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Low-powered mobile devices such as Raspberry Pis and tablets can be used as micro-servers to implement offline Learning Management Systems (LMS). Despite their potential, especially for low-income countries, such as Tanzania, no research is available detailing the affordances of these devices for supporting LMS features. This study investigated the suitability of various low-cost micro-servers for deploying LMSs. It compared the performance of the Raspberry Pi, Android tablet, and Chromebook in terms of LMS benchmarking, response time, and resource utilisation. Results showed all devices had sufficient hardware resources to support the LMS, however, software stacks, I/O performance, and platform optimisations affected the micro-servers' performance. The Chromebook had the best performance in terms of response time, followed by the Raspberry Pi and tablets. In terms of cost, the Raspberry PI was the cheapest option. The installation process for tablets was more cumbersome than the other devices, meaning the devices with better tooling and a more conventional software stack were a better option for deploying offline micro-servers.

This article describes a framework for load shedding techniques using dynamic pricing and multi-agent system. The islanded microgrid uses solar panels and battery energy management system as a source of energy to serve remote communities who have no access to the grid with a randomized type of power in terms of individual load. The generated framework includes modeling of solar panels, battery storage and loads to optimize the energy usage and reduce the electricity bills. In this work, the loads are classified as critical and non-critical. The agents are designed in a decentralized manner, which includes solar agent, storage agent and load agent. The load shedding experiment of the framework is mapped with the manual operation done at Kisiju village, Pwani, Tanzania. Experiment results show that the use of pricing factor as a demand response makes the microgrid sustainable as it manages to control and monitor its supply and demand, hence, the load being capable of shedding its own appliances when the power supplied is not enough., Part of book: ISBN 978-1-6684-3667-7, ISBN 978-1-6684-3666-0QC 20230213

Smart grid is a new revolution in the energy sector in which the aging utility grid will be replaced with a grid that supports two-way communication between customers and the utility company. There are two popular smart-grid reference architectures. NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technology) has drafted a reference architecture in which seven domains and actors have been identified. The second reference architecture is elaborated by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), which is an extension of the NIST model where a new domain named distributed energy resources has been added. This chapter aims at identifying the use of IoT and IoT-enabled technologies in the design of a secure smart grid using the ETSI reference model. Based on the discussion and analysis in the chapter, the authors offer two collaborative and development frameworks. One framework draws parallels’ between IoT and smart grids and the second one between smart grids and edge computing. These frameworks can be used to broaden collaboration between the stakeholders and identify research gaps., Part of book: ISBN 978-1-6684-3666-0, EISBN 978-1-6684-3667-7 Not duplicate with DiVA 1599837QC 20220613

The availability of secure, efficient, and reliable communication systems is critical for the successful deployment and operations of new power systems such as microgrids. These systems provide a platform for implementing intelligent and autonomous algorithms that improve the power control process. However, building a secure communication system for microgrid purposes that is also efficient and reliable remains a challenge. Conventional security mechanisms introduce extra processing steps that affect performance by increasing the latency of microgrid communication beyond acceptable limits. They also do not scale well and can impact the reliability of power operations as the size of a microgrid grows. This paper proposes a low latency secure communication architecture for control operations in an islanded IoT-based microgrid that solves these problems. The architecture provides a secure platform that optimises the standard CoAP/DTLS implementation to reduce communication latency. It also introduces a traffic scheduler component that uses a fixed priority preemptive algorithm to ensure reliability as the microgrid scales up. The architecture is implemented on a lab-scale IoT-based microgrid prototype to test for performance and security. Results show that the proposed architecture can mitigate the main security threats and provide security services necessary for power control operations with minimal latency performance. Compared to other implementations using existing secure IoT protocols, our secure architecture was the only one to satisfy and maintain the recommended latency requirements for power control operations, i.e., 100 ms under all conditions., QC 20211020

Recently, the traditional power grid has been evolving into a new type of intelligent system known as smart grid. The new smart grid uses information and communication technologies to automate and optimize the power generation and distribution process. Despite improvements, there are still challenges that cannot be solved using existing technologies. Blockchain is an emerging technology with unique features to solve some of remaining challenges in smart grids. In this paper, we review the recent developments in this area. We describe the existing smart grid challenges, explore blockchain features suitable for smart grids, and highlight notable existing successful implementations. The review shows several applications such as peer to peer energy trading and autonomous asset management that have been enabled by blockchain technology. It also highlights challenges such as performance and regulations that might hinder the future use of blockchains in smart grids., QC 20220926Part of proceedings: ISBN 978-1-6654-2038-9

Smart grid is a new revolution in the energy sector in which the aging utility grid will be replaced with a grid that supports two-way communication between customers and the utility company. There are two popular smart-grid reference architectures. NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technology) has drafted a reference architecture in which seven domains and actors have been identified. The second reference architecture is elaborated by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), which is an extension of the NIST model where a new domain named distributed energy resources has been added. This chapter aims at identifying the use of IoT and IoT-enabled technologies in the design of a secure smart grid using the ETSI reference model. Based on the discussion and analysis in the chapter, the authors offer two collaborative and development frameworks. One framework draws parallels' between IoT and smart grids and the second one between smart grids and edge computing. These frameworks can be used to broaden collaboration between the stakeholders and identify research gaps., QC 20211004

The smart grid is a new generation of the power grid that incorporates advanced features such as distributed energy resources, two-way communication and situation awareness. It is not just energy that is exchanged between consumers and producers but information. An efficient and robust smart grid requires efficient and robust communication and computation infrastructure to carry and process the associated data. We provide an overview of the possibilities that fog computing offer for smart grids. In our investigation, the pillars of fog computing, such as decentralization, resiliency, scalability and mobility, offer a perfect match for the decentralized smart grid. Fog computing nodes, capable of communication and coordination, incorporated in smart meters, will provide distributed control, communication and computation. Thus, enhancing reliability, resiliency and scalability of the smart grid as more and more distributed energy resources (DERs) are added to the grid., QC 20210525

The smart grid is a new revolution in the energy sector in which information and communication system is integrated within the conventional electric power generation and distribution system. A key component of this system is the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which enables two-way communication between consumer and utility company via a smart meter. In the smart home energy management system (SHEMS), the smart meter is commissioned to monitor, control, trade, and log the energy consumption. Due to the diversification of the appliances in SHEMS, manufactured by different vendors with uncommon standards and deregulation of the communication protocol, then applications and devices in SHEMS become difficult to interoperate. With IoT invention, the smart meter should be able to address the heterogeneity issues. This paper propose an IoT smart meter architecture that addresses the heterogeneity problem in SHEMS by making use of middleware platform which solves interoperability problem in any IoT scenarios. A prototype system using Raspberry Pi and Kaa IoT middleware is reported., QC 20210223

The application of Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology in microgrid has converted them into intelligent and efficient systems and facilitated new applications such as smart metering. However, the introduction of these technologies have opened up new opportunities for security attacks that can destabilize the control operation of the power system. In this paper we consider a solar powered IoT-enabled DC microgrid and propose a new design that enhances the security of the communication using TLS 1.3 integrated version of MQTT (Secure-MQTT). We evaluate the design using a hardware based prototype. Results show the design provides communication encryption, integrity, and authentication with minimal impact to performance., QC 20210610

To improve the living standard of urban communities and to render the healthcare services sustainable and efficient, e-health system is experiencing a paradigm shift. Patients with cognitive discrepancies can be monitored and observed through the analyses of power consumption of home appliances. This paper surveys recent trends in home-based e-health services using metered energy consumption data. It also analyses and summarizes the constant impedance, constant current and constant power (ZIP) approaches for load modelling. The analysis briefly recaptures both non-intrusive and intrusive techniques. The work reports an architecture using IoT technologies for the design of a smart-meter, and fog-computing paradigm for raw processing of energy dataset. Finally, the paper describes the implementation platform based on GirdLAB-D simulation to construct accurate models of household appliances and test the machine-learning algorithm for the detection of abnormal behaviour., Part of proceedings: ISBN 978-1-905824-63-2QC 20211012

The iGrid project deals with the design and implementation of a solar-powered smart microgrid to supply electric power to small rural communities. In this paper, we discuss the roadmap of the iGrid project, which forms by merging the roadmaps of KIC (knowledge and Innovation Community) and CDE (Challenge-Driven Education). We introduce and explain a five-gear chain as Challenge, Education, Research, Innovation, and Deployment, called CERID, to reach the main goals of this project. We investigate the full chain in the iGrid project, which is established between KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) and University of Dar es Salam (Tanzania). We introduce the key stakeholders and explain how CERID goals can be accomplished in higher educations and through scientific research. Challenges are discussed, some innovative ideas are introduced and deployment solutions are recommended., QC 20190819 QC 20191114

The increasing interest in integrating renewable energies source has raised concerns about control operations. The presence of new energy sources, distributed storage, power electronic devices and communication links make a power system’s control and monitoring more complex and adaptive than ever before. Recently, the use of agent-based distributed control has seen to have a significant impact on the grid and microgrid controls. The load-shedding technique is among the features used to balance the power consumption in the power system upon less power production. Towards achieving these, different mechanisms, algorithms, challenges, and approaches have been developed and hence need to be reviewed and integrated from the system solution perspective. This research focuses on the review of the state-of-the-art load-shedding techniques, whereby the focus is on control algorithms, simulation platforms and integrations, and control devices for DC microgrid. The research also investigates open issues and challenges that need further investigations. The analyses reported in the paper upholds the importance of the distributed multi-agent system, MAS, in implementing distinct control operations including load-shedding. The effectiveness of the control operations using MAS rely on low-latency and secure communication links in which IoT has been branded as a promising technology for implementing distributed MAS., QC 20200918

This article describes a framework for load shedding techniques using dynamic pricing and multi-agent system. The islanded microgrid uses solar panels and battery energy management system as a source of energy to serve remote communities who have no access to the grid with a randomized type of power in terms of individual load. The generated framework includes modeling of solar panels, battery storage and loads to optimize the energy usage and reduce the electricity bills. In this work, the loads are classified as critical and non-critical. The agents are designed in a decentralized manner, which includes solar agent, storage agent and load agent. The load shedding experiment of the framework is mapped with the manual operation done at Kisiju village, Pwani, Tanzania. Experiment results show that the use of pricing factor as a demand response makes the microgrid sustainable as it manages to control and monitor its supply and demand, hence, the load being capable of shedding its own appliances when the power supplied is not enough., QC 20200722

In the knowledge-based society, the legacy education system does not provide the needed skills for creative engineers especially enhancing student innovation and entrepreneurship capacity. Triple-helix model is a concept that aims to bond universities, industry and government in a bid to create innovations. In Europe, integrating research, education, and innovation together in a comprehensive manner has been the major driving force for local and European university development, as example in the form of European Institute Innovation Technology (EIT). At KTH, there are activities that alien the Teaching and Learning Activities (TLA) with different task group with the aim of creating a mutual innovation capacity to contribute solutions for major social challenges. Some of these task groups are Cross-Cultural Faculty Development for Challenge Driven Education, Global learning and digital platform and open innovation platform for learning. The progress and the success are measured by the number of joint student teams and their skills, knowledge development with the follow-up workshop, and the ongoing research and results of the socio-oriented projects. To enhance TLA and the teaching and learning practices, we have developed new curriculums (MSc. and PhD) for our partners to spark innovation and entrepreneurship where the students interact with Open Lab activities. The assessments show that the enrolled students have gained creative skills in dealing with engineering problem and consolidate their knowledge to improve the future TLA and the Intended Learning Outcome (ILO).

The smart grid is a new paradigm that aims to modernize the legacy power grid. It is based on the integration of ICT technologies, embedded system, sensors, renewable energy and advanced algorithms for management and optimization. The smart grid is a system of systems in which communication technology plays a vital role. Safe operations of the smart grid need a careful design of the communication protocols, cryptographic schemes, and computing technology. In this article, the authors describe current communication technologies, recently proposed algorithms, protocols, and architectures for securing smart grid communication network. They analyzed in a unifying approach the three principles pillars of smart-gird: Sensors, communication technologies, and security. Finally, the authors elaborate open issues in the smart-grid communication network., QC 20190415

The integration of Information and Communication Technologies in the power grid has given rise to new applications such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure. However, these technologies have also exposed the grid to new forms of security attacks. It is challenging to analyse and find solutions for these attacks due to the complexity of the grid system. There is a need of simple mechanisms to model and study the security implications of new power applications. This paper introduces a simulation model to evaluate the impact of security attacks on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure of a microgrid. The model is evaluated by demonstrating three security attack scenarios which lead to theft of power theft, privacy loss, and power outage., QC 20211020

Smart-grid is a complex system that incorporates distributed control, communication, optimization, and management functions in addition to the legacy functions such as generation, storage, and control. The design and test of new smart-grid algorithms require an efficient simulator. Agent based simulation platforms are the most popular tools that work well in the control and monitoring functionalities of the power electric network such as the microgrid. Most existing simulation tools necessitate either simulated or static data. In this paper, we propose a hardware-in-loop simulator for dc-microgrid. The simulator reads the power generated by the PV panels and the battery SoC using Raspberry PI. A physical agent that MRS on Raspberry PI sends the real-time data to a dc-microgrid simulator that runs on a PC. As a proof of concept, we implemented a load-shedding algorithm using the proposed system., QC 20190917

Smart micro-grids are one of the new potential solutions that have been proposed to solve the challenge of access to reliable electric power, especially for off-grid rural communities, in developing countries. In order to realize these micro-grids, one of the main challenges is a robust and reliable communication infrastructure, to enable different components in the power system to communicate with each other, and allow for smart control and management algorithms to efficiently manage the power distribution process, securely and autonomously. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can be used to solve this challenge. However, these technologies are still immature and have numerous security vulnerabilities. Thus, the main focus of this research is to develop a security system for a smart microgrid that can be implemented in an IoT based ICT infrastructure, that will support a smart 48V DC solar-driven micro-grid for an off-grid community., QC 20211020

The research projects in ICT need to embrace new dimensions. Traditionally, research group work in an isolated manner and is conducted in a purely academic way. This type of research is outdated and needs to be more innovative, engaging and address societal challenges from the local perspective. Quadruple-helix model is a concept that ties together government, academia, industry, and society to promote innovation in education. Challenge drive education is a graduate course that aims to solve societal problems in the quadruple-helix model. This paper summarizes the key idea of challenge driven education to design an intelligent dc microgrid for rural areas of Tanzania., Part of proceedings: ISBN 978-1-905824-60-1QC 20230922

This paper presents a framework of load shedding experiment for a DC Microgrid using Multi-Agent System (MAS). The microgrid uses solar panels as source of energy to serve a community without access to electricity. The generated framework includes modelling of solar panels, battery storage and loads for effective control and better operation. The loads are classified as critical and non-critical loads. The agents are designed in a decentralized manner which include solar agent, storage agent and load agent. The load shedding experiment of the framework is mapped with the manual operation done at Kisiju village, Pwani, Tanzania. The results of the experiment focus on using accurate solar and PV panels which provide: (i) the multi agent system that runs in the DC microgrid, (ii) the controlling and monitoring of power to be used for critical and non-critical loads and (ii) the management power in the production process through selling extra power from an individual load to the storage., Part of proceedings: ISBN 978-9-5268-6532-4QC 20190206

This paper proposes a Multi-Agent System (MAS) modeling and control architecture for a solar driven DC microgrid. The microgrid consists of solar system as a source of power, energy storage system, critical and non-critical houses (loads) with their own solar and storage as well. For the proposed MAS an individual house can have the ability to sell extra power to the main solar source. The main solar source can generate power and provide to the community when needed. The MAS also controls and monitors an automatic load shedding technique to disconnect non critical loads when there is a deficiency of power supply to the system. The validity of the objectives are demonstrated by agent based system which runs under REPAST simulation tool which used successfully three loads: hospital and two houses during simulation., QC 20190211

Due to changes in the market positions of old companies caused by innovation in technologies, services, business concepts and global challenges faced by nations in terms of climate and safety, academic systems in Europe have started to look into new pedagogical models and strategic partnerships. The new systems that connect research, education and innovation can offer unique opportunities to explore different solutions that were not possible before. In this paper, we present concrete experiences and directions for creating innovative learning environments with stronger impact and excitement to all stakeholder involved. We describe a new approach that relies on three fundamental concepts: strong commitment and support of open science, challenge driven education model and physical co-location of partners. We give examples of applications of this approach and discuss various aspects that are involved., QC 20200221