Practical assessment of hardware limitations on power aware wireless sensor networks - An anti-windup approach

This work considers the effect of hardware constraints that typically arise in practical power-aware wireless sensor network systems. A rigorous methodology is presented that quantifies the effect of output power limit and quantization constraints on bit error rate performance. The approach uses a novel, intuitively appealing means of addressing the output power constraint, wherein the attendant saturation block is mapped from the output of the plant to its input and compensation is then achieved using a robust anti-windup scheme. A priori levels of system performance are attained using a quantitative feedback theory approach on the initial, linear stage of the design paradigm. This hybrid design is assessed experimentally using a fully compliant 802.15.4 testbed where mobility is introduced through the use of autonomous robots. A benchmark comparison between the new approach and a number of existing strategies is also presented.

Optimisation of Smart Grid performance using centralised and distributed control techniques

A massive change is currently taking place in the manner in which power networks are operated. Traditionally, power networks consisted of large power stations which were controlled from centralised locations. The trend in modern power networks is for generated power to be produced by a diverse array of energy sources which are spread over a large geographical area. As a result, controlling these systems from a centralised controller is impractical. Thus, future power networks will be controlled by a large number of intelligent distributed controllers which must work together to coordinate their actions. The term Smart Grid is the umbrella term used to denote this combination of power systems, artificial intelligence, and communications engineering. This thesis focuses on the application of optimal control techniques to Smart Grids with a focus in particular on iterative distributed MPC. A novel convergence and stability proof for iterative distributed MPC based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers is derived. Distributed and centralised MPC, and an optimised PID controllers' performance are then compared when applied to a highly interconnected, nonlinear, MIMO testbed based on a part of the Nordic power grid. Finally, a novel tuning algorithm is proposed for iterative distributed MPC which simultaneously optimises both the closed loop performance and the communication overhead associated with the desired control.

Exploring a new transmission window for telecommunications in the 2 μm waveband

In this paper, we will demonstrate the possibility of opening a new telecommunications transmission window around the 2 μm wavelength, in order to exploit the potential low loss of hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers, with the benefits of significantly lower non-linearity and latency. We will show recent efforts developing a dense wavelength division multiplexing testbed at this waveband, with 100 GHz spacing wavelength channels and 105 Gbit/s total capacity achieved.