Citation
Maxim Buevich, Dan Schnitzer, Tristan Escalada, Arthur Jacuiau-Chamski, Anthony Rowe. "A System for Fine-Grained Remote Monitoring, Control and Pre-Paid Electrical Service in Rural Microgrids". The 13th ACM/IEEE Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN), ACM/IEEE, 15, April, 2014.

Abstract
In this paper, we present the architecture, design and experiences from a wirelessly managed microgrid deployment in rural Haiti. The system consists of a threetiered architecture with a cloud-based monitoring and control service, a local embedded gateway infrastructure and a mesh network of wireless smart meters deployed at 52 buildings. Each smart meter device has an 802.15.4 radio that enables remote monitoring and control of electrical service. The meters communicate over a scalable multi-hop TDMA network back to a central gateway that manages the load within the system. The gateway also provides an 802.11 interface for an on-site operator and a cellular modem connection to a cloudbackend that manages and stores billing and usage data. The cloud backend allows occupants in each home to pre-pay for electricity at a particular peak power limit using a text messaging service. The system activates each meter within seconds and locally enforces power limits with provisioning for rapid theft detection. We believe that this fine-grained micro-payment model can enable sustainable power in otherwise unfeasible areas. This paper provides a chronology of a deployment that currently powers 52 homes in Les Anglais, Haiti. We will discuss an installation strategy that involved GPS-based site mapping along with various network conditioning actions required as the network evolved. Finally, we summarize key lessons learned and introduce a hardware circuit that can be used to ease the tracing of faults like short circuits and downed lines within microgrids.

Electronic downloads

• https://www.src.org/library/publication/p069357/. (Link to SRC publication upload)
• http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~agr/resources/publications/ipsn2014-la.pdf

• HTML

  Maxim Buevich, Dan Schnitzer, Tristan Escalada, Arthur
  Jacuiau-Chamski, Anthony Rowe. <a
  href="http://www.terraswarm.org/pubs/254.html"
  >A System for Fine-Grained Remote Monitoring, Control and
  Pre-Paid Electrical Service in Rural Microgrids</a>,
  The 13th ACM/IEEE Conference on Information Processing in
  Sensor Networks (IPSN), ACM/IEEE, 15, April, 2014.

• Plain text

  Maxim Buevich, Dan Schnitzer, Tristan Escalada, Arthur
  Jacuiau-Chamski, Anthony Rowe. "A System for
  Fine-Grained Remote Monitoring, Control and Pre-Paid
  Electrical Service in Rural Microgrids". The 13th
  ACM/IEEE Conference on Information Processing in Sensor
  Networks (IPSN), ACM/IEEE, 15, April, 2014.

• BibTeX

  @inproceedings{BuevichSchnitzerEscaladaJacuiauChamskiRowe14_SystemForFineGrainedRemoteMonitoringControlPrePaid,
      author = {Maxim Buevich and Dan Schnitzer and Tristan
                Escalada and Arthur Jacuiau-Chamski and Anthony
                Rowe},
      title = {A System for Fine-Grained Remote Monitoring,
                Control and Pre-Paid Electrical Service in Rural
                Microgrids},
      booktitle = {The 13th ACM/IEEE Conference on Information
                Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN)},
      organization = {ACM/IEEE},
      day = {15},
      month = {April},
      year = {2014},
      abstract = {In this paper, we present the architecture, design
                and experiences from a wirelessly managed
                microgrid deployment in rural Haiti. The system
                consists of a threetiered architecture with a
                cloud-based monitoring and control service, a
                local embedded gateway infrastructure and a mesh
                network of wireless smart meters deployed at 52
                buildings. Each smart meter device has an 802.15.4
                radio that enables remote monitoring and control
                of electrical service. The meters communicate over
                a scalable multi-hop TDMA network back to a
                central gateway that manages the load within the
                system. The gateway also provides an 802.11
                interface for an on-site operator and a cellular
                modem connection to a cloudbackend that manages
                and stores billing and usage data. The cloud
                backend allows occupants in each home to pre-pay
                for electricity at a particular peak power limit
                using a text messaging service. The system
                activates each meter within seconds and locally
                enforces power limits with provisioning for rapid
                theft detection. We believe that this fine-grained
                micro-payment model can enable sustainable power
                in otherwise unfeasible areas. This paper provides
                a chronology of a deployment that currently powers
                52 homes in Les Anglais, Haiti. We will discuss an
                installation strategy that involved GPS-based site
                mapping along with various network conditioning
                actions required as the network evolved. Finally,
                we summarize key lessons learned and introduce a
                hardware circuit that can be used to ease the
                tracing of faults like short circuits and downed
                lines within microgrids. },
      URL = {http://terraswarm.org/pubs/254.html}
  }
  

Posted by Barb Hoversten on 9 Feb 2014.