Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Supervision Of Community Based Microgrids: An Economic Model Predictive Control Approach, Francesco Tedesco, Lubna Mariam, Malabika Basu, Alessandro Casavola, Michael F. Conlon

Conference papers

Abstract— In this paper, an Economic Model Predictive Control (EMPC) approach has been presented to manage a Community-based microgrid (C-µGCC) at the pricing level. The main task is at satisfying the demand at prosumer sides and, at the same time, optimizing various µ-Grid contrasting objectives. Emphasis has been given to the operational constraints related to the components lifetime, whose satisfaction would be beneficial for the grid in that the maintenance and replacement costs would be reduced. A simulative analysis has been carried out on the basis of available measured data related to a location in Dublin, Ireland. Results show the …

Levilised Cost Of Energy Analysis: A Comparison Of Urban (Micro) Wind Turbines And Solar Pv Systems, Keith Sunderland, Mahinsasa Narayana, Ghanim Putrus, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

The relatively high capital cost associated with micro wind energy systems and the resulting long payback periods, makes for a challenging argument for these technologies. However, as the global population becomes increasingly concentrated in urban areas, the potential for accessing any available renewable energy resource, including wind and solar PV, could become a necessity. This infers that the economics associated with small/micro energy systems need to be better appreciated. This paper presents a levelised cost of energy (LCOE) analysis for rural/urban small/micro wind energy systems that is contextualised by a solar PV system comparison. Further insight is offered through a …

The Accuracy Of A 2d And 3d Dendritic Tip Scaling Parameter In Predicting The Columnar To Equiaxed Transition (Cet), M. Seredynski, Marek Rebow, J. Banaszek

Conference papers

The dendrite tip kinetics model accuracy relies on the reliability of the stability constant used, which is usually experimentally determined for 3D situations and applied to 2D models. The paper reports authors` attempts to cure the situation by deriving 2D dendritic tip scaling parameter for aluminium-based alloy: Al-4wt%Cu. The obtained parameter is then incorporated into the KGT dendritic growth model in order to compare it with the original 3D KGT counterpart and to derive two-dimensional and three-dimensional versions of the modified Hunt’s analytical model for the columnar-to-equiaxed transition (CET). The conclusions drawn from the above analysis are further confirmed through …

Comparative Study Between Direct Load Control And Fuzzy Logic Control Based Demand Response, Chittesh Veni Chandran, Malabika Basu, Keith Sunderland

Conference papers

Demand response (DR), as part of Demand side management (DSM), is a method that modifies consumer side energy consumption. By actively controlling the time associated with electricity consumption, both energy and economic efficiencies are increased. There is however, depending on the algorithm employed, potential for consumer comfort levels to be adversely affected. Generally direct load (Boolean logic) control is employed, which solely considers demand reduction and not customer comfort. In comparison, fuzzy logic based programs can consider non-deterministic inputs such as consumer comfort level with ease and simplicity. This paper considers the evolution of DR through a comparison of the …

Analysis Of Glottal Source Parameters In Parkinsonian Speech, Jane Hanratty, Catherine Deegan, Mary Walsh, Barry Kirkpatrick

Conference papers

Diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson's disease has a number of challenges as there is no definitive biomarker despite the broad range of symptoms. Research is ongoing to produce objective measures that can either diagnose Parkinson's or act as an objective decision support tool. Recent research on speech based measures have demonstrated promising results. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of the glottal source signal in Parkinsonian speech. An experiment is conducted in which a selection of glottal parameters are tested for their ability to discriminate between healthy and Parkinsonian speech. Results for each glottal parameter are presented for a …

A 38 Ghz On-Chip Antenna In 28-Nm Cmos Using Artificial Magnetic Conductor For 5g Wireless Systems, Max Ammann

Conference papers

This paper presents the first-ever millimeter wave on-chip antenna (AoC) in 28 nm CMOS technology. The addition of artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) can increase the antenna's power gain and radiation efficiency to -1.75 dBi and 22%, respectively, with an occupied area of 0.95 mm×4.75 mm at 38 GHz. This structure is intended for fully integrated single-chip nanometer CMOS transceivers for 5G communication systems.

Kicm: A Knowledge-Intensive Context Model, Fredrick Mtenzi, Denis Lupiana

Conference papers

A context model plays a significant role in developing context-aware architectures and consequently on realizing context-awareness, which is important in today's dynamic computing environments. These architectures monitor and analyse their environments to enable context-aware applications to effortlessly and appropriately respond to users' computing needs. These applications make the use of computing devices intuitive and less intrusive. A context model is an abstract and simplified representation of the real world, where the users and their computing devices interact. It is through a context model that knowledge about the real world can be represented in and reasoned by a context-aware architecture. This …

Sol-Gel Silica Coated Optical Fiber Sensor For Ammonia Gas Detection, Dejun Liu, Arun Mallik, Wei Han, Qiang Wu

Conference papers

A high sensitivity ammonia gas sensor based on a tapered small core single-mode fiber (SCSMF) structure for measurement of ammonia gas concentration is reported. The proposed tapered SCSMF fiber structure has a waist diameter of 13.5 μm and it is fabricated using a customized microheater brushing technique. The silica based material prepared by sol-gel method is used as a coating applied to the surface of tapered fiber structures. Experimental results show that sensor is very sensitive to ammonia. The best measurement resolution of the ammonia concentration is estimated to be 16 ppb for gas concentrations of 0.5 ppm to 2.5 …

Cultural Change Through Bim: Driving Lean Transformation In Education, Avril Behan, Malachy Mathews, Kevin Furlong, Ciara Ahern, Una Beagon, Peter Brennan, Colin Conway, Lee Corcoran, Pierce Fahy, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley, Trevor Woods

Conference papers

This paper presents a case study of how the adoption of BIM-based practices in the AECO industry is being reflected by cultural change in higher education in Ireland. The silo-mentality that has dominated the AECO sector for more than a century has, despite numerous reorganisations, been replicated in the structures of educational institutions, including in Dublin Institute of Technology since the inception of its founding colleges in the late 1800s. Most AECO programmes must include content that is external to the programme’s specific discipline. Through the School structures of the Institute, delivery of such content is known as "service teaching" …

Accelerated Aging Test On Multiple Xlpe Mv Cables Simultaneously To Induce Water Trees, Shane Conlan, Jane Courtney, Tom Looby

Conference papers

The objective of this paper is to develop an accelerated ageing test to induce water tree growth which is capable of testing up to ten 10 kV cable samples simultaneously. An existing accelerated ageing method was used as a basis for this project. This method uses a high frequency power supply (3 kHz) to achieve a test duration of 14 days. Modifications were made to this method to allow for multiple samples to be tested simultaneously. A specially designed variable inductor was utilised in a parallel RLC resonance circuit. This resonance circuit limits the current draw from a high frequency …

Wind Energy And Ireland: Could Forecasting Errors Lead To A Flawed Market?, Michael Mcdonald, Thomas Woolmington, Keith Sunderland

Conference papers

This paper explores wind energy forecasting consistency by considering the error benchmarks associated with the generation output of a small wind farm in comparison to the national forecasting as provided by Eirgrid, the Irish TSO. This percentage error analysis will contrast the predicted (Eirgrid) capacity and actual wind energy output observations (Wind farm) and postulations that consider alternative prediction metrics are discussed. The findings suggest that in monthly like for like comparisons over a twelve month period, total MWh percentage errors of -0.36% and 5.7% are observed respectively for the actual generation and the forecasted …

Towards Circularly Polarized Reconfigurable Huygens Source, Adam Narbudowicz, Max Ammann, Dirk Heberling

Conference papers

The paper investigates an array of two reconfigurable circularly-polarized antennas with omnidirectional radiation pattern. The results are based on a previously reported antenna, which offers a steerable dipolelike radiation pattern. Its capabilities allow reception of a signal from practically any direction with steering realized by rotation of the pattern around a single axis. In this paper we propose to extend this functionality by forming an array of two such antennas oriented as a Huygens source. Simulations demonstrate six distinctive radiation patterns, each illuminating a different sector of the surrounding sphere. This allows increased antenna gain and simplification of the steering …

Planar Dual-Mode Mimo Antenna With Enhanced Bandwidth, Adam Narbudowicz, Slawomir Koziel, Max Ammann, Dirk Heberling

Conference papers

The paper proposes a dual-port pa MIMO applications, optimized using optimization techniques. The antenna uses two (TM100 and TM200) to generate two indep patterns. To enhance the bandwidth of TM200 ground plane was realized as a meshed surfac approach provides 97 MHz of bandwidth, while profile of 1.5 mm between the patch and the g 3.5). The numerical optimization involved 12 adj parameters.

On Pattern Reconfigurable Antennas Steered By Modulation Scheme, Adam Narbudowicz, Max Ammann, Dirk Heberling

Conference papers

The paper demonstrates how a modulation constellation can be used to steer the radiation pattern of a reconfigurable omnidirectional circularly polarized antenna. The proposed approach offers the benefit of digital beamforming while using a single antenna: the steering can be executed by low frequency electronics and independently for each frequency channel. In the proposed study, the antenna is excited by a signal generated by two I/Q modulators. By appropriately changing the I and Q components, a phase shift is generated which effectively steers the radiation pattern. The results were achieved using cosimulation between CST Microwave Studio and CST Design Studio.

Packaged Silica And Chalcogenide Microspheres And Their Applications For Telecommunications, Pengfei Wang

Conference papers

To investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, packaged silica and chalcogenide microsphere and their potential applications in telecommunications.

Measuring And Monitoring Speech Quality For Voice Over Ip With Polqa, Visqol And P.563, Andrew Hines, Eoin Gillen, Naomi Harte

Conference papers

There are many types of degradation which can occur in Voice over IP (VoIP) calls. Of interest in this work are degradations which occur independently of the codec, hardware or network in use. Specifically, their effect on the subjective and objec- tive quality of the speech is examined. Since no dataset suit- able for this purpose exists, a new dataset (TCD-VoIP) has been created and has been made publicly available. The dataset con- tains speech clips suffering from a range of common call qual- ity degradations, as well as a set of subjective opinion scores on the clips from 24 …

Shaping The Axial-Ratio Footprint Of Crossed-Dipole Antennas, Adam Narbudowicz, Max Ammann, Janusz Przewocki

Conference papers

A method is proposed to adaptively change the axial-ratio beam of simple circularly-polarized antennas. It is shown, that by varying the phase shift between two orthogonal elements the axial-ratio beam shape can be dynamically adjusted. This allows control of the direction of minimum axial-ratio and the ability to increase or decrease the beamwidth in one of two planes. The method is intended for satellite navigation systems: it can improve the rejection of reflected signals in varying propagation conditions (e.g. urban canyons), while using simple and low-cost circularly-polarized antennas.

The Development Of Synthetic Wind Series Based On Gaussian And Non Gaussian Statistics, Thomas Woolmington, Keith Sunderland, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

The ability to summarise the characteristics of turbulence into classical statistical models has long been a cause of intrigue for the wind energy industry. Currently, in the context of wind energy systems, a representation of turbulence is by a singular numerical value, turbulence intensity (TI), but the question is whether a classical statistic has the ability to accurately quantify the turbulence characteristic in question.

Quantized Nonnegative Matrix Factorization, Ruairí De Fréin

Conference papers

Even though Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) in its original form performs rank reduction and signal compaction implicitly, it does not explicitly consider storage or transmission constraints. We propose a Frobenius-norm Quantized Nonnegative Matrix Factorization algorithm that is 1) almost as precise as traditional NMF for decomposition ranks of interest (with in 1-4dB), 2) admits to practical encoding techniques by learning a factorization which is simpler than NMF’s (by a factor of 20-70) and 3) exhibits a complexity which is comparable with state-of-the-art NMF methods. These properties are achieved by considering the quantization residual via an outer quantization optimization step, in …

Grid-Tie Arrangements For Micro-Generation Under En50438; An Irish Evaluation, Liam Murphy

Conference papers

This paper explores the significance of EN50438 as the standard governing the grid-connection of micro-generation to the distribution network. In the context of micro-generation, EN50438 therefore governs the inverter requirement associated with the majority of micro-generation. Another consideration presented in this research is findings and analysis related to the manufacturers stated efficiency of a grid-tied inverter connected to a Photovoltaic (PV) array in Dublin City Centre, Ireland.

Urban Deployment Of Small Wind Turbines: Power, Performance And Turbulence, Keith Sunderland, Thomas Woolmington, Michael Conlon, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

The urban terrain and the associated topographical complexities therein, present significant challenges to the deployment of small wind turbines. In particular, a considerable amount of uncertainty is attributable to the lack of understanding concerning how turbulence within urban environments affects turbine productivity. This paper considers how the industry standard metric, turbulence intensity (TI), in conjunction with the power characteristic of a 2.5kW wind turbine, can be employed to estimate turbine power performance. The research presented here considers the potential productivity of a wind turbine installation at two sites in (urban and suburban) Dublin, Ireland where the prevalent turbulence at both …

Impacts On The Electrical System Economics From Critical Design Factors Of Wave Energy Converters And Arrays, Fergus Sharkey, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Conference papers

It is expected that ultimately, like offshore wind farms, electrical systems will make up to a quarter of the overall Capex of wave farms. This is a significant element of cost and consideration must be taken in the design of both individual wave energy converters (WECs) and arrays of WECs to ensure that these costs can be minimised. In a worst case scenario design decisions could increase the cost of the electrical system by several orders and ultimately make the technology uncompetitive.

This paper outlines the impacts on the cost of the electrical system arising from design factors of WECs …

The Domestic And Export Market For Large Scale Wave Energy In Ireland And The Economics Of Export Transmission, Fergus Sharkey, Kevin Honer, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan, Emma Robinson

Conference papers

Ireland is on track to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets with over 2 GW of onshore wind installed in the all island market as of 2013, and a multiple of this capacity in various stages of planning and development. It is currently unclear how much of this potential capacity will ultimately be installed but it has become clear that the wind industry in Ireland will change focus to export opportunities post 2020. This presents some interesting challenges for wave energy in Ireland.

There is some early activity in the installation of wave farms off the west coast of Ireland …

Advances In The Quantification Of Turbulence: A Wind Resource Characteristic, Thomas Woolmington, Keith Sunderland, Jonathan Blackledge, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

Wind resource assessment is a critical parameter in a diverse range of considerations within the built environment. Engineers and scientists, engaging in building design, energy conservation/application and air-quality/air-pollution control measures, need to be cognisant of how the associated wind resource imposes increased complexities in their design and modelling processes. In this regard, the topographical heterogeneities within these environments, present significant challenges to quantifying the resource and its turbulent characteristics. Indeed, from the perspective of assessing the wind resource within the built environment, topographical heterogeneity is the primary proponent of turbulence and the main inhibitor to acquiring meaningful measurements.

This paper …

Cryptography Using Evolutionary Computing, Jonathan Blackledge, S. Bezobrazov, Paul Tobin, F. Zamora

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Control Of The Shunt Active Power Filter Under Non-Ideal Grid Voltage And Unbalanced Load Conditions, Samet Biricik, Soydan Redif, Ozgur Ozerdem, Malabika Basu

Conference papers

In this study a new method is proposed in order to improve the harmonic suppression efficiency of Active Power Filter for the problems caused by the distorted and unbalanced voltages with unbalanced load currents in control strategy. The proposed control method gives an adequate compensating current reference even for non ideal voltage and unbalanced current conditions. The results of simulation study are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control technique in this study.

Sustainability Of Grid-Tie Micro-Generation System, Lubna Mariam, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

Both the outcomes of technical and economical feasibility analysis of a renewable based power system should be positive to achieve sustainability. Energy production or Renewable Energy Feed-in-Tariff (REFIT) cost should be lower or higher respectively than the existing grid electricity cost. As the renewable energy sources are variable and where REFIT is also applicable for the system connected to the grid, the detailed hourly time series analysis is very important. Based on this issue, in this paper, a techno-economic feasibility analysis has been performed for a PV based micro-generation system to find out the possible ways to make the micro-generation …

Simulation Of Textured Audio Harmonics Using Random Fractal Phaselets, Jonathan Blackledge, Derry Fitzgerald, Ruairi Hickson

Conference papers

We present a method of simulating audio signals using the prin- ciples of random fractal geometry which, in the context of this paper, is concerned with the analysis of statistically self-affine ‘phaselets’. The approach is used to generate audio signals that are characterised by texture and timbre through the Fractal Dimension such as those associated with bowed stringed instruments. The paper provides a short overview on potential simulation methods us- ing Artificial Neural Networks and Evolutionary Computing and on the problems associated with using a deterministic approach based on solutions to the acoustic wave equation. This serves to quantify the …

On The Application Of Two-Dimensional Chirplets For Resilient Digital Image Watermarking, Jonathan Blackledge, Oleksandr Iakovenko

Conference papers

Chirplets (swept-frequency harmonic signals) find applications in several areas, including real and synthetic aperture radar, (Fresnel) optics and image processing. The robustness of chirplets to extreme (additive) noise make them an ideal choice in the role of embedding patterns for resilient digital signal and image watermarking. In this paper we present a new watermarking technique which is based on embedding two-dimensional chirplet coded binary sequences in digital images. This approach provides a pattern embedded recovery algorithm which is robust to a variety of distortions. However, chirplets have certain parameters that need to be specified, and given a set of target …

A Study On The Power Quality Of Dg Integrated Building Energy System In Virtual Environment, Shafiuzzaman K. Khadem, Ruth Kerrigan, Malabika Basu, Biswajit Basu

Conference papers

In this paper, the electrical energy demand of a typical residential building has been extracted from a Virtual Environment (VE) simulation. The extracted energy demand is generated by input load demand and hourly operating information. Based on the electrical energy demand for a typical day, a building integrated photovoltaic (PV) system is then simulated in MATLAB to extract the current/voltage disturbance information into the network. Outcome of this simulation shows the voltage/current waveform along with the disturbances at different locations in the building. The city of Dublin, Ireland has been chosen as a geographical location and VE-Pro software has been …