CTN Issue: April 2014

1. A Reliability Perspective of the Smart Grid

Increasing complexity of power grids and tighter integration of renewable resources continue to present reliability challenges that require a quantum leap in harnessing information and communications technologies leading to the “smart grid”. To meet these challenges, this paper envisions a grid-wide IT architectural framework to support a multitude of geographically and temporally coordinated monitoring, analysis, and control actions over multiple timescales from milliseconds and up, through distribution of intelligence using autonomous agents. The agents act in a distributed and coordinated three-dimensional virtual hierarchy based on organizational, geographical, and functional considerations. This architecture enables system-wide cloud communications to support seamless integration of local intelligence by enabling agents at all levels to access decentralized databases and transmit data/commands wherever needed. This infrastructure is based on open standards to enable configurability and fail-proof secure communications among agents using plug-and-play hardware and software modules. Such modular, flexible, and scalable infrastructure meets the global operational needs and allows for evolutionary implementation. The architectural approach envisioned in the paper presents an IT framework that addresses ever-increasing grid reliability challenges by responding to steady-state and transient operating conditions in real-time more effectively and thus enabling self-healing capabilities, through utilization of modern sensing, communications, computing and control systems.

Title and author(s) of the original paper in IEEE Xplore:
Title: A Reliability Perspective of the Smart Grid
Author: Khosrow Moslehi, and Ranjit Kumar
This paper appears in: IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid
Issue Date: June 2010

2. Residential Load Control: Distributed Scheduling and Convergence with Lost AMI Messages

Demand response, or load control, enables interactions between end-users and the grid through adapting end-users’ energy consumption to time-based pricing signals. This paper deals with the scheduling issue of demand response in residential distribution networks. The utility company considers a cost function representing the cost of providing energy to end-users. End-users’ smart appliances that can perform demand response include air-conditioning units and chargers of plug-in electric vehicles. In addition, operation of smart appliances away from desired power levels can lead to user dissatisfactions. The key problem is to minimize the electricity provider cost plus the dissatisfaction across users. The paper develops a distributed algorithm to solve the problem. The utility company and the end-users exchange messages through the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)—a two-way communication network—to obtain the optimal amount of electricity production and optimal end-user consumption schedules. The algorithm computes near-optimal schedules even when AMI messages are lost, which can happen due to cyber-attacks or malfunctions in the AMI network. An additional desirable feature is that end-user privacy is preserved, because user preferences with respect to appliance operation times need not be revealed to the utility company. The developed algorithm may facilitate the adoption of smart grid technologies, such as smart meters with processing units and communication capabilities, and demand response programs.

Title and author(s) of the original paper in IEEE Xplore:
Title: Residential Load Control: Distributed Scheduling and Convergence With Lost AMI Messages
Author: Gatsis, N. and Giannakis, G.B.
This paper appears in: IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid
Issue Date: June 2012

3. Network Virtualization and Software Defined Networking for Cloud Computing: A Survey

This article provides readers with a very accessible introduction to network virtualization. Virtualization of computer resources has been a hot topic for some time, but network virtualization is now also becoming an equally important point of discussion. In particular, the rise of a highly mobile user base supported by the wide availability of high bandwidth wireless access is leading to a situation in which network virtualization is being viewed as a key enabler of cloud computing. The article focuses on SDN (software defined networking) as a key to network programmability. It gives an overview of the various standards activities that are taking place in support of this still-new technology. The authors also describe an API (OpenFlow) being defined to enable SDN. Though the specifics of this may not matter much to the casual reader (and the details most likely will change over time), these descriptions provide a useful example to the reader of how such paradigms are likely to shape up in the future.

Title and author(s) of the original paper in IEEE Xplore:
Title: Network Virtualization and Software Defined Networking for Cloud Computing: A Survey
Author: R. Jain and S. Paul
This paper appears in: IEEE Communications Magazine
Issue Date: November 2013

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