In this paper, a method of power system equipment recognition based on image processing is proposed. Firstly, we carry out wavelet transform on the sound signal of power system equipment collected from the site, and obtain the wavelet coefficient−time diagram. Then, the similarity of wavelet coefficients−time images of different equipment and the same equipment in different periods is calculated, which is used as the basis of the feasibility of image recognition. Finally, we select the HOG features of the image, and classify the selected features using SVM classifier. The method proposed in this paper can accurately identify and classify power system equipment through sound signals, and is different from the traditional method of classifying sound signals directly. The advantages of image processing can be effectively utilized through image processing to avoid the limitations of sound signal processing.

Blockchain has peculiar characteristics among various digital technologies due to its decentralised and cryptographic properties. The combination of intelligent energy systems and blockchain can innovate new forms of transactive energy and navigate the digital journey to transform the future of renewable energy systems. This review studies various blockchain implementations in the smart energy domain and presents the findings on operational and transactional challenges in a blockchain-based smart renewable energy system. We also identify the differences between operations and transactions in smart energy systems. Furthermore, we identify the most pronounced cryptocurrencies in different studies. The findings highlighted various challenges concerning the implementation of blockchain-based smart energy systems. We identified how these challenges spawn across operational and transactional deliverables. Building on these findings, we discuss various challenges impacting the operational and... [more]

A low-cost, open-source peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading system for a remote community is presented in this paper. As a result of its geographic location, this community has never been able to access electricity and other modern amenities. This study aims to design and implement a P2P energy trading system for this remote community that allows residents to take advantage of distributed energy resources. A Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (Pi4B) hosts the main server of the trading system that includes the user interface and a local Ethereum blockchain server. The Ethereum blockchain is used to deploy smart contracts. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) servers run on ESP32 microcontrollers. Sensors and actuators connected to the ESP32 are field instrumentation devices that facilitate acquiring, monitoring, and transferring energy data in real-time. To perform trading activities, React.JS open-source library was used to develop the blockchain-enabled user interface. An immutable blockchain network keep... [more]

Blockchain, or distributed ledger, is an innovative technology that is emerging in various sectors and industries across the globe. It has attracted the attention of different interest groups such as energy companies, SMEs and start-ups, information technology developers, financial institutions, national authorities, and the university community. Through, for example, the decentralization of authority in transactions, Internet of Things (IoT) implementation, and smart contracting, the improvement of the daily business operations is firmly forecasted. In the energy sector, digitalization is already present in solutions such as smart grids, smart meters, electric vehicles, etc. Moreover, a new concept of the Internet of Energy (IoE) has been introduced in the academic literature. In this article, the level of trust and maturity of Blockchain technology implementation is investigated through the Blockchain Maturity Questionnaire, developed by the authors. The database consists of response... [more]

In the context of modern power system development to support the evolution towards green energy and carbon-neutral emission goals, many existing problems and even challenges demand new technical solutions. In recent years, decentralized blockchain technology has been employed to address some problems in power systems, and many papers have been published. In this paper, the concept of blockchain is first introduced. A brief survey of the existing publications regarding the applications of blockchain in power systems, including power system dispatching, microgrid operation, energy trading, electricity trading settlement, transmission, and distribution system operation, is then carried out. In addition, several application scenarios of blockchain technology in power systems are also introduced. Through the discussion, we found that we still need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages, overcome its leakage, and bring its value into play if we apply blockchain technology in modern power... [more]

Inadequate gas supply is partly responsible for the energy shortfall experienced in some energy-poor nations. Favorable market conditions would boost investment in the gas supply sector; hence, we propose a blockchain-based fair, transparent, and secure gas trading scheme that facilitates peer-to-peer trading of gas. The scheme is developed using an Ethereum-based smart contract that receives offers from gas suppliers and bid(s) from the thermal plant operator. Giving priority to the cheapest offers, the smart contract determines the winning suppliers. This paper also proposes an economic dispatch model for gas-deficient plants. Conventional economic dispatch seeks to satisfy electric load demand whilst minimizing the total gas cost of generating units. Implicit in its formulation is the assumption that gas supply to generating units is sufficient to satisfy available demand. In energy poor nations, this is hardly the case as there is often inadequate gas supply and conventional econom... [more]

In the 21st century, society has been undergoing a technology-driven transformation which heralds a new revolution that has potential to strengthen the position of an individual and community but may also lead to the marginalization of certain groups. The Internet of Things takes advantage of the technology’s potential to improve digital competencies and the quality of life in society. The purpose of this paper is to obtain information about the digital competencies and needs of contemporary seniors and pre-senior age people, as well as socially sensitive groups from Poland’s rural areas. To strength the level of internet infrastructure in rural areas, power line communication (PLC) systems that utilize high-voltage line(s) between transformer substations are presented as a cost-effective communication tool. PowerLink IP has made PLC systems today more attractive and efficient than ever before. Based on nation-wide representative surveys conducted in deliberately selected groups, we co... [more]

Multiphase vortices are widely present in the metallurgical pouring processes, chemical material extraction, hydroelectric power plant energy conversion, and other engineering fields. Its critical state detection is of great significance in improving product yield and resource utilization. However, the multiphase vortex is a complex dynamics problem with highly nonlinear features, and its fluid-induced vibration-generation mechanism faces significant challenges. A fluid-solid coupling-based modeling method is proposed to explore mass transfer process with the vorticity distribution and vibration-generation mechanism. A vibration-processing method is utilized to discuss the four flow-state transition features. A fluid-induced vibration experiment platform is established to verify the numerical results. It is found that the proposed modeling method can better reveal the vibration-evolution regularities of the fluid-solid coupling process. The flow field has a maximum value in the complex... [more]

As a particular kind of detection technology under weak magnetization, metal magnetic memory testing is very likely to be affected by external factors in the detecting process, which may lead to incorrect results. In order to minimize the negative influence of interrupting signals and improve the detection accuracy, this paper adopted the enhanced metal magnetic memory testing method to preliminarily increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the detection signal and then compares the denoising effects of wavelet threshold denoising method, empirical mode decomposition (EMD) denoising method, EMD-wavelet threshold denoising method, ensemble EMD (EEMD), complementary EEMD (CEEMD), variational mode decomposition (VMD), local mean decomposition (LMD) and empirical wavelet transform (EWT) on the detection signal and the gradient signal respectively. The results show that the enhanced metal magnetic memory testing method can significantly increase the SNR of the obtained signal and cannot... [more]

Smart cities can be made into super-smart cities through IoT devices’ implication of energy-efficient 6G. IoT devices are expected to reach fifty billion, but limited information is available regarding the energy-efficient 6G wireless communication standard. This article highlights the key technologies, applications, and trends in the Internet of Things (IoT) for energy-efficient 6G wireless communication in smart cities. The systematic review helped to achieve the aim of the study by considering the 20 articles extracted from databases and Google that fell between 2015 and 2021 and are written in English. The findings identified that quantum communication, blockchain, visible light communication (VLC), 6G brain−computer interface (BCI), symbiotic radio, and others are the key technologies. The applications of IoT technologies and energy-efficient 6G are found in 15 Minute City, Industrial Town, Intelligent Transport systems and others. Furthermore, the trend of using 6G through IoT de... [more]

Voltage sag detection is utilized to capture the sag occurrence moment and calculate the sag depth of power grid voltage in real time, so as to generate reference voltage for controlling voltage interactive equipment such as dynamic voltage restorers (DVRs). However, the traditional voltage sag detection methods based on synchronously rotating frames (SRFs) are unable to acquire high-precision sag information under nonideal grid conditions such as unbalance or harmonic interference. In order to enhance the immunity of the sag detection, a method based on a selective harmonic extraction algorithm (SHEA) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the state-space model of SHEA is established using discrete orthogonal basis to decouple and separate the signal of target frequency and the signal of interference frequency. The controllability, stability and convergence of SHEA are analyzed theoretically and serve as the criteria for parameter tuning. Moreover, a gain compensator (GC) is used to impr... [more]

In recent years, container-based virtualization technology for edge and cloud computing has advanced dramatically. Virtualization solutions based on Docker Containers provide a more lightweight and efficient virtual environment for Edge and cloud-based applications. Because their use is growing on its own and is still in its early phases, these technologies will face a slew of security issues. Vulnerabilities and malware in Docker container images are two serious security concerns. The risk of privilege escalation is increased because Docker containers share the Linux kernel. This study presents a distributed system framework called Safe Docker Image Sharing with Homomorphic Encryption and Blockchain (SeDIS-HEB). Through homomorphic encryption, authentication, and access management, SeDIS-HEB provides secure docker image sharing. The SeDIS-HEB framework prioritizes the following three major functions: (1) secure docker image upload, (2) secure docker image sharing, and (3) secure docke... [more]

Building models and their connected subsystems are often simulated as standalone entities. However, in order to monitor a system′s reactions to changing parameters and to assess its energy efficiency, it must be exposed to the actual dynamic context of the building under study. Hence, frameworks assessing co-operative simulation of buildings and their subsystems should be used. In this study, the Building Control Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB) framework was used for co-simulation of a small-scale building (EEBLab) connected to an Earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE). The EnergyPlus tool was used to simulate the indoor air temperature variations within the EEBLab, and MATLAB was used to model the EAHE system and to calculate its performance based on various parameters. The HOLSYS internet of things platform was deployed to monitor and collect the experimental data from the sensors to validate the simulations. A favorable agreement between the experimental and simulation results was obtained, sh... [more]

The world of electrical distribution is rapidly changing and is seeing more and more distributed production and steerable flexibilities. Energy communities are seen as an important innovation for the optimization of electrical consumption at a local level. A central need of the local energy markets inside energy communities is the exchange and circulation of production and consumption data, and therefore the problem of the potential leak of sensitive data must be addressed. In this paper, the context of the Lugaggia Innovation Community, a Self Consumption Community pilot project in southern Switzerland, is introduced together with the blockchain framework that was created for its internal market interaction and the rules designed for its local energy market. A cryptographic protocol from the literature, based on homomorphic encryption, is then proposed for the anonymous aggregation of production and consumption data of the individual households at a resolution of 15 min. The computati... [more]

The oil and gas business has high operating costs and frequently has significant difficulties due to asset, process, and operational failures. Remote monitoring and management of the oil field operations are essential to ensure efficiency and safety. Oil field operations often use SCADA or wireless sensor network (WSN)-based monitoring and control systems; both have numerous drawbacks. WSN-based systems are not uniform or are incompatible. Additionally, they lack transparent communication and coordination. SCADA systems also cost a lot, are rigid, are not scalable, and deliver data slowly. Edge computing and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) help to overcome SCADA’s constraints by establishing an automated monitoring and control system for oil and gas operations that is effective, secure, affordable, and transparent. The main objective of this study is to exploit the IIOT and Edge Computing (EC). This study introduces an I2OT-EC framework with flowcharts, a simulator, and system... [more]

Smart energy has evolved over the years to include multiple domains integrated across multiple technology themes, such as electricity, smart grid, and logistics, linked through communication technology and processed in the cloud in a holistic way to deliver on global challenges. Advances in sensing, communication, and computation technologies have been made that enable better smart system implementations. In smart energy systems, sensing technologies have spanned multiple domains with newer techniques that are more accurate, have greater dynamic ranges, and are more reliable. Similarly, communication techniques have now evolved into very high-speed, flexible, and dynamic systems. Computation techniques have seen a quantum leap with greater integration, powerful computing engines, and versatile software stacks that are easily available and modifiable. Finally, the system integration has also seen advances in the form of management, automation, and analytics paradigms. Consequently, smar... [more]

In this paper, two approaches to determining the non-zero initial conditions for the difference equation of notch filters are proposed and analyzed. The vector of non-zero initial conditions is determined to reduce the transient of the considered IIR notch filters. Both presented approaches are based on the vector projection method. The first method is based on the iterative determination of the vectors of initial conditions using samples available at a given moment. The main goal of the second approach is to reduce the computational cost compared to the first method with a slight deterioration in the quality of filtration. In order to demonstrate the suitability of the proposed methods, they have been used in simulation studies of power line interference filtering from disturbed ECG signals. The use of the proposed methods allowed for a significant reduction of the transient in the filter response with a shorter delay than in the classical vector projection method.

With the proposed goal of “Carbon Neutrality”, photovoltaic energy is gradually gaining the leading role in energy transformation. At present, crystalline silicon cells are still the mainstream technology in the photovoltaic industry, but due to the similarity of defect characteristics and the small scale of the defects, automatic defect detection of photovoltaic cells (PV) by electroluminescence (EL) imaging is a challenging task. In order to better meet the growing demand for high-quality photovoltaic cell products in intelligent manufacturing and use, and ensure the safe and efficient operation of photovoltaic power stations, this paper proposes an improved abnormal detection method based on Faster R-CNN for the surface defect EL imaging of photovoltaic cells, which integrates a lightweight channel and spatial convolution attention module. It can analyze the crack defects in complex scenes more efficiently. The clustering algorithm was used to obtain a more targeted anchor frame for... [more]

Atmospheric carbon dioxide emanating from activities associated with the construction of buildings in the UK contributes approximately 16% of the uk’s total emissions and will need to be reduced significantly to meet international agreements. Against this scenario, this paper presents a novel perspective for carbon accounting and trading that proposes the use of a platform for the uk construction industry as a possible solution. This suggestion assumes that taxation should be synchronised with phases of the entire life cycle of the building and that tax credits (or deficits) should remain an asset of the building itself. In this regard, a strategy is in place in the uk, but with gaps in how it will be implemented. To resolve these gaps, firstly, this paper explores and integrates three socio-technical components (i.e., carbon accounting, trading, and certification) that form an essential set of tools required for the management of taxes directed at property developers and construction... [more]

A global transition to power grids with high penetrations of renewable energy generation is being driven in part by rapid installations of distributed energy resources (DER). New DER equipment includes standardized IEEE 1547-2018 communication interfaces and proprietary communications capabilities. Interoperable DER provides new monitoring and control capabilities. The existence of multiple entities with different roles and responsibilities within the DER ecosystem makes the Access Control (AC) mechanism necessary. In this paper, we introduce and compare two novel architectures, which provide a Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) service to the DER ecosystem’s entities. Selecting an appropriate RBAC technology is important for the RBAC administrator and users who request DER access authorization. The first architecture is centralized, based on the OpenLDAP, an open source implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). The second approach is decentralized, based on a p... [more]

The explosive development of electrical engineering in the early 19th century marked the birth of the 2nd industrial revolution, with the use of electrical energy in place of steam power, as well as changing the history of human development. The versatility of electricity allows people to apply it to a multitude of fields such as transportation, heat applications, lighting, telecommunications, and computers. Nowadays, with the breakout development of science and technology, electric energy sources are formed by many different technologies such as hydroelectricity, solar power, wind power, coal power, etc. These energy sources are connected to form grid systems to transmit electricity to cities, businesses and homes for life and work. Electrical energy today has become the backbone of all modern technologies. To ensure the safe, reliable and energy-efficient operation of the grid, a wide range of grid management applications have been proposed. However, a significant challenge for monit... [more]

Smart microgrids, as the foundations of the future smart grid, combine distinct Internet of Things (IoT) designs and technologies for applications that are designed to create, regulate, monitor, and protect the microgrid (MG), particularly as the IoT develops and evolves on a daily basis. A smart MG is a small grid that may operate individually or in tandem with the electric grid, and it is ideal for institutional, commercial, and industrial consumers, as well as urban and rural societies. A MG can operate in two methods (stand-alone and grid-connected), with the ability to transition between modes due to local grid faults, planned maintenance, expansions, deficits and failures in the host system, and other factors. Energy storage is the process of storing and converting energy that can be used for a variety of purposes, including voltage and frequency management, power backup, and cost optimization. IoT is designed to deliver solutions for optimal energy management, security protocols... [more]

Smart Grids (SGs) are governed by advanced computing, control technologies, and networking infrastructure. However, compromised cybersecurity of the smart grid not only affects the security of existing energy systems but also directly impacts national security. The increasing number of cyberattacks against the smart grid urgently necessitates more robust security protection technologies to maintain the security of the grid system and its operations. The purpose of this review paper is to provide a thorough understanding of the incumbent cyberattacks’ influence on the entire smart grid ecosystem. In this paper, we review the various threats in the smart grid, which have two core domains: the intrinsic vulnerability of the system and the external cyberattacks. Similarly, we analyze the vulnerabilities of all components of the smart grid (hardware, software, and data communication), data management, services and applications, running environment, and evolving and complex smart grids. A st... [more]

Automation can now be found in nearly every industry. However, home automation has yet to reach Pakistan. This paper presents an Internet of Things smart kitchen project that includes automation and monitoring. In this project, a system was developed that automatically detects the kitchen temperature. It also monitors the humidity level in the kitchen. This system includes built-in gas detection sensors that detect any gas leaks in the kitchen and notify the user if the gas pressure in the kitchen exceeds a certain level. This system also allows the user to remotely control appliances such as freezers, ovens, and air conditioners using a mobile phone. The user can control gas levels using their phone with this system. In this paper, the ESP32, DHT11 Sensor, 5 V Relay X 8, and MQ-135 gas sensors create a smart kitchen by controlling the temperature, managing humidity, and detecting gas leakage. The system was built on an Arduino board that is connected to the Internet. The hardware was... [more]

In this paper, a blockchain-enabled energy trading method is proposed to deal with the inefficiency and security issues in energy trading for electric vehicles in smart grids. It includes the design of a smart contract and the excitation mechanism of energy sharing. The credit points of each vehicle as a node are considered in the design of the smart contract, which is used to supervise the process of energy trading. A strategy to estimate the credit points of each node and describe the excitation mechanism is illustrated. The connection between the credit points and the probability that a node would be accepted for energy trading has been established. To control the energy trading access, a double auction method is used to choose the part of the nodes participating in energy trading. Only selected nodes with winning bids can supply or request energy from the blockchain-based platform. Then it reaches the conclusion that the higher the credit points they have, the more trading initiati... [more]