Xiao Hui Li

A Demand Response Energy Management Scheme for Industrial Facilities in Smart Grid

Demand response (DR) smart grid technology provides an opportunity for electricity consumers to actively participate in the management of power systems. Industry is one of the major consumers of electric power. In this study, we propose a DR energy management scheme for industrial facilities based on the state task network (STN) and mixed integer linear programming (MILP). The scheme divides the processing tasks in industrial facilities into nonschedulable tasks (NSTs) and schedulable tasks (STs), and takes advantage of distributed energy resources (DERs) to implement DR. Based on day-ahead hourly electricity prices, the scheme determines the scheduling of STs and DERs in order to shift the demand from peak periods (with high electricity prices) to off-peak periods (with low electricity prices), which not only improves the reliability of the electric power system, but also reduces energy costs for industrial facilities.

An Improved ZigBee Routing Strategy for Monitoring System

ZigBee offers a practical application solution coupled with low rate, low cost, low energy consumption characteristics for WSNs. There are many ZigBee monitoring systems which have been developed based on ZigBee. Energy consumption and latency are two critical performance measurements in most monitoring systems. The design of routing strategy in network layer may affect these two performance measurements. Energy consumption and latency of different routing algorithms are given based on analysis about ZigBee routing strategy including AODVjr and the hierarchical routing algorithm. This paper describes an improved ZigBee routing strategy for monitoring system and gives the realization about it. This paper is meant to aid researchers in developing their own monitoring system based on ZigBee and assist users in determining the ZigBee routing strategy that best fits their needs.

WSNHA-GAHR: a greedy and A* heuristic routing algorithm for wireless sensor networks in home automation

The use of wireless sensor networks in home automation (WSNHA) is a growing trend, on account of their self-organisation, low cost and potential for rapid deployment. Routing in WSNHA is a challenging research topic, because of the requirements of low energy consumption, low storage, low computational complexity, fast response, self-adaptation to unpredictable topological changes and robustness with respect to discontinuous interference. With the development of localisation techniques, localised routing offers a number of attractive benefits, but not all are suitable for WSNHA. In this study, the authors propose a new routing algorithm for WSNHA, called WSNHA-GAHR (greedy and A* heuristic routing for WSNHA). The algorithm uses greedy forwarding, based on the smallest Euclidean distance, to minimise the number of hops for data packet transmission, and thus conserve energy. It also automatically adjusts the route, using the A* heuristic algorithm, when local minimum problems and unpredictable topological changes occur in WSNHA. In addition, link priority classification gives WSNHA-GAHR a greater tolerance than ZigBee routing algorithm for discontinuous interference. Simulation results show that this routing protocol dramatically improves reliability and reduces average packet delay, without introducing additional overhead.

A Clustering Algorithm Based on K-means for Wireless Indoor Monitoring System

The clustering algorithms for wireless sensor networks might differ depending on the application and network architecture. Not all clustering algorithms are suitable for wireless indoor monitoring system. In this article, we summarize the features of wireless indoor monitoring system, analyze the clustering algorithms for wireless sensor networks, and provide a clustering algorithm based on K-means for wireless indoor monitoring system.

Implementation of a BACnet-EnOcean gateway in buildings

Energy-harvesting wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have potential applications in battery-free wireless building automation systems, with more flexible implementation and operation, as well as reduced installation and maintenance costs. However, integrating an energy-harvesting WSN into an existing wired building automation protocol is not straightforward. The Building Automation and Control network (BACnet) is a wired building automation protocol, and EnOcean is an ultra-low-power wireless standard, which is optimized for energy-harvesting networks and uses different communication protocols. In this paper, we define three device categories in EnOcean networks according to the energy usage and discuss the implementation of a BACnet-EnOcean gateway to integrate an EnOcean energy-harvesting network with BACnet. Furthermore, we present a demonstration system for the BACnet-EnOcean gateway to verify that the gateway is both feasible and practical.

A Heuristic Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks in Home Automation

Although numerous routing protocols have been designed for wireless sensor networks, not all are suitable for wireless sensor networks in home automation (WSNHA). In this paper, we evaluate some popular wireless sensor network routing protocols for their suitability to WSNHA. We also propose a greedy-algorithm heuristic routing (GAHR) protocol and an A* algorithm for route finding. We compared the performance of this heuristic routing with the ad-hoc on-demand distance-vector protocol using a simulation. The simulation results showed that this routing protocol dramatically reduced the routing overhead and the average packet delay without impacting reliability, and demonstrated that WSNHA-GAHR adapts automatically to changes in the network topology.

Ajax Applied in Environment Monitoring System Based on WSN

This article puts forward a method to access the data and analyzed results from the monitoring system of environment based on WSN with the B/S mode. It resolves the problem of low speed of page refresh with Ajax. The experiment shows that the partial refresh feature of Ajax can make it possible for the users to get access to the data and analyzed results easily through the browser, and experience a smarter response just like window programs.

Implementation of wireless industrial networks for industrial smart grids

Though industry is one of the major consumers of electricity but Demand Response (DR) research in the industrial sector is relatively immature. The use of wireless technologies as a part of demand response infrastructure in industry has benefits, including increased flexibility of operation and reduced installation and maintenance costs. In this study, a demonstration system of the infrastructure for demand response in industries is developed using two independent (and competing) standards for industrial wireless networks: WirelessHART and ISA100.11a. The demonstration system is tested by controlling the electrical loads using industrial wireless networks and obtaining the energy consumption data of the electrical loads on a host application for demand response.

Location-based optimal route zone finding algorithm for wireless sensor networks in building automation

In this paper, we propose a location-based optimal route zone finding algorithm for wireless sensor networks in building automation system. We compared the performance of this routing algorithm with that of AODVjr and LAR. The simulation results showed that this routing algorithm improved the packet delivery ratio and reduced the packet average delay.

An improved AODV routing strategy for prolonging the lifetime of ad-hoc networks

Energy is limited for the nodes in wireless ad hoc networks, which is a key factor to influence the lifetime of the networks. Employing energy conservation routing strategies, for instance, can be an effective way to prolong the lifetime of the networks. In this paper, an improved AODV routing strategy is proposed by creating backup node for next hop during the route discovery phase. Whenever the link is broken, busy or the next hop nodes power run out, the backup node will be used for data transmission. Simulation results show that this improved AODV routing protocol not only prolongs the network lifetime, but also has better performance in packet loss rate when certain nodes become exhausted.