Enhancing Student Learning through Proactive Feedback Based Adaptive Teaching for Engineering Courses

This paper presents a proactive anonymous feedback based adaptive teaching for enhancing student learning for engineering courses. In conventional university teaching, typically, students come to the class and instructors lecture the material, assign home assignments, take exams, etc. After grading assignments or exams, the instructor provides feedback to students. Most of the time, students are reluctant to ask questions or ask instructor to revisit the topic which was already covered. However, there is no immediate anonymous feedback mechanism for each topic or class to notify the instructor about topics which are not clear to students. There are advantages that enhance students’ learning experience by using a proactive anonymous feedback approach in teaching, learning and assessment. In this paper, we present the immediate impacts of proactive anonymous feedback based adaptive teaching on student learning and assessment. Furthermore, anonymous online based feedback mechanism provides faster feedback than conventional mechanism (where students wait until the first exam or so). Immediate feedback for each topic discussed in the class streamlines the process of reporting and the provision of active studying. The results show that students get better grade and instructors get better student evaluation score since the anonymous feedback provides a mechanism for students to ask questions anonymously and the instructors get an opportunity to answer the questions or concerns in a timely manner. We implemented the proactive anonymous feedback approach in many courses in different semesters and observed similar results. However, as an example, we present one course and instructor to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Understanding of tuning techniques of converter controllers for VSC-HVDC

A mathematical model of a voltage source converter is presented in the synchronous reference frame for investigating VSC-HVDC for transferring wind power through a long distance. This model is used to analyze voltage and current control loops for the VSC and study their dynamics. Vector control is used for decoupled control of active and reactive power and the transfer functions are derived for the control loops. In investigating the operating conditions for HVDC systems, the tuning of controllers is one of the critical stages of the design of control loops. Three tuning techniques are discussed in the paper and analytical expressions are derived for calculating the parameters of the current and voltage controllers. The tuning criteria are discussed and simulations are used to test the performance of such tuning techniques.reviewe

Control of VSC-HVDC for wind power

With the recent developments in semiconductors and control equipment, Voltage Source Converter based High Voltage Direct Current (VSC-HVDC) has attracted the growing interest of researchers. The use of VSC technology and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) has a number of potential advantages: short circuit current reduction; rapid and independent control of the active and reactive power, etc. With such highly favourable advantages, VSC-HVDC is definitely going to be a large part of future transmission and distribution systems. HVDC technology based on VSC technology has been an area of growing interest recently because of its suitability in forming a transmission link for transmitting bulk amount of wind power. This thesis deals with the control of VSC-HVDC. The objective of the work is to understand the control structure of the VSC-HVDC system, and establish the tuning criteria for the PI controllers of the converter controllers. A model of a VSC based dc link using PWM Technology is developed. A mathematical model of the control system based on the relationships between voltage and current is described for the VSC. A control system is developed combining an inner current loop controller and outer dc voltage controller. The vector control strategy is studied and corresponding dynamic performance under step changes and system fault is investigated in PSCAD/EMTDC simulation package. The simulation results verify that the model can fulfill bi-directional power transfers, fast response control and that the system has good steady state performance. The controller parameters tuned according to the developed tuning criteria is found to provide acceptable system performances

Proactive Feedback Based Adaptive Teaching for Enhancing Learning in Engineering Courses

We present a proactive anonymous feedback based adaptive teaching for enhancing student learning for engineering courses. Most of the time, students are reluctant to ask questions or ask instructor to revisit the topic which was already covered. In traditional teaching, there is no immediate anonymous feedback mechanism for each topic or class to notify the instructor about topics which are not clear to students. In this presentation, we discuss a proactive anonymous feedback approach that we implemented in many courses in different semesters to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. We present numerical results obtained from surveys and feedback conducted by the instructor, departments and students independently

Radio Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Wireless Networks

A cognitive network makes use of the information gathered from the network in order to sense the environment, plan actions according to the input, and make appropriate decisions using a reasoning engine. The ability of cognitive networks to learn from the past and use that knowledge to improve future decisions makes them a key area of interest for anyone whose work involves wireless networks and communications.Cognitive Networks: Applications and Deployments examines recent developments in cognitive networks from the perspective of cutting-edge applications and deployments. Presenting the contributions of internationally renowned experts, it supplies complete and balanced treatment of the fundamentals of both cognitive radio communications and cognitive networks—together with implementation details.The book includes case studies and detailed descriptions of cognitive radio platforms and testbeds that demonstrate how to build real-world cognitive radio systems and network architectures. It begins with an introduction to efficient spectrum management and presents a survey on joint routing and dynamic spectrum access in cognitive radio networks.Next, it examines radio spectrum sensing and network coding and design. It explores intelligent routing in graded cognitive networks and presents an energy-efficient routing protocol for cognitive radio ad hoc networks. The book concludes by considering dynamic radio spectrum access and examining vehicular cognitive networks and applications.Presenting the latest standards and spectrum policy developments, the book’s strong practical orientation provides you with the understanding you will need to participate in the development of compliant cognitive systems

Detection of False Data Injection Attacks in Smart Grid Communication Systems

The transformation of traditional energy networks to smart grids can assist in revolutionizing the energy industry in terms of reliability, performance and manageability. However, increased connectivity of power grid assets for bidirectional communications presents severe security vulnerabilities. In this letter, we investigate Chi-square detector and cosine similarity matching approaches for attack detection in smart grids where Kalman filter estimation is used to measure any deviation from actual measurements. The cosine similarity matching approach is found to be robust for detecting false data injection attacks as well as other attacks in the smart grids. Once the attack is detected, system can take preventive action and alarm the manager to take preventative action to limit the risk. Numerical results obtained from simulations corroborate our theoretical analysis

Cyber Security for Smart Grid Systems: Status, Challenges and Perspectives

The transformation of traditional energy networks to smart grids revolutionizes the energy industry in terms of reliability, performance, and manageability by providing bi-directional communications to operate, monitor, and control power flow and measurements. However, communication networks in smart grid bring increased connectivity with increased severe security vulnerabilities and challenges. Smart grid can be a prime target for cyber terrorism because of its critical nature. As a result, smart grid security is already getting a lot of attention from governments, energy industries, and consumers. There have been several research efforts for securing smart grid systems in academia, government and industries. This article provides a comprehensive study of challenges in smart grid security, which we concentrate on the problems and proposed solutions. Then, we outline current state of the research and future perspectives.With this article, readers can have a more thorough understanding of smart grid security and the research trends in this topic

Enhancing Connectivity for Communication and Control in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Networks

Wireless connectivity for communication and control in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) networks is very critical to accomplish an assigned task such as monitoring a given area. Because of dynamic mobility of UAVs, robust adaptive wireless connectivity for UAVs is crucial. In this paper, we analyze the connectivity for UAV networks that is based on density of UAVs, velocity of UAVs, angle of arrival, and transmission range used by UAVs. We evaluate the performance of the proposed approach using numerical results obtained from simulations

Towards Intelligent Transportation Cyber-Physical Systems: Real-Time Computing and Communications Perspectives

Traffic accidents and congestion problems continue to worsen worldwide. Because of vast number of vehicles manufactured and sold every year transportation sector is significantly stressed, leading to more accidents and fatalities, and adverse environmental and economic impact. Efforts across the world for Smart Transportation Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) are aimed at addressing a range of problems including reducing traffic accidents, decreasing congestion, reducing fuel consumption, reducing time spent on traffic jams, and improve transportation safety. Thus, smart transportation CPS is expected to contribute a main role in the design and development of intelligent transportation systems. The advances in embedded systems, wireless communications and sensor networks provides the opportunities to bridge the physical components and processes with the cyber world that leading to a Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). Feedback for control through wireless communication in transportation CPS is one of the major components for both safety and infotainment applications where vehicles exchange information using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) through vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) and/or vehicle-to-roadside (V2R) communications. For wireless communication IEEE has 802.11p standard for Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) for Wireless Access for Vehicular Environment (WAVE). In this paper, we present how different parameters (e.g., sensing time, association time, number for vehicles, relative speed of vehicles, overlap transmission range, etc.) affect communication in smart transportation CPS. Furthermore, we also present driving components, current trends, challenges, and future directions for transportation CPS