Dear Colleagues,

The operation of smart grids relies on interconnected devices that provide real-time monitoring and control. Examples of these devices are sensors to monitor the power grid transformers, actuators, such as smart circuit breakers, power meters and phasor measurement units. Recently, the technical challenges of the smart grids have increased, with the high penetration of renewable energy sources and energy storage systems into the power grid. To meet the requirements of a reliable and resilient smart grid in such a scenario, new sensors, processing algorithms, management techniques and reliable and secure communication systems are needed. Improvements are also required in the areas of data storage and management, energy management systems (EMSs), outage management systems (OMSs), advanced distribution management systems (ADMSs), distributed energy resources management systems (DERMSs), system scalability and reconfiguration.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to invite the latest developments and new perspectives on devices and systems that support smart grids, ranging from smart sensors and embedded systems that comprise the lower layer of the power grid to data processing, secure communication and cloud techniques in the upper layer, in order to achieve a better understanding, optimization, and performance of all energy management processes.

The topics of interest for this Special Issue include but are not limited to:

• Sensors and actuators in smart grids;
• Smart metering;
• Wireless and wired communications systems for smart grids;
• Medium access control and routing protocols for smart grid networks;
• Internet of things (IoT) applied to smart grids;
• Cybersecurity and privacy protection in smart grid networks;
• Data science for energy management systems;
• Artificial intelligence applied to energy management systems;
• Cloud techniques and cloud-based applications for smart grids;
• Embedded software and signal processing techniques applied to smart grids;
• Battery monitoring systems;
• Management of charging stations for electric vehicles.

Prof. Dr. Gustavo Weber Denardin
Prof. Dr. Carlos Henrique Barriquello
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• smart grids
• energy management systems
• distributed energy resources management systems
• sensor and actuator networks
• sensors for smart grids
• communication protocols
• internet of things
• cyberse-curity