scholarly journals Intelligent UAV Deployment for a Disaster-Resilient Wireless Network

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 6140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassaan Hydher ◽  
Dushantha Nalin K. Jayakody ◽  
Kasun T. Hemachandra ◽  
Tharaka Samarasinghe

Deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as aerial base stations (ABSs) has been considered to be a feasible solution to provide network coverage in scenarios where the conventional terrestrial network is overloaded or inaccessible due to an emergency situation. This article studies the problem of optimal placement of the UAVs as ABSs to enable network connectivity for the users in such a scenario. The main contributions of this work include a less complex approach to optimally position the UAVs and to assign user equipment (UE) to each ABS, such that the total spectral efficiency (TSE) of the network is maximized, while maintaining a minimum QoS requirement for the UEs. The main advantage of the proposed approach is that it only requires the knowledge of UE and ABS locations and statistical channel state information. The optimal 2-dimensional (2D) positions of the ABSs and the UE assignments are found using K-means clustering and a stable marriage approach, considering the characteristics of the air-to-ground propagation channels, the impact of co-channel interference from other ABSs, and the energy constraints of the ABSs. Two approaches are proposed to find the optimal altitudes of the ABSs, using search space constrained exhaustive search and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The numerical results show that the PSO-based approach results in higher TSE compared to the exhaustive search-based approach in dense networks, consuming similar amount of energy for ABS movements. Both approaches lead up to approximately 8-fold energy savings compared to ABS placement using naive exhaustive search.

Author(s):  
Hassaan Hydher ◽  
Dushantha Nalin K. Jayakody ◽  
Kasun Hemachandra ◽  
Tharaka Samarasinghe

Deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as aerial base stations (ABSs) has been considered to be a feasible solution to provide network coverage in scenarios where the conventional terrestrial network is overloaded or inaccessible due to an emergency situation. This article studies the problem of optimal placement of the UAVs as ABSs to enable network connectivity to the users in a coverage free zone. The main contributions of this work include two approaches to position the UAVs and to assign user equipment (UE) to each UAV, such that the sum-rate and the coverage probability of the network is maximized. An approach can be selected depending on the prevailing scenario. The first approach uses clustering algorithm to determine the 2D positioning of the UAV and a matching algorithm is used for UE assignment by considering the characteristics of the air-to-ground propagation channels as well as the impact of co-channel interference from ABSs. Then it uses exhaustive search on different altitudes to find the optimal altitude. In the second approach, 2D positioning and UE assignment are done similarly to the first approach. However, the sub-optimal altitude is estimated using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The first approach is suitable for a system which has computational resource constraints or lower probability of line of sight (LoS) links. In contrast, the second approach is suitable for data rate greedy systems or a higher probability of LoS links.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Ijumba ◽  
Adoniya Ben Sebitosi

South Africa experienced a rapid expansion in the electric power consumer base after 1994 that was not matched by corresponding investment in the country’s generation capacity. By the dawn of 2008, the situation had reached a critical point, with regular countrywide blackouts and load shedding and is expected to persist for several years, before the proposed new base stations can come online. Currently, 92% of the country’s electricity is generated in coal-based power stations and are responsible for the country’s heavy carbon footprint. Additionally this power must crisscross the country to distant load centres via an aging transmission infrastructure and in the process massive amounts of energy are lost particularly during peak power demand. Electricity consumption in South African households accounts for approximately 35% of peak demand, with water heating constituting 40% of that. The country has abundant sunshine and solar water heating technology and offers one of the most viable compiementary solutions to the country’s energy and environmental crises. Moreover the location of the systems at the consumer end means that the need to upgrade the transmission infrastructure can also be differed.Application of technology alone however, may not necessarily result in the required energy savings particularly in cases of uninformed consumer usage. In this paper the authors evaluate the impact of consumer behaviour on the performance of domestic solar water heaters in South Africa and suggest measures that could be taken to optimize this performance.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1226
Author(s):  
Beatriz Fraga-De Cal ◽  
Antonio Garrido-Marijuan ◽  
Olaia Eguiarte ◽  
Beñat Arregi ◽  
Ander Romero-Amorrortu ◽  
...  

Prefabricated solutions incorporating thermal insulation are increasingly adopted as an energy conservation measure for building renovation. The InnoWEE European project developed three technologies from Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) materials through a manufacturing process that supports the circular economy strategy of the European Union. Two of them consisted of geopolymer panels incorporated into an External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) and a ventilated façade. This study evaluates their thermal performance by means of monitoring data from three pilot case studies in Greece, Italy, and Romania, and calibrated building simulation models enabling the reliable prediction of energy savings in different climates and use scenarios. Results showed a reduction in energy demand for all demo buildings, with annual energy savings up to 25% after placing the novel insulation solutions. However, savings are highly dependent on weather conditions since the panels affect cooling and heating loads differently. Finally, a parametric assessment is performed to assess the impact of insulation thickness through an energy performance prediction and a cash flow analysis.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 524
Author(s):  
Jihui Yuan ◽  
Kazuo Emura ◽  
Craig Farnham

The Typical meteorological year (TMY) database is often used to calculate air-conditioning loads, and it directly affects the building energy savings design. Among four kinds of TMY databases in China—including Chinese Typical Year Weather (CTYW), International Weather for Energy Calculations (IWEC), Solar Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) and Chinese Standard Weather Data (CSWD)—only CSWD is measures solar radiation, and it is most used in China. However, the solar radiation of CSWD is a measured daily value, and its hourly value is separated by models. It is found that the cloud ratio (diffuse solar radiation divided by global solar radiation) of CSWD is not realistic in months of May, June and July while compared to the other sets of TMY databases. In order to obtain a more accurate cloud ratio of CSWD for air-conditioning load calculation, this study aims to propose a method of refining the cloud ratio of CSWD in Shanghai, China, using observed solar radiation and the Perez model which is a separation model of high accuracy. In addition, the impact of cloud ratio on air-conditioning load has also been discussed in this paper. It is shown that the cloud ratio can yield a significant impact on the air conditioning load.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2175
Author(s):  
Oscar Danilo Montoya ◽  
Walter Gil-González ◽  
Jesus C. Hernández

The problem of reactive power compensation in electric distribution networks is addressed in this research paper from the point of view of the combinatorial optimization using a new discrete-continuous version of the vortex search algorithm (DCVSA). To explore and exploit the solution space, a discrete-continuous codification of the solution vector is proposed, where the discrete part determines the nodes where the distribution static compensator (D-STATCOM) will be installed, and the continuous part of the codification determines the optimal sizes of the D-STATCOMs. The main advantage of such codification is that the mixed-integer nonlinear programming model (MINLP) that represents the problem of optimal placement and sizing of the D-STATCOMs in distribution networks only requires a classical power flow method to evaluate the objective function, which implies that it can be implemented in any programming language. The objective function is the total costs of the grid power losses and the annualized investment costs in D-STATCOMs. In addition, to include the impact of the daily load variations, the active and reactive power demand curves are included in the optimization model. Numerical results in two radial test feeders with 33 and 69 buses demonstrate that the proposed DCVSA can solve the MINLP model with best results when compared with the MINLP solvers available in the GAMS software. All the simulations are implemented in MATLAB software using its programming environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Umer Zahid

AbstractMost of the industrial acid gas removal (AGR) units employ chemical absorption process for the removal of acid gases from the natural gas. In this study, two gas processing plants operational in Saudi Arabia have been selected where two different amines n1amely, diglycolamine (DGA) and monoethanol amine (MDEA) are used to achieve the sweet gas purity with less than 4 ppm of H2S. This study performed a feasibility simulation of AGR unit by utilizing the amine blend (DGA+MDEA) for both plants instead of a single amine. The study used a commercial process simulator to analyze the impact of process variables such as amine circulation rate, amine strength, lean amine temperature, regenerator inlet temperature, and absorber and regenerator pressure on the process performance. The results reveal that when the MDEA (0–15 wt. %) is added to DGA, marginal energy savings can be achieved. However, significant operational energy savings can be made when the DGA (0–15 wt. %) is blended with MDEA being the main amine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13863
Author(s):  
Yana Akhtyrska ◽  
Franz Fuerst

This study examines the impact of energy management and productivity-enhancing measures, implemented as part of LEED Existing Buildings Operations and Management (EBOM) certification, on source energy use intensity and rental premiums of office spaces using data on four major US markets. Energy management practices, comprised of commissioning and advanced metering, may reduce energy usage. Conversely, improving air quality and occupant comfort in an effort to increase worker productivity may in turn lead to higher overall energy consumption. The willingness to pay for these features in rental office buildings is hypothesised to depend not only on the extent to which productivity gains enhance the profits of a commercial tenant but also on the lease arrangements for passing any energy savings to the tenant. We apply a difference-in-differences method at a LEED EBOM certification group level and a multi-level modelling approach with a panel data structure. The results indicate that energy management and indoor environment practices have the expected effect on energy consumption as described above. However, the magnitude of the achieved rental premiums appears to be independent of the lease type.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joydev Ghosh

<div>In LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), the access network cell formation is an integrated form of outdoor unit and indoor unit. With the indoor unit extension the access network becomes heterogeneous (HetNet). HetNet is a straightforward way to provide quality of service (QoS) in terms better network coverage and high data rate. Although, due to uncoordinated, densely deployed small cells large interference may occur, particularly in case of operating small cells within the spectrum of macro base stations (MBS). This paper probes the impact of small cell on the outage probability and the average network throughput enhancement. The positions of the small cells are retained random and modelled with homogeneous Poisson Point Process (PPP) and Matérn Cluster process (MCP). The paper provides an analytic form which permits to compute the outage probability, including the mostly applied fast fading channel types. Furthermore, simulations are evaluated in order to calculate the average network throughput for both random processes. Simulation results highlights that the network throughput remarkably grows due to small cell deployment.</div>


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1629-1634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Luchs

In the last few years, bibliometric studies have proliferated, seeking to provide data on world research. This study analyzes the profile of the Brazilian scientific production in the A (H1N1) influenza field between 2009 and 2011. The research was conducted in MEDLINE, SciELO and LILACS databases, selecting papers in which the term "H1N1" and "Brazil" were defined as the main topics. The data were analyzed taking into consideration the Brazilian state and institution in which the articles were produced, the impact factor of the journal and the language. The research revealed 40 documents (27 from MEDLINE, 16 from SciELO and 24 from LILACS). The journal impact factor ranged from 0.0977 to 8.1230. A similar amount of articles were written in English and Portuguese and São Paulo was the most productive state in the country, with 95% of the Brazilian production originating from the Southern and Southeastern regions. Linguistic data indicate that previous efforts made in order to improve the scientific production of Brazilian researchers making their observations attain a broader scientific audience produced results. It is necessary to assess the scientific studies, especially those conducted with public funds, in order to ensure that the results will benefit society.


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