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Smart Grid Networks and Energy Cyber Physical Systems

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Internet of Things".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 December 2018) | Viewed by 25645

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA
Interests: smart grid; metaheuristics applications in power systems; computational intelligence; cyberphysical systems; transportation electrification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Florida International University, College of Engineering & Computing, Room EC-3144, 10555 W Flagler Street, Miami, Florida, 33174, USA
Interests: 5G; next generation mobile networks; unmanned aerial vehicles; wireless communications; mobile networks; vehicular networks; millimeter wave communications

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 32514, USA
Interests: smart grid cyber physical security; multi agent control; energy management systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The smart grid is a complex cyber-physical system, which is in continuous evolution and expansion states. Communication and information technologies are at the main propellers of the evolution and expansion of the smart grid. These technologies leveraged the intelligence level of the smart grid by enabling the adoption of a wide variety of contemporary operation and control methods into it, such as decentralized and distributed control, multi-agent systems, sensor networks, renewable energy resources, electric vehicle penetration, and many others.

Integrating these systems, which are governed by different regulations and owned by different entities, into the smart grid raises a number of challenges on both the demand and generation sides, in terms of interoperability, controllability of distributed and dispersed resources, secure communication channels, and the reliability of power delivery.

Accordingly, the focus of this Special Issue is on contemporary methods and techniques related to “Smart Grids Networks”. The topics of interest for this call include, but are not limited to:

  • Recent advances on smart grid communication networks, standards, and protocols;
  • Smart sensors and sensor measurements networks;
  • Smart grid cyber security;
  • Distributed and multi-agent control; and
  • Interoperability in smart grid networks;

Prof. Osama A. Mohammed
Dr. Tarek Youssef
Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 3981 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Barrier Coverage in a Wireless Sensor Network for Smart Grids
by Fei Fan, Qiaoling Ji, Gongping Wu, Man Wang, Xuhui Ye and Quanjie Mei
Sensors 2019, 19(1), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19010041 - 22 Dec 2018
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4515
Abstract
The development of engineering technology such as inspection robots (IR) for transmission lines and wireless sensor networks (WSN) are widely used in the field of smart grid monitoring. However, how to integrate inspection robots into wireless sensor networks is still a great challenge [...] Read more.
The development of engineering technology such as inspection robots (IR) for transmission lines and wireless sensor networks (WSN) are widely used in the field of smart grid monitoring. However, how to integrate inspection robots into wireless sensor networks is still a great challenge to form an efficient dynamic monitoring network for transmission lines. To address this problem, a dynamic barrier coverage (DBC) method combining inspection robot and wireless sensor network (WSN) is proposed to realize a low-cost, energy-saving and dynamic smart grid-oriented sensing system based on mobile wireless sensor network. To establish an effective smart grid monitoring system, this research focuses on the design of an effective and safe dynamic network coverage and network nodes deployment method. Multiple simulation scenarios are implemented to explore the variation of network performance with different parameters. In addition, the dynamic barrier coverage method for the actual scene of smart grid monitoring considers the balance between network performance and financial costs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Grid Networks and Energy Cyber Physical Systems)
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23 pages, 1372 KiB  
Article
A Joint Multi-Path and Multi-Channel Protocol for Traffic Routing in Smart Grid Neighborhood Area Networks
by Juan Pablo Astudillo León and Luis J. De la Cruz Llopis
Sensors 2018, 18(11), 4052; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18114052 - 20 Nov 2018
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4463
Abstract
In order to improve the management mechanisms of the electric energy transport infrastructures, the smart grid networks have associated data networks that are responsible for transporting the necessary information between the different elements of the electricity network and the control center. Besides, they [...] Read more.
In order to improve the management mechanisms of the electric energy transport infrastructures, the smart grid networks have associated data networks that are responsible for transporting the necessary information between the different elements of the electricity network and the control center. Besides, they make possible a more efficient use of this type of energy. Part of these data networks is comprised of the Neighborhood Area Networks (NANs), which are responsible for interconnecting the different smart meters and other possible devices present at the consumers’ premises with the control center. Among the proposed network technologies for NANs, wireless technologies are becoming more relevant due to their flexibility and increasing available bandwidth. In this paper, some general modifications are proposed for the routing protocol of the wireless multi-hop mesh networks standardized by the IEEE. In particular, the possibility of using multiple paths and transmission channels at the same time, depending on the quality of service needs of the different network traffic, is added. The proposed modifications have been implemented in the ns-3 simulator and evaluated in situations of high traffic load. Simulation results show improvements in the network performance in terms of packet delivery ratio, throughput and network transit time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Grid Networks and Energy Cyber Physical Systems)
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20 pages, 1139 KiB  
Article
Analysis and Experimental Validation of Efficient Coded OFDM for an Impulsive Noise Environment
by Ndéye Bineta Sarr, Basile L. Agba, François Gagnon, Hervé Boeglen and Rodolphe Vauzelle
Sensors 2018, 18(11), 3667; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113667 - 29 Oct 2018
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2899
Abstract
The importance of synergy with industry lies in the possibility of experimental validation of the work research results. With Software-Defined Radio (SDR) platforms, it is possible to implement a physical layer and to have tests with hardware in a real environment. In this [...] Read more.
The importance of synergy with industry lies in the possibility of experimental validation of the work research results. With Software-Defined Radio (SDR) platforms, it is possible to implement a physical layer and to have tests with hardware in a real environment. In this paper, we investigate the validation of an impulsive noise resistant physical layer based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and an interesting concatenation of forward error correcting codes: Rank metric Code (RC) and Convolutional Code (CC). We fully design and implement a new block namely RC Encoder + WiFi Mapper in GNU Radio, which acts as a forward error correcting code to mitigate impulsive noise occurring in substations. After showing by simulations that using this coding scheme is very efficient in mitigating the bursty nature of impulsive noise, we then confirm that the same performance is maintained even with various impulsive voltages and experimental scenarios, which confirms the high performance of the proposed approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Grid Networks and Energy Cyber Physical Systems)
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22 pages, 6668 KiB  
Article
Delay Analysis for End-to-End Synchronous Communication in Monitoring Systems
by Junwei Cao, Yuxin Wan, Haochen Hua and Yuchao Qin
Sensors 2018, 18(11), 3615; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113615 - 24 Oct 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2860
Abstract
With the rapid development of smart grid technologies, communication systems are further integrated in the existing power grids. The real-time capability and reliability of the power applications are receiving increasing concerns. Thus, it is important to measure the end-to-end delay in communication systems. [...] Read more.
With the rapid development of smart grid technologies, communication systems are further integrated in the existing power grids. The real-time capability and reliability of the power applications are receiving increasing concerns. Thus, it is important to measure the end-to-end delay in communication systems. The network calculus theory has been widely applied in the communication delay measuring tasks. However, for better operation performance of power systems, most power applications require synchronous data communication, in which the network calculus theory cannot be directly applied. In this paper, we expand the network calculus theory such that it can be used to analyze the communication delay for power applications in smart grids. The problem of communication delay calculation for the synchronization system is converted into a maximum path problem in graph theory. Finally, our theoretical results are compared with the experimental ones obtained with the network simulation software EstiNet. The simulation results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Grid Networks and Energy Cyber Physical Systems)
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29 pages, 7384 KiB  
Article
Multi-Robot Cyber Physical System for Sensing Environmental Variables of Transmission Line
by Fei Fan, Gongping Wu, Man Wang, Qi Cao and Song Yang
Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3146; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093146 - 18 Sep 2018
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 6080
Abstract
The normal operation of a power grid largely depends on the effective monitoring and maintenance of transmission lines, which is a process that has many challenges. The traditional method of the manual or remote inspection of transmission lines is time-consuming, laborious, and inefficient. [...] Read more.
The normal operation of a power grid largely depends on the effective monitoring and maintenance of transmission lines, which is a process that has many challenges. The traditional method of the manual or remote inspection of transmission lines is time-consuming, laborious, and inefficient. To address this problem, a novel method has been proposed for the Multi-Robot Cyber Physical System (MRCPS) of a power grid based on inspection robots, a wireless sensor network (WSN), and multi-agent theory to achieve a low-cost, efficient, fault-tolerant, and remote monitoring of power grids. For the sake of an effective monitoring system for smart grids, the very research is conducted focusing on designing a methodology that will realize the efficient, fault-tolerant, and financial balance of a multi-robot team for monitoring transmission lines. Multiple testing scenarios are performed, in which various aspects are explored so as to determine the optimal parameters balancing team performance and financial cost. Furthermore, multi-robot team communication and navigation control in smart grid environments are introduced. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Grid Networks and Energy Cyber Physical Systems)
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22 pages, 2173 KiB  
Article
Physical-Model-Checking to Detect Switching-Related Attacks in Power Systems
by Mohamad El Hariri, Samy Faddel and Osama Mohammed
Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2478; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082478 - 31 Jul 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3340
Abstract
Recent public disclosures on attacks targeting the power industry showed that savvy attackers are now capable of occulting themselves from conventional rule-based network intrusion detection systems (IDS), bringing about serious threats. In order to leverage the work of rule-based IDS, this paper presents [...] Read more.
Recent public disclosures on attacks targeting the power industry showed that savvy attackers are now capable of occulting themselves from conventional rule-based network intrusion detection systems (IDS), bringing about serious threats. In order to leverage the work of rule-based IDS, this paper presents an artificially intelligent physical-model-checking intrusion detection framework capable of detecting tampered-with control commands from control centers of power grids. Unlike the work presented in the literature, the work in this paper utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to learn the load flow characteristics of the power system and benefits from the fast responses of the AI to decode and understand contents of network packets. The output of the AI is processed through an expert system to verify that incoming control commands do not violate the physical system operational constraints and do not put the power system in an insecure state. The proposed content-aware IDS is tested in simulation on a 14-bus IEEE benchmark system. Experimental verification on a small power system, with an IEC 61850 network architecture is also carried out. The results showed the accuracy of the proposed framework in successfully detecting malicious and/or erroneous control commands. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Grid Networks and Energy Cyber Physical Systems)
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