Electrical Engineering Research Research Articles

Dumb to Smart Power Outlets: A Design Perspective on Smart Grids

Introduction In the past five years, in electrical engineering and design research, the electrical outlet seems to have developed advanced qualities, by reason of which it is now considered smart. Yet a closer look at its characteristics and history reveals that this little product has never actually been dumb; on the contrary, its affordances, form, and technology are the result of the efforts of many generations of inventors, engineers, and designers. It is therefore important to be clear about the type of intelligence implied by the term “smart.” The epithet “smart,” when applied to the electrical system and its components, refers to the concept of a new type of grid called the Smart Grid (i.e., the “Internet of Energy”).1 The term “smart” became more commonplace (in reference to the electrical system and its components) as the debate surrounding the theme of intelligent electricity management widened.2 This discourse about power borrowed the term “smart” from the field of computer science. The characteristics of an electrical outlet summarize not only the entire social and technical system of a nation’s electrical power grid, but also the political strategies and decisions contained in the energy agreements between different countries. The mere fact that the standards for electrical grids stop short of national borders speaks volumes about the trade relations and cooperation between foreign countries. These agreements have an effect on end users trying to connect a device to the power outlet, but only when that device is not compatible with the standards to which they are accustomed. The emerging Third Industrial Revolution will bring with it an intelligent power system,3 the main functions of which will be to promote a more flexible form of power distribution and to channel electricity from a multiplicity of producers into the market. In light of these coming changes, we can trace the salient phases of the development of the electrical system, as seen through the evolution of the power outlet. 1 A SmartGrid is an electricity network that can intelligently control the flow of power and data associated with it through the same power lines, using Information and Communication Technologies. For a detailed definition see Smart Grids European Technology Platform. SmartGrids: Strategic Deployment Document for Europe’s Electricity Networks of the Future; www.smartgrids.eu, 6 (accessed August 3, 2011). 2 In the United States, an intense debate about the need for a new, more efficient, and more intelligent management system of electricity began only after the August 2003 blackout in Ontario, Canada. A month later, in Italy, the largest blackout in the history of the country’s electrical system occurred. 3 For a definition of the Third Industrial Revolution, see Jeremy Rifkin, The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 1.

The expert systems life cycle in AIS research: What does it mean for future AIS research?

Accounting information system (AIS) is the intersection of the accounting domains and the computer science and information systems domains. Periodically, new technology emerges that generates a new AIS research to explore the application of that technology to the accounting domains. AIS researchers compete with researchers in information systems, computer science, electrical engineering, plus other technology-related disciplines. AIS researchers are also frequently competing with the organizations (e.g., accounting firms) that have resources that far exceed academic resources. This paper explores the life cycle of expert systems research by accounting researchers to provide general insights into the roles of accounting researchers in technology domains. From 1980 through 2011, 315 accounting-related expert systems papers were published. Those publications generally transitioned through the industry life cycle stages. The peak years were the early 1990s. Although most of the expert system publications appeared in AIS-oriented publications, by the 2005–2011 timeframe, a little more than 50% appeared in non-system journals. There were 387 unique authors involved in writing the 315 articles. Interestingly, 20 (5.2%) authors wrote 58% of the papers and 311 (80.4%) authors wrote just one paper. In the practice community, Brown (1991) listed 43 expert systems in use or under development at the Big 6. Any use of expert systems in the firms ended in the late 1990s.

Smart and Reconfigurable Antenna Applications in Wireless Sensor Networks

1 Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, RF Electronics and Antennas Research Lab, Yeditepe University, 34755 Istanbul, Turkey 2Department of Computer Engineering, Wireless Communications and Information Systems Research Unit, Kocaeli University, Izmit, 41380 Kocaeli, Turkey 3 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway 4Drexel Wireless System Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Annual Conference 2013 paper: A complex perspective on learning to do research

This paper examines the learning experience of 10 undergraduate students taking part in a US National Science Foundation funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at a Midwestern US university (National Science Foundation, 2014). The curricular design of each REU programme is created by the primary investigators and is unique to each programme. The programme discussed in this paper engaged students in eight weeks of computer modelling and simulation research in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and mathematical and/or statistical research. In this paper the theoretical perspective of complexity is used to explore the students’ learning as they engaged in research and the relationship between complex learning episodes and the environments in which those experiences occur.

A Comparative Study of Fuzzy Logic, Genetic Algorithm, and Gradient-Genetic Algorithm Optimization Methods for Solving the Unit Commitment Problem

Due to the continuous increase of the population and the perpetual progress of industry, the energy management presents nowadays a relevant topic that concerns researchers in electrical engineering. Indeed, in order to establish a good exploitation of the electrical grid, it is necessary to solve technical and economic problems. This can only be done through the resolution of the Unit Commitment Problem. Unit Commitment Problem allows optimizing the combination of the production units’ states and determining their production planning, in order to satisfy the expected consumption with minimal cost during a specified period which varies usually from 24 hours to one week. However, each production unit has some constraints that make this problem complex, combinatorial, and nonlinear. This paper presents a comparative study between a strategy based on hybrid gradient-genetic algorithm method and two strategies based on metaheuristic methods, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithm, in order to predict the combinations and the unit commitment scheduling of each production unit in one side and to minimize the total production cost in the other side. To test the performance of the optimization proposed strategies, strategies have been applied to the IEEE electrical network 14 busses and the obtained results are very promising.

Interactive Sensing and Decision Making in Social Networks

The proliferation of social media such as real time microblogging and online reputation systems facilitate real time sensing of social patterns and behavior. In the last decade, sensing and decision making in social networks have witnessed significant progress in the electrical engineering, computer science, economics, finance, and sociology research communities. Research in this area involves the interaction of dynamic random graphs, socio-economic analysis, and statistical inference algorithms. This monograph provides a survey, tutorial development, and discussion of four highly stylized examples: social learning for interactive sensing; tracking the degree distribution of social networks; sensing and information diffusion; and coordination of decision making via game-theoretic learning. Each of the four examples is motivated by practical examples, and comprises of a literature survey together with careful problem formulation and mathematical analysis. Despite being highly stylized, these examples provide a rich variety of models, algorithms and analysis tools that are readily accessible to a signal processing, control/systems theory, and applied mathematics audience.

Feedback Method Based on Image Processing for Detecting Human Body via Flying Robot

Image-processing is one the challenging issue in robotic as well as electrical engineering research contexts. This study proposes a system for extract and tracking objects by a quadcopter’s flying robot and how to extract the human body. It is observed in image taken from real-time camera that is embedded bottom of the quadcopter, there is a variance in human behaviour being tracked or recorded such as position and, size, of the human. In the regard, the paper tries to investigate an image-processing method for tracking humans’ body, concurrently. For this process, an extraction method, which defines features to distinguish a human body, is proposed. The proposed method creates a virtual shape of bodies for recognizing the body of humans, also, generate an extractor according to its edge information. This method shows better performance in term of precision as well as speed experimentally.

Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Gerard-Andre Capolino in Singapore [Society News

Dr. Gerard-Andre Capolino, IEEE Fellow and 2012-2013 Industrial Electronics Society (IES) president from the University of Picardie "Jules Verne," Amiens, France, was invited by the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) to give an IES distinguished lecture (DL) on 25 May 2012, as well as to visit the institute and some laboratories at the Nanyang University of Technology. Dr. Capolino's DL was titled "Condition Monitoring and Fault Detection in Complex Electromechanical Systems - Example of a Traction System." Condition monitoring and fault detection are key issues for electricity production and use. After presenting the structure of the electrical engineering research lab at the University of Picardie, Dr. Capolino went on to present different techniques that have been developed since the 1980s. His DL started by presenting a modeling approach for electromechanical systems with multiple mechanical and electrical faults. After that, classical and new signal-processing techniques for condition monitoring were presented, as well as suitable instrumentations to be implemented in realworld systems. All modern techniques related to condition monitoring in industrial applications for early fault detection in different areas such as railway traction systems, cranes, and wind turbine generators were focused on. The example of a high-speed train traction system was developed and analyzed from the point of view of condition monitoring. The DL, which lasted an hour and a half, was attended by more than 100 participants.

Smart Grid & Security [Guest Editoral

There is a major growth in electrical and computer engineering research focused squarely on what has become known as the smart grid. While formal definitions of the smart grid do exist, the concept has grown to include technologies that span virtually all areas of electrical and computer engineering impacting energy sustainability, consumer response, electrification of transportation, and related areas. This is primarily due to the strong dependence on communication, control, and computing capabilities that support new growth in electric power and energy resources and technologies. The emergence of cyberphysical systems broadly captures the essence of this interdependence and has provided a rich theoretical basis for characterizing the challenges associated with maintaining critical assets while optimizing performance.

Applications of Graphs in Real-Life

Graphs are becoming increasingly significant as it is applied to other areas of mathematics, science and technology. This paper gives an overview of the applications of graph theory in heterogeneous fields. It is being actively used in fields as varied as biochemistry (genomics), electrical engineering (communication networks and coding theory), computer science (algorithms and computation) and operations research (scheduling). The powerful combinatorial methods found in graph theory have also been used to prove fundamental results in other areas of pure mathematics. This paper, besides giving a general outlook of these facts, includes new graph theoretical proofs of Fermat’s Little Theorem and the Nielson-Schreier Theorem. New applications to DNA sequencing (the SNP assembly problem) and computer network security using minimum vertex covers in graphs are discussed. We also show how to apply edge coloring and matching in graphs for scheduling (the timetabling problem) and vertex coloring in graphs for map coloring and the assignment of frequencies in GSM mobile phone networks. Keywords: DNA, SNP, GSM:Groups Social Mobile, Voronoi

Pt/C catalyst degradation in proton exchange membrane fuel cells due to high-frequency potential cycling induced by switching power converters

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells are operated using switching power converters that produce high-frequency ripple currents. These ripples cause high-frequency potential cycling of cells, which is believed to lead premature deterioration in the electrochemical surface area (ECA) of Pt/C catalysts. The qualitative relationship between ECA losses and the frequency of potential cycling was investigated in the range of 1 Hz to 1 kHz. For frequencies higher than 100 Hz, ECA losses were comparable with those at the potential hold condition. However, for lower frequencies, ECA decreased significantly with decreasing frequency. TEM observations showed that there was marked Pt particle growth for the 1-Hz cycling condition, whereas particle size distributions at 100 Hz and potential hold conditions were comparable. The currents associated with Pt oxidation and reduction during potential cycling were also investigated at various potentials and frequencies, and the charges associated with Pt loss (Δ Q) were determined by integrating the measured current. A correlation between the ECA trend and Δ Q was observed. The results obtained in this study are considered informative for electrical engineering research, because it relates to the design of switching power converters that do not negatively influence the Pt/C catalyst durability.

Comparison of two methods for magnetic field synthesis on a solenoid’s axis

Magnetic field synthesis problems have been discussed at length in scientific literature but they still remain as a topic of research in electrical engineering, physics and medical applications. In these disciplines, there is often a need to design an electromagnetic arrangement which can generate a magnetic field of required distribution. Such an arrangement can also work as an active shield. The aim of an active shield is to generate a specified magnetic field which counteracts the external magnetic fields in a protected region. The idea of active shielding is to construct a suitable arrangement of coils, excited with currents that generate an opposite magnetic field sufficient to cancel out the unwanted external fields. The opposite field must have the same frequency and amplitude as the external field. If the incident field presents a wide bandwidth, the final aim is to generate an opposite field in the same frequency range or at least in a range as large as possible. Two independent methods of magnetic fields synthesis, i.e. iteratively regularized Gauss–Newton method and Genetic Algorithm coupled with Bezier curves-based method, are discussed and compared in this paper.

Study of Different Architectures of Fault-Tolerant Actuator Using a Two-Channel PM Motor

In the context of more electric aircraft, the use of electric actuators instead of hydraulic ones is one of the main topics of research and development in electrical engineering. A high level of reliability, the redundancy, and the compactness are required for aircraft electrical actuators. For achieving these purposes, a classical solution consists in using two identical actuators motorized by one permanent magnet (PM) motor supplied by a voltage source inverter (VSI). In this paper, a solution based on the use of only one fault-tolerant actuator performed by a two-star connected-winding (two-channel) PM motor supplied by two pulsewidth modulated VSIs is proposed. The design of the PM motor can be achieved in two different ways, which are proposed and studied in this paper. The authors focus this paper on the comparison between the two winding architectures and compare the two motors in terms of the short-circuit current and magnetic decoupling of the two windings. Both simulation and experimental results are given and discussed.

Computer Applications in Power Electronic Systems

Applications in Power System is place an important role to verify the system performance and real time monitoring systems. Most of the Electrical system uses LABVIEW and other software to monitor real time electrical transition. In this paper we are focusing on Power Electronic Conversion system. Power Electronic System is easily simulated using MATLAB Software. Here we are giving easy simulation of Matrix converter and its result. Clean power development in power electronic system is an emerging area of research in Electrical Engineering. Most of the power electronic system introduces harmonics in power system. Elimination of harmonic is a tedious process. Different control strategy should be developed to reduce the harmonic. In Rectifier fed Inverter system has many disadvantages because of DC link filter. Matrix converter avoids this DC link filter and output approaches input. In this paper we have simulated Single phase Matrix Converter. Computer based simulation using MATLAB and Real Time implementation using PIC89C51 validate its originality. Finally we have compared different values of Harmonics.

Electrical Engineering Hall of Fame: John B. Whitehead

In 1941 the AIEE awarded the Edison Medal to John B. Whitehead for his contributions in the fields of electrical engineering and dielectric research, and for his achievements in engineering education.

Design and New Control of DC/DC Converters to Share Energy Between Supercapacitors and Batteries in Hybrid Vehicles

In this paper, the authors propose the supercapacitor integration strategy in a hybrid series vehicle. The designed vehicle is an experimental test bench developed at the laboratory of electrical engineering and systems (L2ES) in collaboration with the research in electrical engineering and electronics center of Belfort (CREEBEL). This test bench currently has two diesel motors (each connected to one alternator) and lead-acid batteries with a voltage rating of 540 V and a fluctuation margin between +12% and -20% of the rated voltage. The alternators are connected to the dc link by rectifiers. An original strategy of the supercapacitor integration in this vehicle with their control is presented to find a better compromise between the dimensions of the embarked devices, the share energy efficiency, the dynamics of the supply, and the electric power storage. The supercapacitor packs are made up of two modules of 108 cells each and present a maximum voltage of 270 V. The main objective is to provide a peak power of 216 kW over 20 s from supercapacitors to the dc link. Various topologies of dc/dc converters are presented with effective methodologies of electric power management in the hybrid vehicle.

Application of a Sensemaking Approach to Ethics Training in the Physical Sciences and Engineering

Integrity is a critical determinant of the effectiveness of research organizations in terms of producing high quality research and educating the new generation of scientists. A number of responsible conduct of research (RCR) training programs have been developed to address this growing organizational concern. However, in spite of a significant body of research in ethics training, it is still unknown which approach has the highest potential to enhance researchers' integrity. One of the approaches showing some promise in improving researchers' integrity has focused on the development of ethical decision-making skills. The current effort proposes a novel curriculum that focuses on broad metacognitive reasoning strategies researchers use when making sense of day-to-day social and professional practices that have ethical implications for the physical sciences and engineering. This sensemaking training has been implemented in a professional sample of scientists conducting research in electrical engineering, atmospheric and computer sciences at a large multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary, and multi-university research center. A pre-post design was used to assess training effectiveness using scenario-based ethical decision-making measures. The training resulted in enhanced ethical decision-making of researchers in relation to four ethical conduct areas, namely data management, study conduct, professional practices, and business practices. In addition, sensemaking training led to researchers' preference for decisions involving the application of the broad metacognitive reasoning strategies. Individual trainee and training characteristics were used to explain the study findings. Broad implications of the findings for ethics training development, implementation, and evaluation in the sciences are discussed.

High-speed, Ultrahigh Resolution Optical Coherence Tomography of the Retina in Hunter Syndrome

A 42-year-old man with Hunter syndrome developed bilateral visual field loss. Visual field testing demon-strated bilateral ring scotomata that corresponded to areas of thinning seen on standard resolution optical coherence tomography. High-speed, ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography, capable of 3.5-micron axial resolution, showed a loss of photoreceptors outside the fovea and cystoid spaces within the inner nuclear, ganglion cell, and outer nuclear layers. These results were consistent with histopathologic features that have been reported previously in patients with Hunter syndrome. Optical coherence tomography could be used as a diagnostic modality to monitor patients with Hunter syndrome and to detect subclinical forms of disease.

Stephen Forrest, vice-president for research and William Gould Dow professor in electrical engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Stephen Forrest, vice-president for research and William Gould Dow professor in electrical engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

From the Guest Editor—Special Cluster on Operations Research in Electrical and Computer Engineering

My research in optimization at the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University has brought me into contact with researchers in the Department of Electronics, our sister department in the general field of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), which has a major research thrust in computer-aided design (CAD) of very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits. I have come to realize that the design of VLSI systems consists in large part of solving incredibly massive mixed-integer nonlinear optimization problems, together with enormous circuit simulations. This is impossible without the use of CAD techniques. Over time, ECE-CAD researchers have both borrowed useful standard techniques from operations research (OR) and have invented their own, often to deal with the sheer scale and complexity of the design problems they face. Interaction between the OR and ECE-CAD communities would seem to be a natural development. Coincidentally, the INFORMS Journal on Computing had an area entitled “High Performance Computation” that covered (i) the solution of OR problems using new computing technologies, (ii) the application of OR techniques in the design and use of highperformance computing and communication systems, and (iii) solution methods for ultra-large-scale OR applications. The viability of this area was debated during 2003 as some of its aspects migrated to other areas (e.g., the new “Telecommunications and Electronic Commerce” area), and the number of submissions declined. The area was eventually closed, although I argued that the overlap between OR and ECE-CAD, essentially covering items (ii) and (iii), was a very active research area. This Special Cluster of papers was conceived as a way to test that argument. I was recruited at the same time to prepare a tutorial on ECE-CAD for the 2004 INFORMS Annual Meeting (see John W. Chinneck, Michel Nakhla, and Q. J. Zhang 2004. Computer-aided design for electrical and computer engineering. H. J. Greenberg, ed. Tutorials on Emerging Methodologies and Applications in Operations Research. Springer, New York, 6-1 to 6-44). The preparation of the article reinforced my observation about the research overlap between OR and ECE-CAD. A search of the electrical engineering literature for 2000 through early 2004 turned up 46,725 papers mentioning “simulate” or “simulation” as keywords in the abstract, 14,216 papers mentioning “optimization” or “optimize,” and relatively smaller numbers for specific techniques such as “neural network” (6,251), “genetic algorithm” (2,603), “linear programming” (576), “simulated annealing” (448), and “branch and bound” (199). One surprise was the relatively small number of papers using the generic keywords “mathematical programming” (68) or “operations research” (37). The general conclusion of the tutorial article is that the OR and the ECE-CAD communities have much to offer each other. This is certainly the case for the papers gathered in this Special Cluster. We see known OR techniques adapted for use in ECECAD. In “Integer Linear Programming Models for Global Routing,” Behjat et al. apply integer linear programming in a heuristic to solve enormous NPhard connection routing problems for VLSI circuits. In “Task Scheduling in a Finite-Resource, Reconfigurable Hardware/Software Codesign Environment,” Loo and Wells use simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, and random search techniques to solve scheduling problems in hardware-software co-design. We also see new techniques specifically developed by the ECE-CAD community to deal with problems of extreme scale. In “A Projection-Based Reduction Approach to Computing Sensitivity of Steady-State Response of Nonlinear Circuits,” Pai et al. develop methods for sensitivity analysis in extremely large nonlinear programs, especially those in which the objective function is very costly to evaluate. The methods have special relevance for simulation-based