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ISBN : 978-1-4799-7799-4International audienceNowadays, interconnected ubiquitous objects are more and more present in different applications as a technical solution to collect, every time and everywhere, great amounts of data which are accessible through the Internet. One interesting area of application is the monitoring of cattle, in order not only to improve the farming working conditions but also to better know the behavior of the animals. In this work, a geolocation and monitoring platform oriented to extensive farming in mountain environments is presented. The proposed solution is composed of low power long range communication geolocation devices and a dedicated interface, accessible by means of different portable devices, which allows users to access and study the collected data

Smart Grids (SGs) constitute the evolution of the traditional electrical grid towards a new paradigm, which should increase the reliability, the security and, at the same time, reduce the costs of energy generation, distribution and consumption. Electrical microgrids (MGs) can be considered the first stage of this evolution of the grid, because of the intelligent management techniques that must be applied to assure their correct operation. To accomplish this task, sensors and actuators will be necessary, along with wireless communication technologies to transmit the measured data and the command messages. Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSANs) are therefore a promising solution to achieve an intelligent management of MGs and, by extension, the SG. In this frame, this paper surveys several aspects concerning the application of WSANs to manage MGs and the electrical grid, as well as the communication protocols that could be applied. The main concerns regarding the SG deployment are also presented, including future scenarios where the interoperability of different generation technologies must be assured.

ISSN: 2161-3915International audienceThe traditional electrical grid must evolve to an intelligent smart grid (SG) to achieve efficiency, reliability, environmental and power quality improvements. Communication techniques and protocols will be crucial to manage the SG. This paper studies the communication requirements for SGs and describes the most suitable communication protocols, wired and wireless, with special attention to the latest proposals in this field. The security issues derived from data transmission through electrical grids are also analysed with a deep description of the current best practices employed to assure the SG protection face to intrusions

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Purpose -Nowadays, distributed generation and microgrids (MGs) are becoming an important research line because of their peculiar characteristics. MGs are composed of small power sources which can be renewable, placed near customer sites. Moreover, they have the inherent property of islanding: the disconnection of either the MG from the main grid or a part of a MG from the rest of the MG. The purpose of this paper is to study two different control strategies allowing grid connected and islanding operation of the MG. Design/methodology/approach -In this paper, the behaviour of a particular MG during grid connected and islanding operation is investigated. The studied MG is based on different energy sources: a wind turbine, a photovoltaic array, a backup diesel generator and a storage system. The renewable sources and the storage system are connected on a DC bus which is interconnected with a main grid through a voltage source inverter (VSI). The attention focuses on the control technique of the VSI during grid connected and islanding operation of the MG. The behaviour of the AC signals on the point of common coupling between the MG and the main grid as well as the DC signals on the DC bus on which are connected renewable energy sources of the MG has been investigated by simulation using a MATLAB/Simulink model. Findings -For the investigated MG, the simulation results show that using a single master VSI and classical control strategies, it is possible to have a good power quality on the MG during grid connection and islanding operation. Originality/value -This paper investigates the behaviour of a particular MG in order to analyse two different control strategies allowing grid connected and islanding operation.

During the last decade, the smart grid (SG) concept has started to become a reality, mainly thanks to the technical progress achieved in telecommunications, informatics and power electronics, among other domains, leading to an evolution of the traditional electrical grid into an intelligent one. Nowadays, the SG can be seen as a system of smart systems that include cyber and physical parts from different technologies that interact with each other. In this context, intelligent buildings (IBs) constitute a paradigm in which such smart systems are able to guarantee the comfort of residents while ensuring an appropriate tradeoff of energy production and consumption by means of an energy management system (EMS). These interconnected EMSs remain the objective of potential cyber-attacks, which is a major concern. Therefore, this paper conducts a survey, from a multidisciplinary point of view, of some of the main security and privacy issues related to IBs as part of the SG, including an overview of EMS, smart meters, and the main communication networks employed to connect IBs to the overall SG. Future research directions towards a security enhancement from both technical and human perspectives are also provided.

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