Use of support vector regression and numerically predicted cloudiness to forecast power output of a photovoltaic power plant in Kitakyushu,Japan

The development of a methodology to forecast accurately the power produced by photovoltaic systems can be an important tool for the dissemination and integration of such systems on the public electricity grids. Thus, the objective of this study was to forecast the power production of a 1‐MW photovoltaic power plant in Kitakyushu, Japan, using a new methodology based on support vector machines and on the use of several numerically predicted weather variables, including cloudiness. Hourly forecasts of the power produced for 1 year were carried out. Moreover, the effect of the use of numerically predicted cloudiness on the quality of the forecasts was also investigated. The forecasts of power production obtained with the proposed methodology had a root mean square error of 0.0948 MW h and a mean absolute error of 0.058 MW h. It was also found that the forecast and measured values of power production had a good level of correlation varying from 0.8 to 0.88 according to the season of the year. Finally, the use of numerically predicted cloudiness had an important role in the accuracy of the forecasts, and when cloudiness was not used, the root mean square error of the forecasts increased more than 32%, and the mean absolute error increased more than 42%. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CAC-OLSR: Extending OLSR to Provide Admission Control in Wireless Mesh Networks

This work presents an admission control mechanism for multi-hop wireless mesh networks based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and the OLSR routing protocol. This mechanism, called CAC-OLSR, aims at ensuring that traffic flows with quality of service (QoS) requirements, especially voice and video, are only admitted in the mesh network if it has available resources in order to provide flow requirements. In addition, QoS requirements of previously admitted traffic flows cannot be violated. The proposal was evaluated with NS-2 and Evalvid simulations.     

Photonic Hydrogels from Chiral Nematic Mesoporous Chitosan Nanofibril Assemblies

Iridescence in animals and plants often arises from structural coloration, which involves hierarchical organization of minerals and biopolymers over length scales of the visible spectrum, leading to diffraction of light. In this work, discarded crustacean shells that are not known for their structural colors are used to produce photonic nanostructures of large, freestanding chiral nematic mesoporous chitosan membranes with tunable iridescent color. Bioinspired by colorful nanostructures in nature, photonic hydrogels with Bouligand‐type organization are fabricated from the twisted mesoporous membranes, where the chitosan nanofibrils are a novel precursor for surface acetylation and are also a biotemplate for polymerizing methyl methacrylate. The colors of the hydrogels can be tailored by swelling as they show large volume changes in response to changes in solvent environment.     

Improved Message Forwarding for Multi-Hop HaRTES Real-Time Ethernet Networks

Nowadays, switched Ethernet networks are used in complex systems that encompass tens to hundreds of nodes and thousands of signals. Such scenarios require multi-switch architectures where communications frequently occur in multiple hops. In this paper we investigate techniques to allow efficient multi-hop communication using HaRTES switches. These are modified Ethernet switches that provide real-time traffic scheduling, dynamic bandwidth management and temporal isolation between real-time and non-real-time traffic. This paper addresses the problem of forwarding traffic in HaRTES networks. Two methods have been recently proposed, namely Distributed Global Scheduling (DGS) that buffers traffic between switches, and Reduced Buffering Scheme (RBS), that uses immediate forwarding. In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of RBS within HaRTES and we carry out an experimental validation with a prototype implementation. Then, we carry out a comparison between RBS and DGS using worst-case response time analysis and simulation. The comparison clearly establishes the superiority of RBS concerning end-to-end response times. In fact, with sample message sets, we achieved reductions in end-to-end delay that were as high as 80 %.     

Distributed Approach to Control and Manage Context-based Multi-virtual Networks

Using the flexibility of Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) and network virtualization, we define a novel architecture that provides personalized access for users by splitting a WMN into several adaptable Virtual Networks (VNs). Each VN is configured to meet specific levels of user context demands (context can span from security, mobility or service requirements). Users are grouped according to similarity of their context, and associated to VNs matching their context. To break the traditional centralized solutions for WMN and virtualization control, this paper defines an overall framework to distribute the control responsibilities along the architectural entities, which can then cooperate to autonomously discover, select, create, extend or remove VNs on-demand according to user and WMN dynamics. We also propose an analytical model to evaluate several performance aspects of the distributed VN control when compared to centralized or decentralized solutions, validating the model against a simulation study.     

The interplay of electronic structure,molecular orientation and charge transport in organic semiconductors: Poly(thiophene) and poly(bithiophene)

Ultrathin films of poly(thiophene) (PT) and poly(bithiophene) (PBT) were prepared by electrochemical route using ionic liquid (BFEE) as medium and electrolyte. Distinct morphologies and electrical properties were observed in these materials. To evaluate its response in photovoltaics, these films were used as active layer in bilayer geometry solar cells with the electron acceptor molecule C₆₀. The best performance was observed for PT films. In order to probe the differences in molecular dynamics and structural order, ultrafast electron dynamics in the low-femtosecond regime was evaluated by resonant Auger spectroscopy using the core–hole clock method at the sulfur K absorption edge. Electron delocalization times for the different polymeric films were derived as a function of the excitation energy. Photoabsorption measurements were conducted and molecular orientation derived. These results corroborated with the morphology found for these films and thus the performance of PT and PBT in the devices, and with the proposed conduction mechanism.     

A time Petri net-based method for embedded hard real-time software synthesis

Over the last few years, embedded software synthesis has drawn much attention. However, few works deal with software synthesis for hard real-time systems considering arbitrary inter-tasks precedence and exclusion relations. Code generation for meeting all timing and resource constraints is not a trivial task. Thus, this research area has several open issues, mainly related to generation of predictable-guaranteed scheduled code. The method proposed in this paper starts from a high-level specification, and automatically translates such specification into a time Petri net model; this model is adopted for finding a feasible static schedule meeting all constraints. If found, the approach generates a scheduled code, based on the found feasible schedule. Therefore, the user just enter the specification and receives, as result, the scheduled code. Thus, all intermediary phases are hidden from the users.     

Energy Management Fuzzy Logic Supervisory for Electric Vehicle Power Supplies System

This paper introduces an energy management strategy based on fuzzy logic supervisory for road electric vehicle, combining a fuel cell power source and two energy storage devices, i.e., batteries and ultracapacitors. The control strategy is designed to achieve the high-efficiency operation region of the individual power source and to regulate current and voltage at peak and average power demand, without compromising the performance and efficiency of the overall system. A multiple-input power electronic converter makes the interface among generator, energy storage devices, and the voltage dc-link bus. Classical regulators implement the control loops of each input of the converter. The supervisory system coordinates the power flows among the power sources and the load. The paper is mainly focused on the fuzzy logic supervisory for energy management of a specific power electronic converter control algorithm. Nevertheless, the proposed system can be easily adapted to other converters arrangements or to distributed generation applications. Simulation and experimental results on a 3-kW prototype prove that the fuzzy logic is a suitable energy management control strategy.     

Control of the single-phase three-leg AC/AC converter

This paper investigates the control of a single-phase three-leg ac/ac reversible converter in which a leg is shared by both the grid and the load side. Pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) techniques based on scalar and vector approaches are developed, introducing the concept of local and general apportioning factor and, also, a complete equivalence between scalar and space vector PWM. A hysteresis current controller capable of taking into account the shared leg is developed and a zero current error linear controller is presented. Furthermore, a control strategy to obtain maximum utilization of the dc-bus voltage is proposed. In addition, several relevant characteristics of the converter are addressed, such as voltage rating, harmonic distortion, shared leg and capacitor currents, and power rating. The converter is compared to four-leg and two-leg converters. Experimental results are presented.