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IoT and Sensor Networks in Smart Buildings and Homes

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G1: Smart Cities and Urban Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 14641

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, 09127 Cagliari, Italy
Interests: Internet of Things; ad hoc networks; efficient resource allocation; smart buildings; crowdsensing/crowdsourcing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

The Guest Editor invites submissions to a Special Issue of Energies on the subject of “IoT and Sensor Networks in Smart Buildings and Homes”. The pervasive presence of sensors, actuators and smart devices is affecting people’s daily lives and enabling applications that could not be envisaged some years ago. The seamless integration of technologies to perform sensor data generation, transmission, processing and actuation has provided the opportunity to monitor and remotely control key appliances and equipment inside buildings. Accordingly, relevant systems are designed to address, among others, issues related to the improvement of efficiency in resource usage, the enhancement of quality of life, and to ensure safety and security, also considering the requirements of older people and people with disabilities. As a matter of fact, Smart Buildings and Smart Homes offer significant opportunities and challenges for the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor-enabled applications, with tangible environmental, economic, and social benefits.

This Special Issue encourages high quality and unpublished contributions on recent advances in IoT and sensor networks towards the implementation of Smart Buildings and Smart Homes. Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:

  • IoT and sensor networks in Smart Building and Smart Home applications (e.g., efficiency and comfort management, Ambient Assisted Living, Industry 4.0);
  • Microgrids and Vehicle-to-Grid systems;
  • Hardware and software architectures for the integration of complex sensor systems;
  • Adaptive and distributed sensing strategies including virtual sensors;
  • Big data analytics and social media mining for large-scale monitoring systems;
  • Service robots and robotized devices for indoor environments;
  • Modeling, planning and operating Smart Building processes.

Prof. Dr. Virginia Pilloni
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Smart Buildings
  • Smart Homes
  • Internet of Things
  • Sensor Networks
  • Energy efficiency
  • Quality of life
  • Prosumers
  • Smart Grids
  • Industry 4.0

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 7832 KiB  
Article
IoT-Based Alternating Current Electrical Parameters Monitoring System
by José Varela-Aldás, Steven Silva and Guillermo Palacios-Navarro
Energies 2022, 15(18), 6637; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15186637 - 10 Sep 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3821
Abstract
Energy monitors are indispensable for achieving efficient electrical grids and even more so in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT), where electrical system data are monitored from anywhere in the world. This paper presents the development of a two-channel electrical parameter-monitoring [...] Read more.
Energy monitors are indispensable for achieving efficient electrical grids and even more so in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT), where electrical system data are monitored from anywhere in the world. This paper presents the development of a two-channel electrical parameter-monitoring system based on the M5 Stack Core2 kit. The acquisition of variables is done through PZEM 004T V3.0 sensors, and the data are sent to the ThingSpeak cloud database. Local readings are done through the LCD, and data re stored on a micro SD card. Remote monitoring is done through two applications, namely a web application and a mobile application, each designed for different purposes. To validate this proposal, a commercial device with IoT features (Gen 2 Vue Energy Monitor) is used, comparing the active power and active energy readings recorded continuously for 7 days. The results indicate an accuracy of up to 1.95% in power and 0.81% in energy, obtaining a low-cost compact product with multiple features. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue IoT and Sensor Networks in Smart Buildings and Homes)
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12 pages, 913 KiB  
Article
Short-Term Field Evaluation of Low-Cost Sensors Operated by the “AirSensEUR” Platform
by Alexander Pichlhöfer and Azra Korjenic
Energies 2022, 15(15), 5688; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15155688 - 5 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1507
Abstract
Electrochemical low-cost sensors, suitable for the monitoring of different air quality parameters such as carbon monoxide or nitrogen dioxide levels, are viable tools for creating affordable handheld devices for short-term or dense air quality monitoring networks for long-term measurements and IoT applications. However, [...] Read more.
Electrochemical low-cost sensors, suitable for the monitoring of different air quality parameters such as carbon monoxide or nitrogen dioxide levels, are viable tools for creating affordable handheld devices for short-term or dense air quality monitoring networks for long-term measurements and IoT applications. However, most devices that utilize such sensors are based on proprietary hardware and software and, therefore, do not offer users the ability to replace sensors or interact with the hardware, software, and data in a meaningful way. Initiatives that focus on an open framework for air quality monitoring, such as the AirSensEUR project, offer competitive open source alternatives. In this study, we examined the feasibility of the application of such devices. Five AirSensEUR units equipped with chemical sensors were placed next to a reference air quality measuring station in Vienna, Austria. During co-location, concentrations of 0.20 ± 0.06 ppm, 7.14 ± 8.66 ppb, and 17.58 ± 9.90 ppb were measured for CO, NO, and NO2, respectively. The process of evaluating the performance of the low-cost sensors was carried out and compared to similar studies. Data analysis was carried out with the help of the basic functions in MS Excel. We investigated the linear correlation between the sensor and reference data and thus calculated the coefficient of determination, the average and maximum residuals, and the correlation coefficient. Furthermore, we discuss sensor properties in regard to selectivity and long-term stability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue IoT and Sensor Networks in Smart Buildings and Homes)
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19 pages, 2617 KiB  
Article
Smart Grid Energy Optimization and Scheduling Appliances Priority for Residential Buildings through Meta-Heuristic Hybrid Approaches
by Ch Anwar ul Hassan, Jawaid Iqbal, Nasir Ayub, Saddam Hussain, Roobaea Alroobaea and Syed Sajid Ullah
Energies 2022, 15(5), 1752; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15051752 - 26 Feb 2022
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3436
Abstract
Smart grid technology has given users the ability to regulate their home energy use more efficiently and effectively. Home Energy Management (HEM) is a difficult undertaking in this regard, as it necessitates the optimal scheduling of smart appliances to reduce energy usage. In [...] Read more.
Smart grid technology has given users the ability to regulate their home energy use more efficiently and effectively. Home Energy Management (HEM) is a difficult undertaking in this regard, as it necessitates the optimal scheduling of smart appliances to reduce energy usage. In this research, we introduce a metaheuristic-based HEM system which incorporates Earth Worm Algorithm (EWA) and Harmony Search Algorithms (HSA). In addition, a hybridization based on the EWA and HSA operators is used to optimize energy consumption in terms of electricity cost and Peak-to-Average Ratio (PAR) reduction. Hybridization has been demonstrated to be beneficial in achieving many objectives at the same time. Extensive simulations in MATLAB were used to test the performance of the proposed hybrid technique. The simulations were run for multiple homes with multiple appliances, which were categorized according to the usage and nature of the appliance, taking advantage of appliance scheduling in terms of the time-varying retail pricing enabled by the smart grid two-way communication infrastructure algorithms EWA and HSA, along with a Real-Time Price scheme. These techniques helped us to find the best usage pattern for energy consumption to reduce electricity costs. These metaheuristic techniques efficiently reduced and shifted the load from peak hours to off-peak hours and reduced electricity costs. In comparison to HSA, the simulation results suggest that EWA performed better in terms of cost reduction. In comparison to EWA and HSA, HSA was more efficient in terms of PAR. However, the proposed hybrid approach EHSA gave the maximum reduction in cost which was 2.668%, 2.247%, and 2.535% in the case of 10, 30, and 50 homes, respectively, as compared to EWA and HSA. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue IoT and Sensor Networks in Smart Buildings and Homes)
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18 pages, 987 KiB  
Article
Uni-Messe: Unified Rule-Based Message Delivery Service for Efficient Context-Aware Service Integration
by Takuya Nakata, Sinan Chen and Masahide Nakamura
Energies 2022, 15(5), 1729; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15051729 - 25 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1580
Abstract
Rule-based systems, which are the typical technology used to realize context-aware services, have been independently implemented in various smart services. The challenges of these systems are the versatility of action, looseness, and the coding that is needed to describe the conditional branches. The [...] Read more.
Rule-based systems, which are the typical technology used to realize context-aware services, have been independently implemented in various smart services. The challenges of these systems are the versatility of action, looseness, and the coding that is needed to describe the conditional branches. The purpose of this study was to support the realization of service coordination and smart services using context-aware technology by converting rule-based systems into services. In the proposed method, we designed and implemented the architecture of a new service: Unified Rule-Based Message Delivery Service (Uni-messe), which is an application-neutral rule management and evaluation service for rule-based systems. The core part of the Uni-messe proposal is the combination of a Pub/Sub and a rule-based system, and the proposal of a new event–condition–route (ECR) rule-based system. We applied Uni-messe to an audio information presentation system (ALPS) and indoor location sensing technology to construct concrete smart services, and then compared and evaluated the implementation to “if this then that” (IFTTT), which is a typical service coordination technology. Moreover, we analyzed the characteristics of other rule-based systems that have been serviced in previous studies and compared them to Uni-messe. This study shows that Uni-messe can provide services that simultaneously combine versatility, ease of conditional description, looseness, context independence, and user interface (UI), which cannot be achieved using conventional rule-based system services. By using Uni-messe, advanced heterogeneous distributed service coordination using rule-based systems and the construction of context-aware services can be performed easily. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue IoT and Sensor Networks in Smart Buildings and Homes)
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26 pages, 5948 KiB  
Article
A Novel Strategy for Smart Building Convergence Based on the SmartLVGrid Metamodel
by Rubens A. Fernandes, Raimundo C. S. Gomes, Ozenir Dias and Celso Carvalho
Energies 2022, 15(3), 1016; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15031016 - 29 Jan 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2907
Abstract
Smart buildings provide opportunities for technological transformations in building environments to improve resource management, comfort, and efficiency of the systems present in these facilities. For this, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions contribute, with monitoring and remote control features, to automate these environments. However, [...] Read more.
Smart buildings provide opportunities for technological transformations in building environments to improve resource management, comfort, and efficiency of the systems present in these facilities. For this, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions contribute, with monitoring and remote control features, to automate these environments. However, these solutions can promote the disposal or replacement of outdated but still-needed legacy systems. Thus, a reference model that uses retrofit techniques to update pre-existing systems would be an alternative to enable smart building convergence. The lack of models that advocate this type of strategy provides an opportunity for the emergence of methods capable of filling this gap. Thus, this work presents a strategy for implementing monitoring, control, and communication resources to achieve smart building convergence in legacy building systems. This strategy consists of the use of retrofit techniques based on the adaptation of the SmartLVGrid metamodel. To validate this proposal, we developed hardware platforms and, respectively, their firmware to implement the premises established in a legacy building lighting circuit. The results obtained present a new possibility of implementing smart buildings from the retrofit of legacy infrastructures, as the pre-existing building lighting circuit obtained new functionalities and was preserved as much as possible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue IoT and Sensor Networks in Smart Buildings and Homes)
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