Connected devices are disrupting numerous industries, with power utilities being no exception. Power utility companies currently face four primary challenges arising from the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT).
-
Vendors are increasingly connecting machines, controllers, HMI (Human-Machine Interface), and SCADA systems to the cloud, promising enhanced analytics and insights for predictive and preventative maintenance. However, the strict quarantine policies applied to critical assets prevent power companies from fully leveraging these new IoT features offered by machine and controller vendors.
-
With the rapidly declining costs of solar and wind power microgrids, utility companies will soon experience reduced revenue from power generation. To compensate for this loss, companies must aggressively pursue new revenue streams, such as 'Energy Management as a Service' for homes, 'Energy Storage as a Service', and grid services for EV charging and peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading between homes, microgrids, and batteries. All these services require facilitation through smart metering, smart grids, and secure transactions enabled by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) like IOTA. Additionally, utilities are exploring opportunities to provide smart city services to local authorities.
-
For critical infrastructure such as dams, ICOLD (International Committee of Large Dams) mandates real-time Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). This ensures that impending dangers, such as the potential collapse of a dam, rock face, or tunnel, can be detected in advance, allowing for the timely evacuation of at-risk populations.
-
A new emerging revenue area is EV charging in parking facilities. IoT plays a crucial role in facilitating smart charging and smart parking solutions.
Over the past three years, IoT engineering has undergone massive changes, primarily driven by Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. These tech giants have invested billions to develop IoT platforms that are easier to manage and more secure. IoT edge computing has gained significant momentum as the practical means for IoT implementation. Furthermore, 5G promises to transform the IoT business landscape, leading to unprecedented research funding. For practicing engineers, it is essential to understand the IoT platforms developed by major players like AWS, Google, and especially Microsoft.
However, none of these platforms offer a completely exhaustive or comprehensive solution for scalable IoT. For instance, deploying smart meters to millions of homes requires additional technologies for securing the meters, radio networks, IoT management tools, and other secured services. The strategy, pricing, and security of any IoT deployment must be optimal and acceptable. Given the interdisciplinary knowledge required, it is nearly impossible for any single company to assemble a team capable of meeting all requirements.
This course is a modest attempt to educate key decision-makers, developers, and security experts on the challenges, risks, and practical approaches to deploying IoT for next-generation power utility businesses.
Additionally, scalable deployment has made managing IoT services for thousands of sensors and connections an emerging engineering subject. This area, formally known as managed IoT services, is growing rapidly as the challenges of scalable IoT extend far beyond initial implementation. This includes securing over-the-top firmware/software updates, managing sensor and system calibration, auto-diagnosing connection issues, identifying root causes of API failures, and tracking the hardware and service health of distributed systems.
Course objectives
The main objective of this course is to introduce emerging technological options, platforms, and case studies of IoT implementation in power utility companies, including smart metering, smart cars, SHM (structural health monitoring), power quality diagnosis, and smart contracts. It provides a basic introduction to all IoT elements: mechanical and electronics/sensor platforms, wireless and wireline protocols, mobile-to-electronics integration, mobile-to-enterprise integration, and data-analytics and control plane applications.
-
IoT Technology Stacks: Devices, Gateways, Edge, Edge Cloud, Public Cloud, IoT databases, Web & Mobile Applications for IoT, Centralized vs Decentralized IoT
-
IoT Ecosystem for Business: Third-party device management and risk management of the entire IoT ecosystem
-
M2M Wireless protocols for IoT: WiFi, SigFox, LORA, LPWAN, Zigbee/Zwave, Bluetooth, ANT+ : Guidance on when and where to use each
-
Fundamentals of IoT Gateways: Risks, Management, and Ecosystem
-
Mobile/Desktop/Web apps for registration, data acquisition, and control – Available M2M data acquisition platforms for IoT: AWS IoT, Azure IoT, Google IoT
-
Security issues and solutions for IoT: Review of security across all technology stacks
-
Enterprise IoT platforms such as Microsoft Azure IoT suites, AWS IoT, Google IoT, Siemens MindSphere
-
Smart Metering, Open Smart Grid Protocols (OSGP), ANSI C 2.18 Protocols, NIST Standard for HAN (Home Area Network), Home Plug Powerline Alliance, Security Standard for Smart Meter: IEC 62056
-
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) such as Blockchain, HyperLedger, and DAG (Direct Acyclic Graph) for smart contracts, P2P transactions, and smart car charging
-
IoT applications for critical infrastructure like Dams, Transformers, Sub-stations, and High Tension Wires
Read more...