinds of schemes. To do so, we define a new, general class of designs, termed “partially balanced t-designs”, that is sufficiently general that it encompasses almost all of the designs that have been proposed for combinatorial key predistribution schemes. However, this new class of designs still has sufficient structure that we are able to derive general formulas for the metrics of the resulting key predistribution schemes. These metrics can be evaluated for a particular scheme simply by substituting appropriate parameters of the underlying combinatorial structure into our general formulas. We also compare various classes of schemes based on different designs, and point out that some existing proposed schemes are in fact identical, even though their descriptions may seem different. We believe that our general framework should facilitate the analysis of proposals for combinatorial key predistribution schemes and their comparison with existing schemes, and also allow researchers to easily evaluate which scheme or schemes present the best combination of performance metrics for a given application scenario

A TG-FTIR investigation on the co-pyrolysis of the waste HDPE, PP, PS and PET under high heating conditions

The present study relates to the investigation of degradation of polymers such as HDPE, PP, PS and PET individually and in mixed forms. Eleven different mixture combinations were analyzed via TG Analysis to determine their degradation behavior individually and in mixed forms. FTIR analysis of the raw polymers was performed to investigate the presence of different functional groups in the sample. Online TG-FTIR analysis was performed to investigate the functional groups present in the volatiles fractions during single component pyrolysis and the interaction of polymers during co-pyrolysis was analyzed, compared and reported. Also, a real-world post consumer mixed waste was also analyzed and compared. During the co-pyrolysis of HDPE with PP and PS, the degradation of PP was delayed whereas PS reduced the degradation temperature of HDPE. In the case of degradation of PS with PP and PET, the increase in degradation temperature was reported whereas, in the case of PET and HDPE mixture, the degradation temperature of HDPE was reduced. During the interaction of PP and PET mixed degradation, PET degradation temperature was delayed. During the FTIR analysis a large amount of alkanes, alkenes, aromatics groups were observed during the degradation of HDPE, PP and PS whereas in case of PET the presence of oxygenated groups is observed. During the mixed degradation, the presence of PET in the sample caused the formation of oxygenated groups by reducing the absorption intensity of other groups or by disappearing the groups. Compounds such as benzoic acid, CO and CO2 was detected during the degradation of PET whereas in other polymers a large amount of methane or methylene group is observed. Overall during the degradation of mixed polymer mixture presence of PET played a vital role in the formation of light gas fractions. Even though a numerous investigation on co-pyrolysis of polymers were available, there is still not sufficient information of interaction of polymers with each other, especially with PET. This article attempts to fill this gap