Recent research at the University of Central Florida addressing crashes on Interstate-4 in Orlando, Florida has led to the creation of new statistical models capable of calculating the crash risk on the freeway (Abdel-Aty et al., 2004; 2005, Pande and Abdel-Aty, 2006). These models yield the rear-end and lane-change crash risk along the freeway in real-time by using static information at various locations along the freeway as well as real-time traffic data that is obtained from the roadway. Because these models use the real-time traffic data, they are capable of calculating the respective crash risk values as the traffic flow changes along the freeway. The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of two Intelligent Transportation System strategies for reducing the crash risk along the freeway by changing the traffic flow parameters. The two ITS measures that are examined in this research are route diversion and ramp metering. Route diversion serves to change the traffic flow by keeping some vehicles from entering the freeway at one location and diverting them to another location where they may be more efficiently inserted into the freeway traffic stream. Ramp metering alters the traffic flow by delaying vehicles at the freeway on-ramps and only allowing a certain number of vehicles to enter at a time. The two strategies were tested by simulating a 36.25 mile section of the Interstate-4 network in the PARAMICS micro-simulation software. Various implementations of route diversion and ramp metering were then tested to determine not only the effects of each strategy but also how to best apply them to an urban freeway. Route diversion was found to decrease the overall rear-end and lane-change crash risk along the network at free-flow conditions to low levels of congestion. On average, the two crash risk measures were found to be reduced between the location where vehicles were diverted and the location where they were reinserted back into the network. However, a crash migration phenomenon was observed at higher levels of congestion as the crash risk would be greatly increased at the location where vehicles were reinserted back onto the network. Ramp metering in the downtown area was found to be beneficial during heavy congestion. Both coordinated and uncoordinated metering algorithms showed the potential to significantly decrease the crash risk at a network wide level. When the network is loaded with 100 percent of the vehicles the uncoordinated strategy performed the best at reducing the rear-end and lane-change crash risk values. The coordinated strategy was found to perform the best from a safety and operational perspective at moderate levels of congestion. Ramp metering also showed the potential for crash migration so care must be taken when implementing this strategy to ensure that drivers at certain locations are not put at unnecessary risk. When ramp metering is applied to the entire freeway network both the rear-end and lane-change crash risk is decreased further. ALINEA is found to be the best network-wide strategy at the 100 percent loading case while a combination of Zone and ALINEA provides the best safety results at the 90 percent loading case. It should also be noted that both route diversion and ramp metering were found to increase the overall network travel time. However, the best route diversion and ramp metering strategies were selected to ensure that the operational capabilities of the network were not sacrificed in order to increase the safety along the freeway. This was done by setting the maximum allowable travel time increase at 5% for any of the ITS strategies considered.

Yes / The introduction of smart metering has brought more detailed information on the actual load profile of a house. With the ability to measure, comes the desire to control the load profile. Furthermore, advances in renewable energy have made the consumer to become supplier, known as Prosumer, who therefore also becomes interested in the detail of his load, and also his energy production. With the lowering cost of smart plugs and other automation units, it has become possible to schedule electrical appliances. This makes it possible to adjust the load profiles of houses. However, without a market in the demand side, the use of load profile modification techniques are unlikely to be adapted by consumers on the long term. In this research, we will be presenting work on scheduling of energy appliances to modify the load profiles within a market environment. The paper will review the literature on algorithms used in scheduling of appliances in residential areas. Whilst many algorithms presented in the literature show that scheduling of appliances is feasible, many issues arise with respect to user interaction, and hence adaptation. Furthermore, the criteria used to evaluate the algorithms is often related only to reducing energy consumption, and hence CO2. Whilst this a key factor, it may not necessarily meet the demands of the consumer. In this paper we will be presenting work on a novel genetic algorithm that will optimize the load profile while taking into account user participation indices. A novel measure of the comfort of the customer, derived from the standard deviation of the load profile, is proposed in order to encourage the customer to participate more actively in demand response programs. Different scenarios will also be tested. / This work was supported by the British Council and the UK Department of Business Innovation and Skills under GII funding for the SITARA project.

The need for a more sustainable approach to water consumption has increasingly gained attention in the last decade. The domestic sector accounts for over half of abstracted water in the UK and, as such, has become a major target for water efficiency interventions. Current research and water efficiency interventions are dominated by a positivist approach, focusing on a limited range of factors that can be quantitatively measured. This thesis questions the dominant approach and argues that a more holistic overview of water efficiency can be achieved through the consideration of socio-technical and behavioural theories. Taking a more constructivist approach, this research draws on four theories from socio-technical and behavioural fields and combines them to create a framework for the analysis of water efficiency interventions. The framework is applied to two case studies, exploring water users¿ perceptions of water, water supply, personal water use, and their responses to the water efficiency interventions. The case studies were selected to provide examples of current mainstream approaches to water demand management. Research methods used included semi-structured interviews and observation. The research findings support the argument that the current dominant approach to domestic water efficiency interventions is limited and, in some cases, ineffectual. Issues of trust, knowledge, motivation and the relationships between water users and water companies were raised. The thesis concludes that the use of a constructivist perspective could help to provide a more effective approach to understanding and improving water demand management.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a revolutionary paradigm approaching both industries and consumers everyday life. It refers to a network of addressable physical objects that contain embedded sensing, communication and actuating technologies, to sense and interact with the environment where being deployed. It can be considered as a modern expression of Mark Weiser's vision of ubiquitous computing where tiny networked computers become part of everyday objects, fusing together the virtual world and the physical word. Recent advances in hardware solutions have led to the emergence of powerful wireless IoT systems that are entirely energy-autonomous. These systems extract energy from their environment and operate intermittently, only as power is available. Battery-less sensors present an opportunity for the pervasive wide-spread of remote sensor deployments that require little maintenance and have low cost. As the number of IoT endpoint grows -- industry forecast trillions of connected smart devices in the next few years -- new challenges to program, manage and maintain such a huge number of connected devices are emerging. Web technologies can significantly ease this process by providing well-known patterns and tools - like cloud computing - for developers and users. However, the existing solutions are often too heavyweight or unfeasible for highly resource-constrained IoT devices. This dissertation presents a comprehensive analysis of two of the biggest problems that the IoT is currently facing: R1) How are we going to provide connectivity to all these devices? R2) How can we improve the quality of service provided by these tiny autonomous motes that rely only on limited energy scavenged from the environment? The first contribution is the study and deployment of a Low-Power Wide-Area-Network as a feasible solution to provide connectivity to all the expected IoT devices to be deployed in the following years. The proposed technology offers a novel communication paradigm to address discrete IoT applications, like long-range (i.e., kilometers) at low-power (i.e., tens of mW). Moreover, results highlight the effectiveness of the technology also in the industrial environment thanks to the high immunity to external noises. In the second contribution, we focus on smart metering presenting the design of three smart energy meters targeted to different scenarios. The first design presents an innovative, cost-effective smart meter with embedded non-intrusive load monitoring capabilities intended for the domestic sector. This system shows an innovative approach to provide useful feedback to reduce and optimize household energy consumption. We then present a battery-free non-intrusive power meter targeted for low-cost energy monitoring applications that lower both installation cost due to the non-intrusive approach and maintenance costs associated to battery replacement. Finally, we present an energy autonomous smart sensor with load recognition capability that dynamically adapts and reconfigures its processing pipeline to the sensed energy consumption. This enables the sensor to be energy neutral, while still providing power consumption information every 5 minutes. In the third contribution, we focus on the study of low-power visual edge processing and edge machine learning for the IoT. Two different implementations are presented. The first one discusses an energy-neutral IoT device for precision agriculture, while the second one presents a battery-less long-range visual IoT system, both leveraging on deep learning algorithms to avoid unnecessary wireless data communication. We show that there is a clear benefit from implementing a first layer of data processing directly in-situ where the data is acquired, providing a higher quality of service to the implemented application.

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Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2018-11-12T14:43:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 kamilaperesrocha.pdf: 4837972 bytes, checksum: 8ccb175cc20788fe527b134046b240f4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-11-23T13:11:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 kamilaperesrocha.pdf: 4837972 bytes, checksum: 8ccb175cc20788fe527b134046b240f4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-23T13:11:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 kamilaperesrocha.pdf: 4837972 bytes, checksum: 8ccb175cc20788fe527b134046b240f4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-29 / O presente trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para o planejamento ótimo de microrredes em redes de distribuição de energia elétrica. Para tanto, é apresentada a formulação dos elementos propostos incluindo sua modelagem técnico-econômica. O objetivo principal é a abordagem das vantagens do sistema de compensação de energia elétrica estipulado pela resolução normativa n◦ 482/2012 da ANEEL, na busca por redução dos custos de energia em um horizonte de planejamento de longo prazo. Para isso, faz-se a utilização da meta-heurística denominada SIA com propósito de obter o dimensionamento otimizado dos elementos da microrrede. A determinação dessa técnica se deve a quantidade de combinações possíveis devido a complexidade do problema apresentado. É traçado, ainda, um comparativo com o método de busca exaustiva para análise das soluções geradas e do tempo computacional requerido para as duas metodologias propostas. O projeto aborda a implantação de fontes de energia renovável eólica e solar e gerador a diesel para análise de estudos de caso para consumidores comercial e residencial. Por último, é realizado um comparativo com resultados provenientes de um software de dimensionamento de microrredes, denominado HOMER Pro R . / The present work presents a methodology for the optimal planning of microgrids in electricitydistributionnetworks. Forthatreason, theformulationoftheproposedelements includingtheirtechnical-economicmodelingispresented. Themainobjectiveistoapproach the advantages of the net metering stipulated by ANEEL normative resolution 482/2012, in the search for reduction of energy costs in a long-term planning horizon. Therefore, the meta-heuristic called SIA is implemented with the purpose of obtaining the optimized sizing of the elements of the microgrid. The determination of this technique come from the amount of possible combinations due to the complexity of the presented problem. A comparison with the exhaustive search method for the analysis of the generated solutions and the computational time required for the two proposed methodologies is also drawn. The project addresses the deployment of wind and solar renewable energy sources and diesel generator for analysis of case studies for commercial and residential consumers. Finally, a comparison is made with results from HOMER Pro R, a microgrid software.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This Master s dissertation presents the development of a methodology to evaluate and estimate the behavior of the residential consumer facing the application of the white hourly tariff. In the context of the Smart Grids, this rate is applied aiming to encourage the consumers to shift their consumption to times of lower loading of system, looking for a better utilization of the infrastructure of the electric system. Considering this, the proposed methodology considers the analysis about the habits of use of electric shower, which is the household equipment that presents the greatest contribution on the final consumption and on the peak of the load curve of residential consumers. In this way the analysis considers data from the Brazilian Center of Information in Energy Efficiency - PROCEL INFO, which includes information about habits of use of household. This database, combined with the application of the Monte Carlo method, provide an overview of the possible effects of the application of the hourly rate to the consumers and to the electrical system, as well as, a guideline of actions that can be taken for a better adaptation of the consumers, considering this new trend. / Esta dissertação apresenta o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia para avaliar e estimar o comportamento do consumidor residencial frente a aplicação da tarifa horária branca. No contexto das Redes Elétricas Inteligentes, esta tarifa visa incentivar os consumidores a deslocarem o seu consumo para horários de menor carregamento do sistema e, consequentemente, buscar um melhor aproveitamento da infraestrutura do sistema elétrico. Neste sentido, a metodologia proposta considera a análise sobre os hábitos de utilização do chuveiro elétrico, carga com maior representatividade no consumo final e na ponta da curva de carga dos consumidores residenciais. Desta forma, são utilizados dados do Centro Brasileiro de Informação de Eficiência Energética PROCEL INFO, que reúne uma base de informações sobre os hábitos de utilização de equipamentos oriunda de pesquisas realizadas no mercado residencial brasileiro no ano de 2005. Esta base de dados, aliada a aplicação do Método de Monte Carlo, fornece uma visão dos possíveis efeitos da aplicação da tarifa horária para o consumidor e para o sistema elétrico, assim como, nortear ações que possam ser tomadas em função de uma melhor adaptação do consumidor frente a esta nova tendência.

In the European Union (EU), increasing final energy efficiency, so as to save energy, has become mandatory. This obligation will fundamentally alter the EU energy sector. The relevant EU directive, 2006/32/EG, requires that adjustments be made to energy billing and, where technically feasible, that new metering technologies (i.e. smart metering) be introduced. Individual EU countries are implementing these requirements in different ways: Smart metering is either being nearly fully implemented (e.g. in Italy), is being planned (e.g. in Germany), or completely disregarded (e.g. in the Czech Republic). Since the introduction of smart metering affects virtually all value-added steps, organisational structures and areas of operation in medium-sized energy providers, these providers must take the relevant requirements into account at as early a stage as possible. The present thesis analyses the effects of the introduction of smart metering on the business management of such companies. A deductive method was chosen and the effects of intro- ducing smart metering were assessed through a cross-sectional study of two separate data collections. Experts were interviewed and their statements were qualitatively evaluated. A written survey followed via online questionnaires, the results of which were quantitatively evaluated. Institutional, functional and activity-based perspectives were considered as well as normative, strategic and operative aspects of business management. The evaluation of the survey enabled a better assessment and analysis of the introduction of smart metering. An analysis of the scope of the upcoming alterations within energy providers illustrates just how fundamental a change this will bring to medium-sized energy providers. However, the outcome of the written survey shows that most executives do not recognise this need for change and therefore are unable to initiate it. These management deficiencies threaten the very existence of these companies and must be resolved through the timely initiation of consistent change management.