A methodological framework for benchmarking smart transport cities

Besides responding to challenges of rapid urbanization and growing traffic congestion, the development of smart transport systems has attracted much attention in recent times. Many promising initiatives have emerged over the years. Despite these initiatives, there is still a lack of understanding about an appropriate definition of smart transport system. As such, it is challenging to identify the appropriate indicators of ‘smartness’. This paper proposes a comprehensive and practical framework to benchmark cities according to the smartness in their transportation systems. The proposed methodology was illustrated using a set of data collected from 26 cities across the world through web search and contacting relevant transport authorities and agencies. Results showed that London, Seattle and Sydney were among the world’s top smart transport cities. In particular, Seattle and Paris ranked high in smart private transport services while London and Singapore scored high on public transport services. London also appeared to be the smartest in terms of emergency transport services. The key value of the proposed innovative framework lies in a comparative analysis among cities, facilitating city-to-city learning.

Towards persistent visual navigation using SMART

In this paper, we present SMART (Sequence Matching Across Route Traversals): a vision- based place recognition system that uses whole image matching techniques and odometry information to improve the precision-recall performance, latency and general applicability of the SeqSLAM algorithm. We evaluate the system’s performance on challenging day and night journeys over several kilometres at widely varying vehicle velocities from 0 to 60 km/h, compare performance to the current state-of- the-art SeqSLAM algorithm, and provide parameter studies that evaluate the effectiveness of each system component. Using 30-metre sequences, SMART achieves place recognition performance of 81% recall at 100% precision, outperforming SeqSLAM, and is robust to significant degradations in odometry.

Perdido : the first Smart Field in the western hemisphere

Located in the Gulf of Mexico in nearly 8,000 feet of water, the Perdido development is the world’s deepest spar and Shell’s first Smart Field in the Western hemisphere. Jointly developed by Shell, BP, and Chevron, the spar and the subsea equipment connected to it will eventually capture approximately an order of magnitude more data than is collected from any other Shell-designed and managed development currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico. This paper will describe Shell’s Smart Fields design philosophy, briefly explain the five design elements that underpin “smartness” in Shell’s North and South American operations—specifically, remote assisted operations, exception-based surveillance, collaborative work environments, hydrocarbon development tools and workflows, and Smart Fields Foundation IT infrastructure—and shed light on the process by which a highly customized Smart Fields development and management plan was put together for Perdido.

Transit passenger segmentation using travel regularity mined from Smart Card transactions data

Transit passenger market segmentation enables transit operators to target different classes of transit users to provide customized information and services. The Smart Card (SC) data, from Automated Fare Collection system, facilitates the understanding of multiday travel regularity of transit passengers, and can be used to segment them into identifiable classes of similar behaviors and needs. However, the use of SC data for market segmentation has attracted very limited attention in the literature. This paper proposes a novel methodology for mining spatial and temporal travel regularity from each individual passenger’s historical SC transactions and segments them into four segments of transit users. After reconstructing the travel itineraries from historical SC transactions, the paper adopts the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Application with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm to mine travel regularity of each SC user. The travel regularity is then used to segment SC users by an a priori market segmentation approach. The methodology proposed in this paper assists transit operators to understand their passengers and provide them oriented information and services.

Coordinated control of grid connected photovoltaic reactive power and battery energy storage systems to improve the voltage profile of a residential distribution feeder

Increasing penetration of photovoltaic (PV) as well as increasing peak load demand has resulted in poor voltage profile for some residential distribution networks. This paper proposes coordinated use of PV and Battery Energy Storage (BES) to address voltage rise and/or dip problems. The reactive capability of PV inverter combined with droop based BES system is evaluated for rural and urban scenarios (having different R/X ratios). Results show that reactive compensation from PV inverters alone is sufficient to maintain acceptable voltage profile in an urban scenario (low resistance feeder), whereas, coordinated PV and BES support is required for the rural scenario (high resistance feeder). Constant as well as variable droop based BES schemes are analyzed. The required BES sizing and associated cost to maintain the acceptable voltage profile under both schemes is presented. Uncertainties in PV generation and load are considered, with probabilistic estimation of PV generation and randomness in load modeled to characterize the effective utilization of BES. Actual PV generation data and distribution system network data is used to verify the efficacy of the proposed method.

Voltage regulation, power balancing and battery storage discharge control by smart demand side management and multi-objective decision making

A novel intelligent online demand side management system is proposed for peak load management. The method also regulates the network voltage, balances the power in three phases and coordinates the battery storage discharge within the network. This method uses low cost controllers with low bandwidth two-way communication installed in costumers' premises and at distribution transformers to manage the peak load while maximizing customer satisfaction. A multi-objective decision making process is proposed to select the load(s) to be delayed or controlled. The efficacy of the proposed control system is verified through an event-based developed simulation in Matlab.

Towards a smart cancer registry

Aims Pathology notification for a Cancer Registry is regarded as the most valid information for the confirmation of a diagnosis of cancer. In view of the importance of pathology data, an automatic medical text analysis system (Medtex) is being developed to perform electronic Cancer Registry data extraction and coding of important clinical information embedded within pathology reports. Methods The system automatically scans HL7 messages received from a Queensland pathology information system and analyses the reports for terms and concepts relevant to a cancer notification. A multitude of data items for cancer notification such as primary site, histological type, stage, and other synoptic data are classified by the system. The underlying extraction and classification technology is based on SNOMED CT1 2. The Queensland Cancer Registry business rules3 and International Classification of Diseases – Oncology – Version 34 have been incorporated. Results The cancer notification services show that the classification of notifiable reports can be achieved with sensitivities of 98% and specificities of 96%5, while the coding of cancer notification items such as basis of diagnosis, histological type and grade, primary site and laterality can be extracted with an overall accuracy of 80%6. In the case of lung cancer staging, the automated stages produced were accurate enough for the purposes of population level research and indicative staging prior to multi-disciplinary team meetings2 7. Medtex also allows for detailed tumour stream synoptic reporting8. Conclusions Medtex demonstrates how medical free-text processing could enable the automation of some Cancer Registry processes. Over 70% of Cancer Registry coding resources are devoted to information acquisition. The development of a clinical decision support system to unlock information from medical free-text could significantly reduce costs arising from duplicated processes and enable improved decision support, enhancing efficiency and timeliness of cancer information for Cancer Registries.

Interconnected autonomous microgrids in smart grids with self-healing

In order to minimize the number of load shedding in a Microgrid during autonomous operation, islanded neighbour microgrids can be interconnected if they are on a self-healing network and an extra generation capacity is available in Distributed Energy Resources (DER) in one of the microgrids. In this way, the total load in the system of interconnected microgrids can be shared by all the DERs within these microgrids. However, for this purpose, carefully designed self-healing and supply restoration control algorithm, protection systems and communication infrastructure are required at the network and microgrid levels. In this chapter, first a hierarchical control structure is discussed for interconnecting the neighbour autonomous microgrids where the introduced primary control level is the main focus. Through the developed primary control level, it demonstrates how the parallel DERs in the system of multiple interconnected autonomous microgrids can properly share the load in the system. This controller is designed such that the converter-interfaced DERs operate in a voltage-controlled mode following a decentralized power sharing algorithm based on droop control. The switching in the converters is controlled using a linear quadratic regulator based state feedback which is more stable than conventional proportional integrator controllers and this prevents instability among parallel DERs when two microgrids are interconnected. The efficacy of the primary control level of DERs in the system of multiple interconnected autonomous microgrids is validated through simulations considering detailed dynamic models of DERs and converters.

Optimal sizing of combined PV-energy storage for a grid-connected residential building

In this paper, load profile and operational goal are used to find optimal sizing of combined PV-energy storage for a future grid-connected residential building. As part of this approach, five operational goals are introduced and the annual cost for each operation goal has been assessed. Finally, the optimal sizing for combined PV-energy storage has been determined, using direct search method. In addition, sensitivity of the annual cost to different parameters has been analyzed.

Smart material interfaces : a vision

In this paper, we introduce a vision called Smart Material Interfaces (SMIs), which takes advantage of the latest generation of engineered materials that has a special property defined “smart”. They are capable of changing their physical properties, such as shape, size and color, and can be controlled by using certain stimuli (light, potential difference, temperature and so on). We describe SMIs in relation to Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) to convey the usefulness and a better understanding of SMIs.

Nonlinear analysis of plastic ball grid array solder joints

A nonlinear finite element analysis was carried out to investigate the viscoplastic deformation of solder joints in a ball grid array (BGA) package under temperature cycle. The effects of constraint on print circuit board (PCB) and stiffness of substrate on the deformation behaviour of the solder joints were also studied. A relative damage stress was adopted to analyze the potential failure sites in the solder joints. The results indicated that high inelastic strain and strain energy density were developed in the joints close to the package center. On the other hand, high constraint and high relative damage stress were associated with the joint closest to the edge of the silicon chip. The joint closest to the edge of the silicon chip was regarded as the most susceptible failure site if cavitation instability is the dominant failure mechanism. Increase the external constraint on the print circuit board (PCB) causes a slight increase in stress triaxiality (m/eq) and relative damage stress in the joint closest to the edge of silicon die. The relative damage stress is not sensitive to the Young’s modulus of the substrate.

Smart material interfaces : a new form of physical interaction

Smart Material Interface (SMI) is the latest generation of user interface that makes use of engineered materials and leverages their special properties. SMIs are capable of changing their physical properties such as shape, size and color, and can be controlled under certain (external) conditions. We provide an example of such an SMI in the form of a prototype of a vacuum cleaner. The prototype uses schematic electrochromic polymer at the suction nozzle of the vacuum cleaner, which changes its color depending on the dust level on a floor. We emphasize on the new affordances and communication language supported by SMIs, which challenges the current metaphors of user interfaces in the field of HCI.

Dry tropics water smart : a community based approach to residential outdoor water consumption

This paper discusses the Townsville City Council Dry Tropics Water Smart (DTWS) initiative, developed by TCC Integrated Sustainability Services (ISS) and Townsville Water, and informed by The University of Adelaide. The program draws on many years of experience by the TCC team to blend key community-based research approaches in order to develop this residential outdoor water conservation program. Several community pilots have been conducted to test different behaviour change strategies and messages. This paper outlines recent steps taken to develop the community trials, as guided by a combination of behaviour change theories including community-based social marketing and thematic communications methods. Some preliminary results are outlined focused on community uptake of different strategies, community perceptions of communication materials, and some insights into the effectiveness of outdoor water hardware.

Mode matching pursuit for estimating dominant modes in bulk power grid

This study presents a general approach to identify dominant oscillation modes in bulk power system by using wide-area measurement system. To automatically identify the dominant modes without artificial participation, spectral characteristic of power system oscillation mode is applied to distinguish electromechanical oscillation modes which are calculated by stochastic subspace method, and a proposed mode matching pursuit is adopted to discriminate the dominant modes from the trivial modes, then stepwise-refinement scheme is developed to remove outliers of the dominant modes and the highly accurate dominant modes of identification are obtained. The method is implemented on the dominant modes of China Southern Power Grid which is one of the largest AC/DC paralleling grids in the world. Simulation data and field-measurement data are used to demonstrate high accuracy and better robustness of the dominant modes identification approach.

Design of a robust grid interface system for PMSG-based wind turbine generators

A robust and reliable grid power interface system for wind turbines using a permanent-magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) is proposed in this paper, where an integration of a generator-side three-switch buck-type rectifier and a grid-side Z-source inverter is employed as a bridge between the generator and the grid. The modulation strategy for the proposed topology is developed from space-vector modulation and Z-source network operation principles. Two PMSG control methods, namely, unity-power-factor control and rotor-flux-orientation control (Id = 0), are studied to establish an optimized control scheme for the generator-side three-switch buck-type rectifier. The system control scheme decouples active- and reactive-power control through voltage-oriented control and optimizes PMSG control for the grid- and generator-side converters independently. Maximum power point tracking is implemented by adjusting the shoot-through duty cycles of the Z-source network. The design considerations of the passive components are also provided. The performances and practicalities of the designed architecture have been verified by simulations and experiments.