Connected devices are disrupting numerous business sectors, with the power utility industry being no exception. Power utility companies are currently facing four primary challenges driven by the growth of IoT:
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Machines, controllers, HMIs, and SCADA systems are increasingly being connected to the cloud by vendors who promise enhanced analytics and insights for predictive and preventative maintenance. However, strict quarantine policies regarding critical assets prevent power companies from utilizing these new IoT features provided by machine and controller vendors.
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As the cost of solar and wind power microgrids continues to decrease, utility companies will soon experience declining revenue from power generation. To offset this lost revenue, companies must aggressively pursue new income streams, such as home energy management as a service, energy storage as a service, and grid services for EV charging and peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading between homes, microgrids, and batteries. These services must be facilitated through smart metering, smart grids, and secure transactions enabled by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) like IOTA. Additionally, utilities are exploring the provision of certain smart city services to municipal authorities.
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For critical infrastructure such as dams, the ICOLD (International Committee of Large Dams) requires real-time Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) to detect impending collapse risks in dams, rocks, or tunnels, thereby allowing adequate time to evacuate affected populations.
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Another emerging revenue area is EV charging in parking facilities. The course will explore how IoT can facilitate 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 industry giants have invested billions in developing IoT platforms that are easier to manage and secure. IoT edge computing has gained significant momentum in both research and deployment as the primary means for practical IoT implementation. 5G promises to transform the IoT business landscape, leading to unprecedented funding for new research areas. Consequently, it is essential for practicing engineers to understand the IoT platforms developed by major players like AWS, Google, and especially Microsoft.
However, none of these platforms offer a fully comprehensive solution for scalable IoT. Deploying smart metering to millions of homes requires additional technologies to secure the meters, radio networks, IoT management tools, and various other secured services. The strategy, pricing, and security of any IoT deployment must be optimal and acceptable. Given the vast interdisciplinary knowledge required, it is nearly impossible for any single company to assemble a team capable of meeting all these requirements.
This course makes a modest attempt to educate key decision-makers, developers, and security experts on the challenges, risks, and practical methods for deploying IoT in next-generation power utility businesses.
Furthermore, with scalable deployment, managing IoT services for thousands of sensors and connections has emerged as a distinct engineering subject. This area, formerly known as managed IoT services, is experiencing rapid growth as the challenges of scalable IoT exceed the challenges of building it. This includes securing over-the-top firmware/software updates, managing sensor and system calibration, auto-diagnosing connection issues, pinpointing the root cause of API failures, and tracking the hardware and service health of distributed systems.
Course objectives
The main objective of the 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 components, electronics/sensor platforms, wireless and wireline protocols, mobile-to-electronics integration, mobile-to-enterprise integration, data analytics, and control plane applications.
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IoT technology stacks: Devices, gateways, edge, edge cloud, public cloud, IoT databases, web & mobile applications for IoT, centralized vs. decentralized IoT.
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The IoT ecosystem for business, third-party device management, and risk management of the entire IoT ecosystem.
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M2M wireless protocols for IoT: WiFi, SigFox, LoRa, LPWAN, Zigbee/Z-Wave, Bluetooth, ANT+ : When and where to use each.
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Fundamentals of IoT gateways: Risks, management, and ecosystem.
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Mobile/Desktop/Web apps for registration, data acquisition, and control – Overview of available M2M data acquisition platforms for IoT: AWS IoT, Azure IoT, Google IoT.
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Security issues and solutions for IoT: Review of security across all technology stacks.
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Enterprise IoT platforms such as Microsoft Azure IoT suites, AWS IoT, Google IoT, Siemens MindSphere.
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Smart metering, Open Smart Grid Protocols (OSGP), ANSI C2.18 protocols, NIST Standard for HAN (Home Area Network), HomePlug Powerline Alliance, Security Standard for Smart Meter: IEC 62056.
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Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) such as Blockchain, Hyperledger, and DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) for smart contracts, P2P transactions, and smart car charging.
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IoT applications for critical infrastructure like dams, transformers, substations, and high-tension wires.
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