Buildings 12 01034 With Cover

3.8 3.
Article
Integrated Smart-Home
Architecture for Supporting
Monitoring and Scheduling
Strategies in Residential
Clusters
Nicoleta Stroia, Daniel Moga, Dorin Petreus, Alexandru Lodin, Vlad Muresan and
Mirela Danubianu
Special Issue
Prediction and Monitoring of Building Energy Consumption
Edited by
Prof. Dr. Sergio Vega-Sánchez and Prof. Dr. Beatriz Arranz
https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12071034
buildings
Article
Integrated Smart-Home Architecture for Supporting
Monitoring and Scheduling Strategies in Residential Clusters
Nicoleta Stroia 1, *, Daniel Moga 1 , Dorin Petreus 2 , Alexandru Lodin 3 , Vlad Muresan 1 and Mirela Danubianu 4
1 Automation Department, Faculty of Automation and Computer Science, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca,
400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; daniel.moga@aut.utcluj.ro (D.M.); vlad.muresan@aut.utcluj.ro (V.M.)
2 Applied Electronics Department, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology,
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; dorin.petreus@ael.utcluj.ro
3 Basis of Electronics Department, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology,
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; alexandru.lodin@bel.utcluj.ro
4 Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, “Stefan cel Mare” University of Suceava,
720229 Suceava, Romania; mdanub@eed.usv.ro
* Correspondence: nicoleta.stroia@aut.utcluj.ro
Abstract: The monitoring of power consumption and the forecasting of load profiles for residential
appliances are essential aspects of the control of energy savings/exchanges at multiple hierarchical
levels: house, house cluster, neighborhood, and city. External environmental factors (weather
conditions) and inhabitants’ behavior influence power consumption, and their usage as part of
forecasting activity may lead to added value in the estimation of daily-load profiles. This paper
proposes a distributed sensing infrastructure for supporting the following tasks: the monitoring of
appliances’ power consumption, the monitoring of environmental parameters, the generation of
records for a database that can be used for both identifying load models and testing load-scheduling
Citation: Stroia, N.; Moga, D.;
algorithms, and the real-time acquisition of consumption data. The hardware/software codesign of an
Petreus, D.; Lodin, A.; Muresan, V.;
integrated architecture that can combine the typical distributed sensing and control networks present
Danubianu, M. Integrated
Smart-Home Architecture for
in modern buildings (targeting user comfort) with energy-monitoring and management systems is
Supporting Monitoring and presented. Methods for generating simplified piecewise linear (PWL) representations of the load
Scheduling Strategies in Residential profiles based on these records are introduced and their benefits compared with classic averaged
Clusters. Buildings 2022, 12, 1034. representations are demonstrated for the case of peak-shaving strategies. The proposed approach is
https://doi.org/10.3390/ validated through implementing and testing a smart-meter node with wireless communication and
buildings12071034 other wired/wireless embedded modules, enabling the tight integration of the energy-monitoring
Academic Editors: Sergio
system into smart-home/building-automation systems. The ability of this node to process power
Vega-Sánchez and Beatriz Arranz measurements with a programable granularity level (seconds/minutes/hours) at the edge level and
stream the processed measurement results at the selected granularity to the cloud is identified as a
Received: 3 June 2022
valuable feature for a large range of applications (model identification, power saving, prediction).
Accepted: 13 July 2022
Published: 18 July 2022
Keywords: building-energy monitoring; smart-meter node; distributed sensing; cloud database; load
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral profile modeling
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affil-
iations.
1. Introduction
Home automation systems have evolved from simple implementations to complex
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
configurations lying at the confluence of three concepts: building-management systems,
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. smart homes, and ambient-assisted living. The essential problems that arise when designing
This article is an open access article a home-automation system are as follows: not all devices “speak” the same language; the
distributed under the terms and failure of a device must not compromise the operation of the system; mobility and aesthetic
conditions of the Creative Commons requirements demand a choice between wired and wireless communications; security
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// issues (access to the elements of home-automation networks by unauthorized or malicious
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ persons) are not completely solved by the current standards; and the optimal interface
4.0/).
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12071034 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings

Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 2 of 35
between the home automation system and users (inhabitants of the house) can benefit from
the new technologies, but their price/efficiency ratio must be carefully evaluated.
In recent years, a new dimension has been added to the aspects listed above: the
management of energy transfer, implied by both neighborhood-level (Cluster) and city-
level (Smart City) integration [1]. This dimension involves the intra-cluster (between
houses within the same neighborhoods) and inter-cluster (with the operators of municipal
utility networks) management and transfer of energy. The situation is becoming even more
complex, since many countries have introduced mechanisms for the dynamic adjustment
of energy costs, based on the demand response (DR) paradigm.
In each of the main application fields associated with smart home systems (energy-
consumption optimization, user comfort, assisting elderly users), the authors of Ref. [2]
identify some common architectural levels: a hardware platform for data acquisition
(environmental or wearable sensors), a set of applications to gather measurement data, and
a repository to store these data. These are the constituents upon which the constructing
and training of models are done and the control algorithms are implemented.
Harmonizing energy saving with residential comfort is a challenging issue in all
seasons and is intricately connected to the peaks encountered in the power-consumption
profiles of modern houses. A basic example is given in Ref. [3]: large appliances, such as
stoves, clothes dryers, and dishwashers expel heat, requiring more space-cooling to meet
the zone setpoint in the summer; the simultaneous use of appliances and space cooling can
cause spikes in a house’s peak electricity consumption.
As indicated in Ref. [4], houses represent a substantial fraction of the summer peak
electrical load (primarily due to rising air-conditioning (AC) loads), and, therefore, mea-
sures to reduce peak demand at the household level may be valuable in stabilizing the grid
and lowering peak costs.
An interesting aspect of implementing energy optimization is related to the swapping
of consumption from one energy domain to the other: simulations by the author of Ref. [3]
suggested that reductions in annual electrical energy use are accompanied by increased
annual natural gas use. On the other hand, the opposite transition, from gas to electricity,
is obviously indicated by the growing usage of electrically actuated heat pumps in the
residential sector. Research into the heating market presented in Ref. [5] indicates that a
growing share of this market is represented by heat pumps (about 3% in 2018) and that, in
2019, at international level, from the perspective of application, 83% of the market share
was accounted for by the residential sector.
Many articles in the literature present the development of energy-management systems
for smart homes as a global priority for achieving a sustainable and reliable energy-supply
system in smart micro-grids.
In order to understand how the extended sensing capabilities can support optimal
energy management for residential buildings, the foundations of the underlying processes
must be explored:
• When and how must energy be stored in residential buildings?
• When and how must energy be transferred from one building to another building?
• When and how must energy be transferred from one building to the grid?
The literature exploring these topics has so far proposed different approaches to
answering these questions based on a series of optimization criteria. When exploring the
above-mentioned strategies, the following basic considerations arise:
• The dynamic scheduling strategies for residential loads must consider multiple ob-
jectives, each of which reflecting the optimal behavior of an actor present in the
context: energy-cost reduction and comfort maximization from the perspective of
inhabitants, reductions in load demand during the peak period from the perspective of
energy providers, and peak-shaving behavior from the perspective of distribution-grid
management.
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 3 of 35
• The vast majority of the optimization algorithms rely on methods for forecasting the
residential power load. Such methods rely on a modeling structure that must be
identified and validated with large measurement datasets.
• When an objective load curve for one day ahead is defined, the scheduling algorithm
uses the load-forecasting model (considering multiple parameters such as electricity
price, load demand, and weather forecast). The scheduling algorithm must run
in real time to update the forecasted schedule, considering variations such as user
intervention.
It is easily seen from these considerations that the availability of precise and detailed
consumption data is essential at each main stage, including the identification of the load models,
the simulation of the scheduling algorithm, the real-time running of the algorithm and,
finally, the computation of the figures of merit defined for assessing the success of the
proposed strategy.
This paper proposes an integrative approach for adding functionalities such as energy
monitoring and scheduling strategies for smart-home network infrastructure. The monitor-
ing and control processes should be examined in different essential stages, from the
following perspectives:
• The review of saving strategies and algorithms in the complex environment of the
residential sector;
• Data sources for constructing and training models;
• Data sources for running control algorithms;
• The implementation of wireless-sensor networks as data sources;
• The development of a smart meter node with wireless communication and easy
integration into smart home network;
• Exploiting the sampling and processing facilities of actual smart meters through a
more accurate, yet convenient, representation of load curves and demonstrating the
advantage of the proposed representation in load-scheduling algorithms;
• A prototype system for validating integrated residential sensing infrastructure (reduc-
ing the costs of harmonizing the infrastructures associated with energy saving and
residential comfort).
Following this approach, the next two sections will address the following topics:
• The study of residential loads and their aggregated impact at the relevant levels of
granularity (single buildings, clusters, sectors, and cities);
• The review of the modeling and planning strategies for identifying the relevant variables
to be monitored (i.e., those affecting model identification, planning-algorithm simulation,
and the evaluation of energy-management-system performance) and the appropriate
sampling rates for these relevant variables;
• The review of the architectures that are appropriate for energy monitoring, considering
the four fundamental aspects: data acquisition, data collection, data recording and
data visualization, and their implications for both hardware and software levels.
2. Modeling and Optimization Methods for Energy Systems in Residential Buildings

2.1. Smart Homes and the Urban Energy System
To provide sustainability and security, the urban energy system is undergoing an
accelerated transition from a centralized to a highly distributed architecture. One of
the reasons for this is a significant increase in the integration of distributed renewable-
energy sources (RES). This increase is mainly due to the successful adoption of adaptive
solutions for buildings, such as building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) [6] or hybrid
photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) [7], solar thermal facades (STF) [8], and the components
for heat pumps [9] and related energy storage [10] or thermal storage systems [11].
In the context of the European Union (EU), building renovation provides a good oppor-
tunity to meet the objectives of the EU’s policy on near-zero-energy buildings (NZEB) [12]
and integrated RES for buildings [13].
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 4 of 35
Current EU policy promotes the reduction in the energy needs of building by 80%,
achievable by 2050 through specific building renovation [14].
The related technical challenges lead to the development of innovative approaches,
addressing buildings and energy systems at different levels: single buildings, clusters,
sectors, and cities.
Energy planning at the cluster level facilitates the provision of local energy supply
through decentralized energy production and the enhancement of sector energy systems, by
combining factors such as energy-efficient building retrofitting and the integration of local
renewable energy [15]. Similar to the concept of micro-communities in society, neighboring
buildings tend to form clusters through an open cyber-physical system to take advantage
of the economic opportunities offered by distributed RES systems [16].
In this context, the problem of optimal energy management for residential buildings
acquires new dimensions, leading to some new challenges that must be addressed:
• The integration of the sensing infrastructure associated with smart homes with the
necessary power-monitoring architecture;
• The development of new algorithms for harmonizing energy saving with
residential comfort;
• The design of the communication infrastructure for energy hubs and the algorithms
able to support optimization at upper hierarchical levels (clusters, sectors, and cities);
• The upgrade of smart-home control equipment (hardware and software) in order
to support the energy exchange between neighboring homes and balance the local
production of renewable energy with energy demand.
2.2. Modeling and Control of Energy Saving/Exchange at Home Level and Cluster Level
The cluster level of buildings is an intermediate level between single buildings and the
sector or city level. When modeling a building cluster, a diameter between 0.1 and about 1
km is recommended [1].
The main benefits of introducing energy-management systems at the cluster level and
of energy hubs include reduced energy usage, carbon emissions, and costs. Furthermore,
important secondary benefits include air quality in buildings, thermal comfort, and a
reduced risk of exposure to future energy price crises. This approach promotes economic
efficiency and operational feasibility to optimize the procurement of distributed renewable
energy in the context of energy demand and supply equivalence.
The research presented in Ref. [17] led to the development of algorithms through which
energy exchange takes place between neighboring homes to balance the local production of
renewable energy (electricity-photovoltaic panels and thermal energy-solar thermal panels)
with energy demand. At the group level (neighborhood, cluster, micro-grid) two key issues
related to energy distribution and exchange have to be considered: 1. Which homes need
to transfer energy? 2. What are the times when these exchanges must take place?
Currently, a significant research effort is dedicated to residential-power-load forecast-
ing (RPLF) methods [18]. These have an important role in solving a major challenge posed
by the management of micro-grids and energy hubs: optimal energy management for
residential buildings.
According to Ref. [19], two classes of methods are available for estimating residen-
tial energy consumption. Bottom-up modeling techniques estimate the load demand of
individual buildings using statistical (i.e., regression, conditional demand analysis, neural
networks) or engineering models (i.e., population distribution, archetypes, samples). The
estimated models are then combined to obtain the energy usage for a larger region. On the
other hand, top-down modeling techniques consider the energy consumption of a larger
region based on econometric and technological data and assign an energy consumption to
the studied building.
The bottom-up modeling technique, focused on the formulation of a consumption
model for each household appliance, is facilitated by a smart infrastructure deployed
in the building, which is able to monitor and communicate the information related to
On the other hand, top-down modeling techniques consider the energy consumption of
a larger region based on econometric and technological data and assign an energy con-
sumption to the studied building.
The bottom-up modeling technique, focused on the formulation of a consumption
model for each household appliance, is facilitated by a smart infrastructure deployed in
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 5 of 35
the building, which is able to monitor and communicate the information related to the
consumption of each appliance to the data center, contributing to the accuracy and effi-
ciency of building-load forecasting [20].
the consumption of each
To extract the appliance to
load-behavior the data
model fromcenter, contributing
historical data, theto usage
the accuracy and
of an algorithm
efficiency of building-load forecasting [20].
able to detect historical days with consumption characteristics similar to those of the
To extract the load-behavior model from historical data, the usage of an algorithm able
forecasted day increases the prediction accuracy (Figure 1) [20]. The similarity algorithm
to detect historical days with consumption characteristics similar to those of the forecasted
compares both external environmental factors, such as weather conditions (air tempera-
day increases the prediction accuracy (Figure 1) [20]. The similarity algorithm compares
ture external
both and relative humidity,factors,
environmental wind such
speed), weekday
as weather type (weekday/workday),
conditions (air temperature andevents
(e.g., holiday),
relative humidity,and
wind internal
speed), household factors,
weekday type such as family events
(weekday/workday), structure
(e.g.,and residents’
holiday),
behavior.
and internal household factors, such as family structure and residents’ behavior.
Figure1.1. Framework
Figure Framework for
for forecasting
forecasting the
the energy
energy consumption
consumption of
of aa household
household appliance
appliance (after
(after Ref.
[20]).
Ref. [20]).
Theshort-term
The short-termforecasting
forecasting of of energy
energy consumption
consumption for homes
for homes is anisessential
an essential
tool intool in
optimizingenergy
optimizing energy management
management and and has addressed
has been been addressed in the literature
in the literature by methods bysuch
methods
such
as [21]:asauto-regressive
[21]: auto-regressive models, regression
models, regression based models,based models, smoothing,
exponential exponentialartificial
smoothing,
artificial
neural neural fuzzy
networks, networks,
logic, fuzzy logic,systems.
and expert and expert systems.
If buildings areIfequipped
buildings witharesmart
equipped
with smart home systems, it is possible to automatically collect the operating intervals
home systems, it is possible to automatically collect the operating intervals of the main of
electricity
the main consumers and of the main
electricity consumers and thermal energy
of the main consumers
thermal energyfor consumers
intervals of for
several
intervals
weeks with a very good temporal resolution. This allows the statistical exploration of a
of several weeks with a very good temporal resolution. This allows the statistical explo-
data set consisting of consumption values and the values of other sensors in the home
ration of a data set consisting of consumption values and the values of other sensors in
(temperatures, air humidity, presence detectors, etc.), as well as the training of neural
the home (temperatures, air humidity, presence detectors, etc.), as well as the training of
networks that can accurately estimate the consumption 24 h ahead.
neural
It isnetworks that the
expected that canoptimal
accurately
and estimate the consumption
dynamic schedule 24 hloads
of residential ahead.considering
It is expected that the optimal and dynamic schedule of
multiple objectives (i.e., energy costs, comfort optimization, reductions in loadresidential loads consider-
demand
ing multiple
during objectives
peak periods) will (i.e., energy
be enabled costs, the
through comfort optimization,
deployment of smart reductions
meters, smart in sen-
load de-
mand
sors, and during peak periods) will systems
home energy-management be enabled through
(HEMSs). HEMS themodels,
deployment of smart
which are designed meters,
smart
to manage sensors, andresources
available home energy-management systemsbalance
considering an appropriate (HEMSs). HEMS
between models,
accuracy andwhich
are designed to
computational manage available
complexity, and theirresources
interactionconsidering
are expected antoappropriate
improve thebalance
results notbetween
accuracy
only at theandlevelcomputational
of single homes,complexity, andlevel
but also at the their
of interaction
communities. areThe
expected
operation to of
improve
a
the results not only at the level of single homes, but also at the level of communities. The
HEMS platform comprises the following phases: input data collection, optimal scheduling,
and control of connected devices [22].
2.3. Estimating the Load Profiles in Residential Buildings

The main sources of energy consumption in homes comprise appliances (televisions,
washing machines, clothes dryers, refrigerators, electric ovens, dishwashers, etc.), heating
systems, air conditioning, lighting systems, and electric vehicles. In Refs. [23,24], three
timal scheduling, and control of connected devices [22].
operation of a HEMS platform comprises the following phases: input data collection, op-
2.3. Estimating
timal scheduling, theand
Load Profiles
control of in Residential
connected Buildings
devices [22].
The main sources of energy consumption in homes comprise appliances (televi-
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 2.3. Estimating
sions, washingthemachines,
Load Profiles in Residential
clothes dryers, Buildings
refrigerators, electric ovens, dishwashers, 6 of 35 etc.),
Thesystems,
heating main sources of energy consumption
air conditioning, lighting systems,in homes comprise
and electric appliances
vehicles. (televi-
In Refs. [23,24],
sions, washing machines, clothes dryers, refrigerators, electric ovens,
three types of residential load are identified and classified according to their ability to dishwashers, etc.),
heating
reduce
types systems,
the peak air
of residential load
load conditioning,
demand:
are identified lighting systems,
and classified and electric
according vehicles.
to their abilityIntoRefs. [23,24],
reduce the
three
peak types
load of residential load are identified and classified according to their ability to
demand:
1. Must-run/baseline loads, consisting of devices whose operation does not allow de-
1.reduce the peak load demand:
lays (e.g., lighting,
Must-run/baseline television,
loads, consistingnetworking
of devicesdevices, cookingdoes
whose operation devices);
not allow delays
1. Must-run/baseline
(e.g., lighting, loads,
television, consisting
networking of devices
devices, whose
cooking operation
devices);
2. Shiftable/burst loads, consisting of devices that operate for a fixed duration does not allow andde- can
2. lays (e.g.,
Shiftable/burst lighting,
loads,television,
consisting networking
of devicesdevices, cooking
that operate for adevices);
fixed duration and can
be started/stopped within a specific deadline (e.g., dishwashers, washing machines,
2. be Shiftable/burst
started/stopped loads, consisting
within of devices
a specific deadlinethat operate
(e.g., for a fixed
dishwashers, duration
washing and can
machines,
clothes dryers, electric vehicles);
be started/stopped within a specific deadline (e.g., dishwashers, washing machines,
clothes dryers, electric vehicles);
3. Steady/regular loads, consisting of devices running steadily for a long period ac-
3. clothes dryers, loads,
Steady/regular electric vehicles);of devices running steadily for a long period accord-
consisting
cording to their internal controller (e.g., refrigerators, water heaters, heating sys-
3. ingSteady/regular
to their internal loads, consisting
controller (e.g.,ofrefrigerators,
devices runningwatersteadily
heaters, for a long
heating periodair
systems, ac-
tems, air conditioning).
cording to their internal controller (e.g., refrigerators, water heaters, heating sys-
conditioning).
Figure
tems,
Figure 2 conditioning).
2air presents
presents typical
typical residential
residential consumers,
consumers, while while in Figure
in Figure 3, a connection
3, a typical typical connec-
tion of single-phase
Figure 2 presents
of single-phase loads
loads on typical on power
power residential lines is presented.
consumers, while in Figure 3, a typical connec-
lines is presented.
tion of single-phase loads on power lines is presented.
Figure 2. Typical loads in residential buildings with PV system.

Figure2.2.Typical
Figure Typicalloads
loads
inin residential
residential buildings
buildings with
with PVPV system.
system.
Figure3.3.Typical
Typicaltopology
topologyfor
for residential loads.
Figure 3. Typical
Figure topology for residential
residential loads.
loads.
Due to the multitude of residential appliances, the authors of Ref. [22] identify the
following aspects to be considered when selecting an appropriate modeling strategy:
• Operating principle (i.e., cyclic/non cyclic, with variable power/ON OFF control),
which determines the variable type (i.e., binary/integer/continuous), load profile, and
operating constraints;
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 7 of 35
• Flexibility (i.e., time, temperature, dependence on residents’ behavior), which influ-

ences the formulation of constraints and objective functions.
The authors of Refs. [23,25] use finite state machines for the modeling of regular and
burst loads controlled through ON/OFF commands. The authors of Ref. [26] focus on
centralized scheduling for large-scale flexible loads (i.e., loads possessing the ability to
perform power-consumption adjustment during a certain time interval, while the total
energy consumed is fixed). The loads are clustered considering their parameters (rated
power, start/end time of the schedulable period, necessary work intervals) into several
categories, an equivalent model is established for each category, and an aggregated model
obtained by summing all the equivalent models is used for system scheduling. Models
for both continuous loads (controlled through the continuous adjustment of power) and
ON/OFF loads (controlled through ON/OFF commands) are provided.
2.4. Planning Strategies

Load-scheduling algorithms aim to shift the operation of programmable consumers to
off-peak hours so that the peak load demand is reduced, taking into account users’ comfort.
Various architectures and algorithms for flattening the peak-load demand are encountered
in the literature.
The authors of Ref. [27] propose a scheduler that implies two stages: first, a load-
forecasting model is applied for defining an objective load curve for one day ahead based
on input parameters such as electricity price, load demand, and weather forecast, fol-
lowed by an online scheduling algorithm running in real time that updates the forecasted
schedule by taking into account variations, such as user intervention. The multi-objective
problem targeted by the day-ahead-load-scheduling technique is defined in terms of the
minimization of the distance between the objective load pattern and the scheduled load
profile, the reduction in electricity cost, the maximization of user comfort through the
minimization of the waiting time, and the minimization of the peak-to-average ratio (PAR).
Two nature-inspired optimization techniques are proposed: multi-objective binary bird
swarm optimization (MBBSO) and multi-objective binary hybrid bird swarm optimization
and cuckoo search (MBHBCO). The simulation results are compared with multi-objective
binary particle swarm optimization (MBPSO) and multi-objective cuckoo search (MOCSO)
algorithms. The real-time rescheduling problem is formulated as a single objective prob-
lem, i.e., the maximization of user comfort, and is initiated by user-generated run-time
interruptions of the appliances. The simulation scenario involves 15 appliances in a smart
home grouped as schedulable (interruptible and non-interruptible) and non-schedulable
loads, for which the corresponding power ratings and daily usage are known. Experiments
were performed using three pricing tariffs: time of use (ToU), real-time pricing (RTP), and
day-and-critical-peak pricing (CPP).
The authors of Ref. [28] use a harmonic model defined as a function of three
components—base load (i.e., economic activities and human-behavior patterns), an hourly
load, and a Fourier series (for capturing load periodicity)—for the forecasting of daily-
load curves on a monthly peak day, assuming a constant relation between the load and
the weather variables. The model parameters are estimated using historical data in or-
der to minimize the forecasting errors. The daily-load curves of various customers of
the Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand (residential, commercial and industrial)
were forecasted separately, considering four tariff schedules: general residential and small,
medium, and large general service.
The authors of Ref. [29] experimented with the symbiotic organisms search (SOS) and
cuckoo search (CS) algorithms for the day-ahead forecasting of load scheduling based
on consumer preferences (i.e., the time intervals commonly used for shiftable appliances)
obtained after a public survey on 51 residential users and concluded that the SOS al-
gorithm provides better results in terms of convergence and requires fewer parameters
(i.e., no specific parameters are required other than maximum evaluation number and
population size).
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 8 of 35
Approaches integrating machine-learning techniques have been proposed in

Refs. [30,31]. In Ref. [30] a load-scheduling scheme integrating a support vector machine
(SVM) model for short-term demand forecasting is introduced and applied experimentally
on load-schedulable electrical devices (LSEDs). LSEDs are devices with repeated ON/OFF
cycles, whose ON intervals may be divided into smaller intervals distributed over a cycle,
as long as their objectives are fulfilled. Interleaving the ON intervals of every LSED may
lead to overall peak flattening. Limited preemption has been used in order not to shorten
the lifetime of the device (i.e., once a device is turned ON, preemption may occur only after
a certain time interval has passed). The authors of Ref. [31] propose a method based on a
long-short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model for forecasting the load demand
curve of a smart micro grid using historic data consisting of daily temperature, humidity,
day of the week, and hourly load power. The predicted curve and the real-time status pa-
rameters are used within a control strategy for managing the operation of a thermal-storage
electric boiler in order to store excess energy, provide heat energy, and regulate the peak
load and frequency modulation of the power grid.
2.5. Identification of Users’ Behavior Patterns

The identification of repetitive patterns in residents’ activities in smart homes based
on sequences of data recorded using smart sensor systems may assist the load-demand
forecasting model.
The authors of Ref. [32] present the results obtained from collecting data that were
relevant to activity recognition using passive infrared sensors, force sensing resistors, reed
switches, mini-photocell light sensors, temperature and humidity sensors, and smart plugs.
The authors of Ref. [33] propose a residual recurrent neural network structure for
predicting resident activity in smart homes. The experiments, performed on a dataset from
a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) laboratory consisting in records provided
by various sensors (reed switches, pressure, light, temperature, gas sensors), installed in
an apartment with one resident for 14 days, indicated that residual LSTM/GRU models
provide better results than classical LSTM and GRU (Gated Recurrent Units) models.
A survey on multi-user activity recognition is presented in [34]. Ambiental sensors,
such as motion detectors, contact switches, inertial and break-beam sensors, and pressure
mats, are described as being frequently employed for human activity detection.
3. Sensing Architectures for Energy Monitoring

As pointed out in the previous sections, the modeling and algorithm-development
activities that are relevant to energy optimization are heavily reliant on large measurement
datasets for both identification and validation. The number and range of the sensors that are
required tend to transform the residential environment into a highly instrumented one. In
fact, all the relevant variables for the daily consumption curves (usage patterns, weather
parameters, individual appliance profiles) need to be acquired, collected, and archived.
The sources for all the datasets are the appropriate sensing systems.
The usage of sensor networks for load-demand monitoring facilitates the construction
of precise models (load profiles), the association of user behavior patterns with the identified
load profiles, and real-time scheduling and optimization.
In [4], it is specified that the studied homes were highly instrumentalized: the indi-
vidual appliance energy use, interior temperature and humidity at multiple locations, and
exterior climate data were all recorded at five-minute intervals.
The authors of Ref. [35] investigate the possibility of improving energy-consumption
forecasting by including various sensors (light intensity, CO2 , air quality, temperature,
and humidity) in addition to electricity-consumption monitoring devices. Experiments
performed in an office building indicate that light intensity and CO2 present the highest
correlation with electricity consumption.
The authors of Ref. [36] indicate that there is a strong interdependency between energy
consumption and weather. Records collected into an unoccupied TxAIRE Research home
Experiments performed in an office building indicate that light intensity and CO2 pre
sent the highest correlation with electricity consumption.
The authors of Ref. [36] indicate that there is a strong interdependency between en
ergy consumption and weather. Records collected into an unoccupied TxAIRE Researc
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 home (i.e., the day number, outdoor temperature, solar radiation, and energy consump
9 of 35
tion of the home and of the heat pump) are used to identify the parameters of two NN
models with ni = 3 inputs, no = 1 output, and nh = 2ni + 1 neurons in the hidden layer, ET
(i.e.,
f(t, the day number,
T, SR), outdoor
EH = f(t, T, SR), temperature,
where ET solar radiation,
is the and energy
total electrical consumption
energy of the of th
consumption
home and of the heat pump) are used to identify the parameters of two NN models with
home, EH is the energy consumption of the heat pump, t is the day number, T is the dry
ni = 3 inputs, no = 1 output, and nh = 2ni + 1 neurons in the hidden layer, ET = f (t, T, SR),
bulb temperature, and SR is the solar radiation. The intention is to capture the change
EH = f (t, T, SR), where ET is the total electrical energy consumption of the home, EH is the
in monthly
energy energyofconsumption
consumption the heat pump, duet isto
theweather.
day number, T is the dry-bulb temperature,
and SR The authors
is the of Ref. The
solar radiation. [37] intention
present isa tosystem
captureforthe energy
changes monitoring in residentia
in monthly energy
homes using sensor
consumption due to weather. networks (Figure 4). For energy-consumption monitoring, a series o
wireless smart-power
The authors strip
of Ref. [37] nodesa interfaced
present by a sink
system for energy node are
monitoring in used. A gateway
residential homes modul
implementing
using a data-stream
sensor networks (Figure 4). management system (DSMS)
For energy-consumption for real-time
monitoring, data processin
a series of wireless
is connected
smart-power through
strip the RS-232
nodes interfaced by interface
a sink node toare
theused.
sinkAnode. A DB
gateway moduleserver (PostgreSQL) i
implement-
ing a data-stream management system (DSMS) for real-time data processing is connected
used to store the data, which can be visualized as trend charts through a web serve
through the RS-232 interface to the sink node. A DB server (PostgreSQL) is used to store the
(Apache running PHP). Each monitoring node has the ability to measure and send th
data, which can be visualized as trend charts through a web server (Apache running PHP).
energy
Each consumption
monitoring node hasof the
theability
connected appliance
to measure within
and send one second.
the energy The DSMS
consumption of thefacilitate
the aggregation and saving of the data into DB tables with various
connected appliance within one second. The DSMS facilitates the aggregation and saving time granularitie
(month,
of the dataday,
into hour, minute).
DB tables with various time granularities (month, day, hour, minute).
Figure4.4.A A
Figure four-layer
four-layer arhitecture
arhitecture for energy
for energy monitoring
monitoring (after
(after Ref. Ref. [37]).
[37]).
Theauthors
The authors of Ref.
of Ref. [38] focus
[38] focus on analyzing
on analyzing passive
passive house house
(PH) (PH) requirements
requirements from the from
the perspective of human comfort. A schematic view of the proposed passive
perspective of human comfort. A schematic view of the proposed passive house systemhouse sys
manager is indicated
tem manager in Figure
is indicated in5.Figure
The Environmental comfort block
5. The Environmental is responsible
comfort for
block is responsibl
estimating an indicator of the comfort level based on the thermal, visual, indoor air, acoustic,
for estimating an indicator of the comfort level based on the thermal, visual, indoor air
and spatial comfort inferred from the monitored parameters (including air temperature and
acoustic,
relative and spatial
humidity, comfort
air velocity, meaninferred from the monitored
radiant temperature, parameters
illuminance/shading level,(including
CO2 ai
temperature and relative humidity, air velocity, mean radiant temperature,
level, and sound level). The predicted mean vote (PMV) value is considered as an indicator illum
nance/shading
of level, CO
the thermal sensation of 2alevel,
body.andThesound level). block,
PH manager The predicted
based on mean vote (PMV) valu
the information
received from the Environmental comfort block and considering the occupant’s preferences
and energy usage, is responsible for sending commands to the Actuator control block in
order to perform various adjustments. In the experiments, a WSN consisting in SunSPOT
sensor nodes is used to measure the air temperature, compute the PMV value, and transmit
the data to a central PC via a SunSPOT base station.
is considered as an indicator of the thermal sensation of a body. The PH manager block,
based on the information received from the Environmental comfort block and consider-
ing the occupant’s preferences and energy usage, is responsible for sending commands
to the Actuator control block in order to perform various adjustments. In the experi-
ments, a WSN consisting in SunSPOT sensor nodes is used to measure the air tempera-
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 10 of 35
ture, compute the PMV value, and transmit the data to a central PC via a SunSPOT base
station.
Figure5.5.Schematic
Figure Schematicview
viewofofaapassive
passivehouse
housesystem
systemmanager
manager(after
(afterRef.
Ref.[38]).
[38]).
AAreview
reviewofofthe
thedata
datatypes
typesused
usedininthe
theliterature
literaturefor
forexperiments
experimentson
onload-demand
load-demand
schedulingisispresented
scheduling presentedininTable
Table1.1.
Table1.1.Data
Table Datatypes
typesfor
forload-demand
load-demandscheduling.
scheduling.
Reference
Reference Data Type
Data Type Sampling
Sampling Period Period
[35]
[35] Power consumption,
Power consumption, light
lightintensity, CO2
intensity, CO 55 min
min
2
[37]
[37] Power
Powerconsumption
consumption(W) (W) 11 sec
sec
Energy consumption
Energy consumption (Wh)ofofthe
(Wh) theheat
heat pump
pump and and
[36]
[36] of the
ofhome, outdoor
the home, outdoordry-bulb
dry-bulbtemperature
temperature (C),(C), 11 day
day
solar radiation (Wh/m2 2 )
solar radiation (Wh/m )
[27,29] Power rate (kWh) of appliances Daily usage (hours)
[27,29]
[28] Power
Energy rate (kWh)
consumption forof appliances
each customer (kWh) Daily usage
15 min(hours)
[28]
[30] Energy consumption for each
Power consumption (W) customer (kWh)
of appliances 15 min
1 sec
[30]
[31] Power consumption
Temperature, (W)
humidity, of appliances
day of week 1 sec
Daily
Load power 1/2 h
Temperature, humidity, day of week Daily
[31]
Load power ½h
Table 2 presents a series of recent developments described in the literature, analyzed
Table
from the 2 presents
perspective a serieskey
of several of features:
recent developments described software
hardware architecture, in the literature, ana-
technologies,
lyzed from the perspective of several key features: hardware architecture, software tech-
smart-home capabilities, energy-monitoring capabilities, the maturity of hardware and
nologies, smart-home
hardware/software capabilities,
scalability, andenergy-monitoring
the availability of localcapabilities,
displaythe
formaturity
immediate of hard-
user
ware and hardware/software scalability, and the availability of local display for imme-
information/interaction.
diate user information/interaction.
Table 2. Smart-home systems, energy-monitoring devices, and energy-monitoring platforms.
Table 2. Smart-home systems, energy-monitoring devices, and energy-monitoring platforms.
Smart Home Energy Monitoring Maturity and Local
Ref. Architecture Technologies
Smart Capabilities
Home Capa- Energy Monitoring
Capabilities Scalability Local
Display
Ref. Architecture Technologies Maturity and Scalability
bilities Capabilities
Energy footprints of Raspberry-Pi-3-based Display
Open-source,
‘Cloud-first’ Open-source,
publish/ End-to-end IoT Energy footprints of appli- Raspberry-Pi-3-based ON/OFF
appliances (not ON/OFF detection for
[39] ‘Cloud-first’ imple- pub- End-to-end IoT tech- ances (not accurate
accurate duedue
to to appliances; load test of N/A 1
[39] implementation subscribe, technologies detectionservers
for appliances; load test N/A 1
mentation lish/subscribe, nologies nonlinear nature of
nonlinear nature of time- with
MongoDB
time-energy footprint) of servers withJMeter
Apache Apache JMeter
MongoDB energy footprint)
Arduino-based
Arduino-based
prototype;prototype;
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi
Current and voltage
Current sen-
and voltage connection
connection demonstrated
demonstrated be-
Arduino
Arduino ++ ESP8266
ESP8266 Character
Character
[40]
[40] Web
Webserver
server N/A
N/A sors interfaced to Arduino
sensors interfaced to tween metermeter
between and web
andapplication.
web
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi Module
Module LCDLCD
Leonardo
Arduino Leonardo Upper level (gateway,
application. cloud DB)
Upper level
not present
(gateway, cloud DB)
[41] Intel Edison board- MQTT, AWS IoT, N/A Allegro ACS712 current Prototypenottested
present
individually N/A
Allegro ACS712
Intel Edison MQTT, AWS IoT, current sensor Prototype tested
[41] N/A N/A
board-based station DynamoDB interfaced to Intel individually
Edison board
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 11 of 35
Table 2. Cont.
Smart Home Energy Monitoring Maturity and Local

Ref. Architecture Technologies
Capabilities Capabilities Scalability Display
Wireless sensor
network,
PostgreSQL,
data-acquisition
Apache, PHP, Wireless smart-power
module (gateway),
[37] data-stream N/A strip nodes interfaced Prototype N/A
data-storage
management by a sink node
module,
system
visualization
module
Data-acquisition
module
(microcontroller for MQTT server, Current sensor for
Hardware prototype,
HVAC unit storage server, RFID reader, measuring AC unit
scalability simulated
[42] management), analytics engine temperature and current, solid-state N/A
using Webserver
middleware server, humidity sensors relay for switching
stress tool
module, Webserver devices ON/OFF
client-application
module
BLE nodes for Controllable smart
Virtual End
monitoring of devices, monitoring of
Node server for
Wireless sensor temperature, data from distributed Pilot project
handling Virtual
[43] network, gateway, humidity, air resources (solar PV, implemented at VTT’s N/A
Top Node events,
cloud servers pressure, CO2 , and wind mill, ESS, and research apartment
Bluetooth 4.0
air pressure electric vehicle
(BLE)
differences charging posts)
HEMS-IoT Smart-home
Case study conducted on
architecture ZigBee, monitoring
10 homes (with two
integrating 7 layers IoT (REST) (motion and room Smart-home
types of design and
(presentation, IoT services, location, lighting, monitoring (energy
characteristics) in a
[44] services, security, big-data temperature, water control sensors) for N/A
residential complex for
management, technologies, flow, gas, sound reducing energy
identifying
communication, and machine sensors) for consumption
energy-consumption
data, and device learning ensuring comfort
patterns
layer) and safety
Prototype devices with
high technology
readiness level (beta
prototypes) are validated
Measurement of:
and installed in
Sensor nodes for active power and LCD graphic
residential and office
environmental energy, reactive power display: local
Layered buildings.
variables and energy, apparent editing of the
architecture Energy-monitoring
(temperature, power and energy control/
integrating nodes fully integrated
BLE, MongoDB, humidity, CO2 , from RMS data, monitoring
Current wired/wireless into the
Cloud DB server, light intensity), apparent power parameters;
work sensor nodes, smart-home/BMS
iOS, XCode, Qt controller vectorial calculation, current
gateway-managed networks. Scalability of
nodes/smart zero-crossing, line measured
networks, cloud the network based on
actuator nodes for period, phase-delay values; plot
processing wireless hubs and wired
regulation of room between voltage and of the last
gateways (up to
environment current, sag and 12/24 h
60 controller and sensor
swell events.
nodes managed by a
gateway). Technologies
with proven scalability
used at cloud level.
1 N/A–feature not available.
Most of the papers cited in the table describe devices for energy monitoring that
are not integrated with the smart-home/smart-building automation infrastructure. A
cloud-based setup for data storage, visualization, and analysis appears to be the most
appropriate method for handling measurement data and offers an important contribution to
the scalability of the platforms. Analyzing the maturity and the level of integration between
smart homes and energy-monitoring networks, the authors of Refs. [43,44] identified
approaches close to the integration paradigm promoted in the current paper. However,
the precision of the energy monitoring and the integration with smart homes/buildings
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 12 of 35
presented in the current work are not reached in the other implementations reported in
Table 2.
22, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4. Integration of Energy Monitoring with Smart Building Network Infrastructure
12 of 36
4.1. The Proposed Sensing and Control Architecture
The architecture of the system designed for supporting scheduling-based energy sav-
ing in residential clusters through monitoring the power consumption of typical consumers,
sumers, the provision of auxiliary sensor data for supporting the scheduling algorithms,
the provision of auxiliary sensor data for supporting the scheduling algorithms, the extrac-
the extraction oftion
load profiles
of load for for
profiles several appliances,
several appliances,the
thestorage ofmonitored
storage of monitoreddata
data
andand
of load-profile
of load-profile approximations
approximationsinto intoa cloud
a cloud database server, the support for the
database server, the support for the exchange ex-of data with
change of datathewith the engine,
inference inference engine,
strategy strategy
planner planner
block, and block, and unit,
cluster-management cluster-
is presented in
management unit, is presented
Figure 6. in Figure 6.
Figure 6. System architecture.

Figure 6. System architecture.
With reference With

to Figure 3, a to
reference monitoring
Figure 3, ainfrastructure must be deployed
monitoring infrastructure must beindeployed
the in the
building, such that the monitoring
building, of monitoring
such that the the power isofperformed
the power isfor each active
performed for socket. Thesocket. The
each active
measured powermeasured
levels must be communicated
power levels must be and logged at the
communicated andlevel of each
logged home,
at the levelnot
of each home,
only for supporting thefor
not only bottom-up
supportingidentification
the bottom-upstrategy, but also
identification for providing
strategy, but also forthe
providing the
necessary feedback to the scheduling algorithm. A monitoring infrastructure that organ-
necessary feedback to the scheduling algorithm. A monitoring infrastructure that organizes
izes the required power meters into networks of smart wireless nodes, managed by by wireless
the required power meters into networks of smart wireless nodes, managed
wireless hubs, ishubs, is indicated
indicated in Figure
in Figure 7. 7.
Buildings 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 36
Buildings 2022,
Buildings 12, 1034
2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of
13 of 35
36
Figure 7. Wireless-sensor network for monitoring residential loads (SM—smart meter, WH—
wireless
Figure 7.hub, GTW—gateway).
Wireless-sensor network for monitoring residential loads (SM—smart meter, WH—
Figure 7. Wireless-sensor network for monitoring residential loads (SM—smart meter, WH—wireless
wireless hub, GTW—gateway).
hub, GTW—gateway).
The hubs are connected on a RS-485 bus, interfaced by a gateway module. Blue-
tooth low-energy
The
The hubs are
hubs (BLE)
areconnected protocol
connected ais RS-485
usedbus,
onona RS-485 inbus,
the wireless
interfaced
interfaced network,
by abygateway the module.
a gateway hub module.
allowing up to
Blue-
Bluetooth
eight
tooth concurrent
low-energy peripheral
(BLE) connections.
protocol is used The
in the role of
wirelessthe wireless
network,
low-energy (BLE) protocol is used in the wireless network, the hub allowing up to eight hub
the is
hub to act as
allowing a virtual
up to
sensor
eight
concurrent node
concurrent in the
peripheral network,
peripheral ensuring
connections. The the
connections. The
role communication
ofrole of the
of the wireless
the wireless hub values
hub
is to tomeasured
actisas aact by the
as a virtual
virtual sensor
wireless
sensor sensor
node in nodes
the into
network, the wired
ensuring bus
the on request.
communication Variousof wired
the
node in the network, ensuring the communication of the values measured by the wireless values sensors may
measured be
by con-
the
nected
wireless on the
sensor RS-485
nodes bus.
into theThe
wired sensor’s
bus on measurements
request. Various
sensor nodes into the wired bus on request. Various wired sensors may be connectedare collected
wired sensorsby the
may gateway
be con-
modules
nected
on onand
the RS-485 thesent periodically
RS-485
bus. Thebus. Thethrough
sensor’s sensor’s TCP/IP
measurements sockets
measurements to are
are collectedthe collected
application
by the gatewaybyrunning on the
the modules
gateway
cloud
modules database
and sentserver.
periodically through TCP/IP sockets to the
and sent periodically through TCP/IP sockets to the application running on the cloud application running on the
cloudThis
database architecture
database
server. server. was already validated as a distributed monitoring and control so-
lution
Thisforarchitecture
This building management
architecture was alreadysystems
wasalready validated
validated (Figure 8 [45]), paving
asasaadistributed
distributed the road
monitoring
monitoring forcontrol
and
and an integrat-
control so-
solu-
ed smart
lution for home
building architecture
management (Figure
systems 9) that encompasses
(Figure 8 [45]), all
paving
tion for building management systems (Figure 8 [45]), paving the road for an integrated the
the implied
road forareas
an (energy
integrat-
management,
ed smart
smart home home HVAC control,
architecture
architecture access
9) thatcontrol,
(Figure
(Figure entertainment,
9)encompasses
that encompasses allnon-intrusive
all the impliedthe implied user
areasdetection,
areas (energy (energy
manage-
etc.).
management, HVAC control, access control, entertainment, non-intrusive
ment, HVAC control, access control, entertainment, non-intrusive user detection, etc.). user detection,
etc.).
Figure8.8.Structure
Figure Structure
of aoftypical
a typical Physis
Physis systemsystem (S—sensor,
(S—sensor, C—controller,
C—controller, A—actuator,
A—actuator, WS—
WS—wireless
wireless
Figure 8.sensor) (after
Structure of
sensor) (after Ref. [45]). Ref.
a [45]).
typical Physis system (S—sensor, C—controller, A—actuator, WS—
wireless sensor) (after Ref. [45]).
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 14 of 35
Figure 9. Integrated smart-home architecture.

Figure 9. Integrated smart-home architecture.
The growing
The growing demanddemand on on data-storage
data-storage platforms
platforms favorsfavors the
the use
use ofof cloud
cloud computing
computing
and virtualization technologies [46]. An interesting approach to
and virtualization technologies [46]. An interesting approach to aggregating, visualizing, aggregating, visualizing,
and analyzing
and analyzing live live data
data streams
streams in in the
the cloud
cloud for for cooling
cooling and and ventilation
ventilation measurements
measurements
was introduced in Ref. [47]. The elements are structured
was introduced in Ref. [47]. The elements are structured in a similar manner: in a similar manner: a firsta level
first
contains
level sensor
contains nodes,
sensor a second
nodes, levellevel
a second contains IoT gateways,
contains IoT gateways, and anda third levellevel
a third is theis IoT
the
cloud.
IoT cloud.
When selecting
When selecting aa temporal
temporal database
database for for large
large data
data sets,
sets, the
the scaling
scaling ofof the
the database
database is is
an important issue [48]. The literature reports both relational
an important issue [48]. The literature reports both relational databases and non-relational databases and non-
relational databases
databases for the storagefor the storage
of the time of the produced
series time seriesbyproduced by the environmental
the environmental sensors and
sensors
smart and smart
meters meters
deployed deployed inbuildings.
in residential residential buildings.
The authors
The authors of ofRef.
Ref.[2]
[2]indicate
indicatethatthatthe thehigh
highavailability
availability and and on-demand
on-demand scalability
scalability of
of an
an open-source
open-source relational
relational database
database management
management system system
(RDMS) (RDMS) might might
be the bepreferred
the pre-
ferred solution
solution for dealingfor dealing with a heterogeneous
with a heterogeneous collection collection
of sensorofsystems
sensor based
systems on based
different on
different
types types of
of sensor sensorand
network network and facilitates
facilitates the implementation
the implementation of processing of processing
and reasoning and
reasoningmodules
software softwareindependent
modules independent
of the origins of the origins
of the data.of the data.
From an
From aninternal
internalarchitecture
architecture perspective,
perspective, non-relational
non-relational databases
databases arepreferred
are the the pre-
ferred choice,
choice, due to
due to their their horizontal
horizontal scaling and scaling andflexibility
schema schema flexibility characteristics,
characteristics, which
which facilitates
facilitates
the first 3 Vstheof first 3 Vs
big data of volume,
[49]: big datavelocity,
[49]: volume, velocity,
and variety. and variety.
MongoDB, a NoSQL, MongoDB,
document- a
NoSQL, database,
oriented document-oriented
is indicateddatabase,
in Ref. [46] is indicated in Ref. [46]for
as being appropriate as handling
being appropriate
timestamped for
handling
data. timestamped
Timestamped datadata.
mayTimestamped
be stored in RDBMS data maybybeadding storedainnew RDBMS
row in bya adding
table fora
new row in a table for each data point. In MongoDB, this procedure is equivalent to sav-
each data point. In MongoDB, this procedure is equivalent to saving a new document for
ing aevent
each new (document-per-event
document for each event (document-per-event
approach). Alternative approaches approach). that Alternative
take advantage ap-
proaches
of that take advantage capability
the document-embedding of the document-embedding
of MongoDB, suchcapability of MongoDB, such
as document-per-minute or
as document-per-minute
document-per-hour, or document-per-hour,
are indicated in Ref. [49] as beingare indicated in Ref. [49]
more optimized in as
thebeing
contextmore of
optimized in the context of storage/retrieval. Updates at the field level imply a simple
storage/retrieval. Updates at the field level imply a simple update operation instead of
update operation
writing a new document insteadin ofawriting a new document in a new location.
new location.
To model the measurements in
To model the measurements in aa way
way that
that facilitates
facilitates thethe saving
saving of of records
records for for each
each
sensor with a granularity of one second, documents are created
sensor with a granularity of one second, documents are created per day and per meas- per day and per measurand.
The document
urand. storing measurements
The document storing measurementsfor a specificfor day contains
a specific day subdocuments per minute,
contains subdocuments
organized in an array of subdocuments per second. The document
per minute, organized in an array of subdocuments per second. The document struc- structures defined for a
sensor or data source and for measurements are presented
tures defined for a sensor or data source and for measurements are presented below.below.
DataSources {
_id: ObjectId,
schemaVersion: int,
dataSourceIdx: int,
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 15 of 35
DataSources {
_id: ObjectId,
schemaVersion: int,
dataSourceIdx: int,
gtwSerialNumber: str,
type: str,
name: str,
userAlias: str,
address: int,
gain: double,
offset: double,
maxValue: double,
minValue: double,
measuringUnit: str,
resolution: str,
precision: str
}
Measurements {
_id: ObjectId,
schemaVersion: int,
timestamp: date,
dataSourceIdx: int,
gtwSerialNumber: str,
records: [
{ minute: int,
dataentries: [
{ second: int, value: double }
]
}
]
}
4.2. Development of the Smart-Meter Node with Wireless Communication

Considering previously developed sensing modules (Figure 10) ([45,50–53]), and the
versatile modular architecture that was demonstrated in a broad range of applications
(greenhouse climate control, smart-home on-demand ventilation, air-quality monitoring,
etc.), the first approach considered was to reuse the hardware functionality of the host
module, based on a 32-bit microcontroller, as much as possible, and to interface it to the
energy metering board. The block diagram of the host module and of the interfacing board
are presented in Figures 11 and 12. A picture of the interfacing board is presented in
Figure 13.
While, from the hardware point of view, this approach accelerated the development of
the prototype smart meter, from the software point of view, the reusability of the existing
module (tailored for the protocol, procedures, and usage scenarios of the Physis platform),
guarantees an easy integration with existing residential comfort infrastructures. This creates
the framework for achieving the alignment of the smart metering solution with the existing
BMS and smart-home systems, toward the integrated smart-home architecture indicated in
Figure 9.
The STMicroelectronics STPM32 energy metering evaluation board [54] was used to
monitor the active/reactive power of the appliances. The characteristics of the board include:
0.2%-accuracy single-phase meter, Vnom (RMS) = 140–300 V, Inom /Imax (RMS) = 5/100 A,
flin = 50/60 Hz ± 10%, USB and RS232/UART isolated connectors, SPI interface, two
programmable LEDs, 3.3-volt power supply.
Considering previously developed sensing modules (Figure 10) ([45,50–53]), and
the versatile modular architecture that was demonstrated in a broad range of applica-
tions (greenhouse climate control, smart-home on-demand ventilation, air-quality moni-
toring, etc.), the first approach considered was to reuse the hardware functionality of the
host module, based on a 32-bit microcontroller, as much as possible, and to interface it to
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 the energy metering board. The block diagram of the host module and of the interfacing 16 of 35
board are presented in Figures 11 and 12. A picture of the interfacing board is presented
in Figure 13.

Figure 10. Sensors
Figure for air
10. Sensors fortemperature, humidity,
air temperature, andand
humidity, CO2CO
content (Ref.(Ref.
2 content [50]).
[50]).
Figure11.
11.Host
Host module block diagram (OC—optocoupler, GPIO—general-purpose input/output,
Figure 11.
Figure Host module
module block
block diagram
diagram (OC—optocoupler,
(OC—optocoupler, GPIO—general-purpose
GPIO—general-purpose input/output,
input/output,
TSC—touch-sensing controller).
TSC—touch-sensing
TSC—touch-sensing controller).
controller).
Figure 12. Interfacing board block diagram (CMU—charging management unit, OC—optocoupler,
Figure12.12.Interfacing
Interfacing board block diagram (CMU—charging management unit, OC—optocoupler,
LDO regulator—low-dropout
Figure board regulator).
block diagram (CMU—charging management unit, OC—optocoupler,
LDO regulator—low-dropout regulator).
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 17 of 35
Figure 12. Interfacing board block diagram (CMU—charging management unit, OC—optocoupler,
Figure13.
Figure 13.Interfacing
Interfacing board
board prototype.
prototype.
While,
The from frequency
on-board the hardware point
output of view,
signals this
of the approach
STPM32 were accelerated the development
used to estimate the
of theconsumption;
power prototype smarttheir meter, from
frequency wasthe software point
proportional to the of view,
power the reusability
(characterized of the ex-
by the
isting module (tailored for the protocol, procedures, and usage scenarios of the Physis
proportionality constant, the number of pulses per kW). Since the board does not save
the configurable
platform), parameter
guarantees anvalues
easy in the nonvolatile
integration withmemory,
existinga residential
rechargeablecomfort
battery was
infrastruc-
included in the setup, to continuously maintain the power supply of the board.
tures. This creates the framework for achieving the alignment of the smart metering so-
The host board is responsible for reading the frequency, for computing the average
lution with the existing BMS and smart-home systems, toward the integrated smart-
power consumption in each second, and for communicating the values to the wireless hub
home architecture
connected in the home indicated in Figure 9.
sensor network.
Theimplementation
The STMicroelectronics
on theSTPM32 energy follows
microcontroller metering theevaluation
algorithm board [54]inwas
presented theused to
monitor the active/reactive
following pseudocode: power of the appliances. The characteristics of the board in-
clude: 0.2%-accuracy single-phase meter, Vnom(RMS) = 140–300 V, Inom/Imax(RMS) = 5/100
EXT_INT_IRQHandler:
stop timer1
if (i ≥ 0) then
∆t[i ] ← get_counter(timer1)
endif
i←i+1
reset timer1 value
start timer1
main_thread:
start auto reload timer2 (1 s overflow)
i ← −1
loop
if (timer2 overflow)
clear timer2 overflow flag
compute average value of ∆t counters stored during the last second
estimate average power consumption
i ← −1
endif
endloop
The external interrupt is driven by the output of the optocoupler connected to the
LED1 signal of the STPM32 board and is configured to trigger an event on the rising edge.
One timer (timer 1) counts the number of cycles between two successive events. A general-
purpose timer (denoted here as timer 2) is used to signal a one-second-elapsed event.
The timing diagram of Figure 14 shows the events handled by the microcontroller.
The external interrupt is driven by the output of the optocoupler connected to the
LED1 signal of the STPM32 board and is configured to trigger an event on the rising
edge. One timer (timer 1) counts the number of cycles between two successive events. A
general-purpose timer (denoted here as timer 2) is used to signal a one-second-elapsed
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 18 of 35
event.
The timing diagram of Figure 14 shows the events handled by the microcontroller.
22, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 18 of 36
Figure14.
Figure 14.Events
Eventshandled
handledby
bythe
themicrocontroller
microcontrollerfor
forpower-consumption
power-consumptionestimation.
estimation.
AApicture
pictureshowing
showing thethe developed
developed smart-meter
smart-meter module
module is presented
is presented in Figure
in Figure 15. The15.
The measurement
measurement boardboard is mounted
is mounted in theinbox
the with
box with the plug
the plug onback
on the the back
and and the socket
the socket on
on front
the the front
face.face.
The The minimum,
minimum, maximum,
maximum, and and current
current average
average are displayed
are displayed next next
to theto
the graphical
graphical representation
representation of the
of the load load when
profile profilethe
when
tracethe
modetrace mode is (the
is activated activated
sampling(the
sampling
time is onetime is one second).
second).
Figure 15. Smart-meter module.
4.3. Experiments and Results

The following figures (Figures 16–19) present records of the consumption (medium
power at an interval of 1 s). For the experiments, the energy consumers presented in
Table 3 were considered.
Table 3. Appliances used for experiments.
Device Model Consumption

Figure15.
15.Smart-meter
Smart-metermodule.
module.
Washing machine
Figure ARCTIC APL71222BDW3 173 kWh/year
Refrigerator
4.3.Experiments
4.3. Experimentsand
Bosch
andResults
Results
KGE39AI40/13 156 kWh/year
Electric oven Electrolux EOF5C70X 0.81 kWh/cycle, max. 2790 W
Thefollowing
The followingfigures
figures(Figures
(Figures16–19)
16–19)present
presentrecords
recordsofofthe
theconsumption
consumption(medium
(medium
Electric heater
poweratatanan
power interval Electrolux
interval
of 1ofs).1 For ER
s). the
2009
Forexperiments,
the experiments,
Max. 2000
the energy
the energy consumersW
consumers presented
presented in Table in
3
Lamp with were
light bulb
3 were considered. Osram
Tableconsidered. 200 W
1200 Table 3. Appliances used for experiments.

1000
Device Model Consumption
800 Washing machine ARCTIC APL71222BDW3 173 kWh/year
600 Refrigerator Bosch KGE39AI40/13 156 kWh/year
W
400
Electric oven Electrolux EOF5C70X 0.81 kWh/cycle, max. 2790 W
Electric heater Electrolux ER 2009 Max. 2000 W
200
Lamp with light bulb Osram 200 W
0
13:40 13:42 13:43 13:44 13:45 13:46 13:47 13:48 13:49 13:50 13:54 13:55
1200
Time of day
1000
Figure 16. Combined profile
Figure of the lamp
16. Combined and of
profile of the
thelamp
electric
andheater.
of the electric heater.
800
600
W
400
200
0
13:40 13:42 13:43 13:44 13:45 13:46 13:47 13:48 13:49 13:50 13:54 13:55
Time of day
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 19 of 35
2000
2000
2000
1500
1500
1500
WWW
1000
1000
1000
500
500
500
0
018:34 18:39 18:44 18:49 18:54 18:59 19:04 19:09 19:14 19:19 19:24 19:29
0 18:34 18:39 18:44 18:49 18:54 18:59 19:04 19:09 19:14 19:19 19:24 19:29
18:34 18:39 18:44 18:49 18:54 Time
18:59 of day
19:04 19:09 19:14 19:19 19:24 19:29
Time of day
Time of day
Figure 17. Load profile
Figure of the washing
Load profile machine
of for a wool
the washing cycle
machine for(54 min).cycle (54 min).
a wool
Figure 17. Load profile of the
17. washing machine for a wool cycle (54 min).
Figure 17. Load profile of the washing machine for a wool cycle (54 min).
200
200
200
150
150
150
WWW
100
100
100
50
50
50
0
021:04 21:09 21:14 21:19 21:24 21:29 21:34 21:39 21:44 21:49 21:54 21:59 22:04 22:09 22:14 22:19 22:24 22:29 22:34
0 21:04 21:09 21:14 21:19 21:24 21:29 21:34 21:39 21:44 21:49 21:54 21:59 22:04 22:09 22:14 22:19 22:24 22:29 22:34
Time of day
21:04 21:09 21:14 21:19 21:24 21:29 21:34 21:39 21:44 21:49 21:54 21:59 22:04 22:09 22:14 22:19 22:24 22:29 22:34
Time of day
Time of day
Figure 18. Load profile of the refrigerator.
Figure 18. Load profile of the refrigerator.
Figure of
18.the refrigerator.
Load profile of the refrigerator.
3000
3000
3000
2500
2500
2500
2000
2000
2000
1500
WWW
1500
1500
1000
1000
1000
500
500
500
0
011:34 11:36 11:38 11:40 11:42 11:44 11:46 11:48 11:50 11:52 11:54 11:56 11:58 12:00 12:02 12:05 12:07
0 11:34 11:36 11:38 11:40 11:42 11:44 11:46 11:48 11:50 11:52 11:54 11:56 11:58 12:00 12:02 12:05 12:07
Time of day
11:34 11:36 11:38 11:40 11:42 11:44 11:46 11:48 Time
11:50of day
11:52 11:54 11:56 11:58 12:00 12:02 12:05 12:07
Time of day
Figure 19. Load profile of the electric oven.
Figure 19. Load profile of the electric oven.
Figure of
19.the electric
Load oven.
profile of the electric oven.
4.3.1. Linear Approximation of Load Profiles
4.3.1. Linear Approximation of Load Profiles
4.3.1.Local
Linearapproximation
Approximation of Load
through
Table 3. Appliances Profiles
usedlinear models is widely used in simulation environ-
for experiments.
Local approximation through linear models is widely used in simulation environ-
ments, such as SPICE. Piecewise
Local approximation Device linear representations
through linear models is widely haveuseddistinct advantages
in simulation for nu-
environ-
ments, such as SPICE. Piecewise linear representations have distinct advantages
Model for nu-
Consumption
mericalsuch
ments, methods usedPiecewise
as SPICE. in simulation linearand optimization.have
representations Problems
distinctsuch as the mixed-
advantages for nu-
merical methods used in simulation and optimization. Problems such as the mixed-
Washing machine ARCTIC APL71222BDW3 173 kWh/year
integer linear
merical methodsprogram
used (MILP) are simplified
in simulation byBosch
the use
and optimization. ofProblems
linear models.
such The authors
as the mixed-of
integer linear program (MILP) are simplified by the use of linear models. The authors
Refrigerator KGE39AI40/13 156 of
kWh/year
Ref. [55]linear
integer consider an optimization-based
program (MILP) are simplified
Electric oven approach thetouse
byElectroluxtheofintentional islanding
linear models.
EOF5C70X The
0.81 of power
authors
kWh/cycle, of
max. 2790 W
Ref. [55] consider an optimization-based approach to the intentional islanding of power
networks
Ref. and show
[55] consider an that the heater
inclusion ofapproach
optimization-based
Electric a piecewiseto thelinear
Electrolux model islanding
intentional
ER 2009 (PWL) forof the AC W
power
Max. 2000
networks and showLamp thatwiththe inclusion of a piecewiseOsram linear model (PWL) for the AC
power flow
networks facilitates
and show thatthe determination
the light
inclusion
bulb of of AC-feasible
a piecewise islands.
linear model (PWL) for the 200AC
W
power flow facilitates the determination of AC-feasible islands.
power Bearing in mind its
flow facilitates theease of representation
determination and suitability
of AC-feasible islands.for fast optimization algo-
Bearing in4.3.1.
mindLinear
its ease of representation and suitability for fast optimization algo-
rithms, the PWL
Bearing representation
in mind its ease was considered
of representation
Approximation and
of Load for the load for
suitability
Profiles profiles of the residential
fast optimization algo-
rithms, the PWL representation was considered for the load profiles of the residential
appliances.
rithms, the To
PWL obtain a piecewise
representation
Local approximation linear
was approximation
considered
through theofload
for models
linear the load profiles
profiles
is widely of in
used thecorrespond-
residential
simulation environments,
appliances. To obtain a piecewise linear approximation of the load profiles correspond-
ing to specific
appliances. Toappliances,
such as the following
obtain a piecewise
SPICE. linearsteps
Piecewise linear were performed:
approximation of the load profiles correspond- numerical
representations have distinct advantages for
ing to specific appliances, the following steps were performed:
ing
 toApply
specific appliances,
methods used
a Gaussian thein
filter, following
for simulation
smoothing steps
andwere performed:
theoptimization.
data; Problems such as the mixed-integer linear
 Apply a Gaussian filter, for
program (MILP) aresmoothing
simplified bythethe
data;
use of linear models. The authors of Ref. [55] consider
 first-orderfilter,
Apply a Gaussian derivative of a Gaussian
for smoothing filter on the smoothed data, in order to
the data;
 Apply a first-order derivative ofapproach
an optimization-based a Gaussian filter
to the on the smoothed
intentional islanding ofdata,
powerin order to and show
networks
 emphasize
Apply the steepderivative
a first-order changes inofthe signal; filter on the smoothed data, in order to
a Gaussian
emphasize the steep changes in the signal;
 Extract the the
emphasize extrema
steeppoints;
changes in the signal;
 Extract the extrema points;
 Using the
Extract theextrema
extremaaspoints;
breakpoints, find a linear approximation for each interval.
 Using the extrema as breakpoints, find a linear approximation for each interval.
 Using the extrema as breakpoints, find a linear approximation for each interval.
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 20 of 35
that the inclusion of a piecewise linear model (PWL) for the AC power flow facilitates the
determination of AC-feasible islands.
Bearing in mind its ease of representation and suitability for fast optimization algo-
rithms,
• the PWL representation was considered for the load profiles of the residential
appliances. To obtain a piecewise linear approximation of the load profiles corresponding
•• specific appliances, the following steps were performed:
to
•
•• Apply a Gaussian filter, for smoothing the data;
• Apply a first-order derivative of a Gaussian filter on the smoothed data, in order to
••
emphasize the steep changes in the signal;
•• Extract the extrema points;
• Using the extrema as breakpoints, find a linear approximation for each interval.
The procedure applied on the power measurements performed on the refrigerator,
oven, and washing machine resulted in the approximations presented in Figures 20–23.
’s ’s
Figure 20. PWL approximation of the refrigerator’s load — 3.16 (measured data—
— value
profile—RMS
—
— approximated profile—green).
——
red vs.
’s ’s
Figure 21. PWL approximation of the washing machine’s load profile—RMS — —
value 27.04 (measured
— —
—
data—red vs. approximated profile—green). —
— value 110.9 (measured data—red vs.—

Figure 22. PWL approximation of the oven load profile—RMS
—
approximated profile—green).
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 21 of 35
—
—
Figure 23. PWL approximations of the load profiles.
The simple algebra involved in defining the summation operation is:

n 𝑛
P= ∑i=1 Pi (t − t𝑃i ) = ∑ 𝑃𝑖 (𝑡 − 𝑡𝑖 )
𝑖=1
where Pi (t − ti ) is the PWL representation of the appliance i load profile (shifted with the
−
time ti ). It allows the generation of artificial daily profiles based on real appliance load
profiles. This fact demonstrates the versatility of the PWL representation in generating a
sufficiently broad spectrum of daily profiles to simulate the optimization algorithms. The
rescheduling of the loads is, in fact, in this representation, just equivalent with the time
shifting of the appliance profiles. As an example, an artificial daily-load profile, generated
by considering that the oven starts at 12:30 and at 18:30 and the washing machine starts at
16:00, is presented in Figure 24.
Figure 24. Artificial daily-load profile.

Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 22 of 35
4.3.2. Advantages of PWL Representations for Load Scheduling

From a function-approximation perspective, a PWL representation offers a better
representation for the load profiles than a classic staircase approximation (for an hourly-
averaged approximation, see Ref. [56]). The more accurate representation and the higher
sampling rate should be examined from the perspective of evaluating their potential for
improved energy saving in typical real-time scheduling scenarios.
A common approach to load scheduling is load shifting ([27,56,57]). A least slack
time (LST)-based approach is introduced in Ref. [57] for the real-time scheduling of smart
home appliances. The scheduling scheme aims to minimize energy costs while handling
user requests within the earliest possible time frame. These types of strategies, based on
preemptions, are appropriate for appliances that can be stopped for a certain amount of
time and restarted afterward. The shifting algorithms introduced in Ref. [56] are used
for flattening the daily-load profile by iteratively shifting the operation of programmable
appliances from peak hours to off-peak hours. These optimization algorithms use a time
granularity of 1 h.
Table 4 enumerates several recent approaches reported in the literature. They are
based on several optimization strategies, and their efficiency is generally demonstrated on
hourly-averaged power-measurement series.
Table 4. Load scheduling algorithms for appliances.
Ref. Algorithm Types of Devices Time Granularity

[57] Least Slack Time (LST) Devices with different duty cycles N/A 1
Full/limited preemption Earliest Deadline
[58] Interruptible devices N/A
First (EDF)
Programmable
[56] Gradual- and lump-shifting algorithms 1h
interruptible/non-interruptible devices
Cuckoo Search (CS), Mixed-Integer Linear
[59] Shiftable and non-shiftable devices 1h
Programming (MILP)
Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO),
[60] Controllable devices 1h
Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA)
[61] Genetic Algorithm (GA) Controllable devices 1h
[62] Whale Optimization Algorithm Controllable devices 1h
Hybrid Gray Wolf Differential Evolution Shiftable, non-shiftable, and
[63] 15, 30, and 60 min
(HGWDE) controllable devices
Enhanced Binary Gray Wolf Optimization
(EBGWO), Binary Particle Controllable/uncontrollable
[64] N/A
Swarm Optimization (BPSO) and Binary shiftable/non-shiftable devices
Gray Wolf Optimization (BGWO)
PSO, vortex search (VS), differential
evolution (DE), Hybrid-Adaptive DE
[65] Shiftable and real-time devices 15 min
(HyDE), HyDE with decay function
(HyDE-DF)
WFS2ACSO (hybrid technique incorporating
Wingsuit Flying Search Algorithm (WFSA)
[66] Controllable devices N/A
and Artificial Cell Swarm Optimization
(ACSO))
Moth-Flame Optimization
(MFO) algorithm, Genetic Algorithm (GA),
[67] Fixed and elastic devices 30 min
TG-MFO (Time-Constrained
Genetic-Moth-Flame Optimization)
1 N/A–information not available.
Moth-Flame Optimization)
1 N/A–information not available.
(MFO) algorithm, Genetic Algorithm (GA), es
TG-MFO (Time-Constrained Genetic-
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034
The testMoth-Flame formulated as follows: for a given shift step, shstep, start
problem isOptimization) 23 of 35
1
the representation
N/A–information of the
not available. load profile of each appliance i, LPi (t) = 0 and t ∉ (si, S
(si, Si) is the start/stop pair for LPi (t), find the values shi corresponding to th
The test problem is formulated as follows: for a given shift step, shstep, starting from
start/stop points (s
The test problem Si)shifted = as
isi,formulated , Si) + sfor
(sifollows: hi · ashstep
given that
shiftminimize
step, shstep , the peak-to-averag
starting from
the representation of the load profile of each appliance i, LPi (t) = 0 and t ∉ (si, Si), where
the representation| of the| load profile of each appliance i, LPi (t) = 0 and t ∈ / (s , S ), where
(sratio
i, Si) is (PAPR),
the start/stop pair , of the
for LP aggregated
i (t), find the profile.
values shi correspondingi toi the shifted
(si , Si ) is the start/stop pair for LPi (t), find the values shi corresponding to the shifted
start/stop points (si, Si)shifted = (si, Si) + shi · shstep that minimize the peak-to-average power
start/stop A first
points
|
experiment
(si ,| Si )shifted =considers
(si , Si ) + shi ·ashstep
simple configuration:
that minimize a cluster with
the peak-to-average powerthree h
ratio (PAPR),
the(PAPR),
level of|x peakeach
2 , of the aggregated profile.
, ofhome, the shiftable profile. loads are a washing machine and a drye
|
ratio the aggregated
A
profiles first experiment
x RMS 2
considers a simple configuration: a cluster with three homes. the At
A first are indicated
experiment in Figure
considers a simple25. The activity
configuration: intervals
a cluster accepted
with three homes. by At the users
the
home
level
level of each
(AIihome,
of each
home,
) are illustrated the shiftable
the shiftable in loadsFigure loads
26.are
are a washing
a washing machine and a dryer,
machine and a dryer, whose profiles
whose
profiles
are indicatedare indicated
in Figure 25. in Figure 25. The
The activity activity
intervals intervals
accepted accepted
by the byeach
users for the home
users (AI
for )each
i
home (AI i ) are illustrated
are illustrated in Figure 26. in Figure 26.
Figure
Figure
Figure 25.25.
25. Load
Load
Load profiles
profiles
profiles usedinused
used in experiment
inexperiment
experiment (sampling
(sampling
(sampling time
time time 1 min).
1 min).
1 min).
Figure 26. Activity intervals used in experiment.

Figure
Figure 26. 26. Activity
Activity intervals
intervals used inused in experiment.
experiment.
The shifting step used in the simulation was 15 min. The following restriction relat-
ed toThe
the
Theorder
shifting of
step
shifting running
used in was
step used imposed: the 15
the simulation was dryer
in the simulation
min.should
was 15start
min.after
The following
Thethe washing
restriction related ma-
following restrict
chine finishes its program. The shifting configuration produced was (1 6 1 7 2 6) (Figure
to the order of running was imposed: the dryer should start after the washing machine
ed to its
theprogram.
order of Therunning was imposed: the dryer
was (1 6should start after
27). the wash
27).
finishes shifting configuration produced 1 7 2 6) (Figure
chine
Thisfinishes its program.
type of day-ahead planningThe shifting
strategy configuration
can be easily disturbedproduced
by a randomwas (1 6 1 7 2 6
perturba-
27).
tion (the user manually switches on another appliance). To simulate the load-rescheduling
algorithm behavior in the presence of perturbations, a must-run load (an oven, in our
example) was introduced at the level of home 3. Its profile is presented in Figure 28.
The initial optimal profile was no longer valid: the appliances that were already
activated would remain unshifted, but those that were not yet activated at the time when
the perturbing load is switched on must be rescheduled. The simulation led to a shifting
configuration (1 6 1 8 3 8 0) (Figure 29). It can be observed that the not-yet active loads
(with reference to the switching-on of the oven) were pushed to the right along the time
axis (when compared with Figure 27) to accommodate the insertion of the oven profile, and
the peak consumption was reduced accordingly.
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 24 of 35
Figure 27. Simulation results.
This type of day-ahead planning strategy can be easily disturbed by a random per-
turbation (the user manually switches on another appliance). To simulate the load-
rescheduling algorithm behavior in the presence of perturbations, a must-run load (an
oven, in our example) was introduced at the level of home 3. Its profile is presented in
Figure
Figure 28.Simulation
27.
Figure 27. Simulationresults.
results.
This type of day-ahead planning strategy can be easily disturbed oven

2000
by a random per-
turbation
1000 (the user manually switches on another appliance). To simulate the load-
rescheduling
0 algorithm behavior in the presence of perturbations, a must-run load (an
0 5 10
oven, in our example) was introduced at15the level of
20 25
home 3. Its profile is30presented in
min
Figure 28.
Figure 28.Profile
Figure 28. Profileofofthe
the non-shiftable
non-shiftable loadload
usedused in simulation
in simulation (sampling
(sampling time 1 min).
time 1 min).
2000
The presence of the smart-meter nodes (Figure 9) enables this reactive behavior: the
oven
The initial
1000
detection optimal profile
of the switch-on was no
event occurs longer
at the level valid: the appliances
of the wireless sensor, andthatitwere already ac-
is further
tivated 0 would
propagated on theremain unshifted, but those that were
route wireless-hub-gateway-inference not and
engine yet strategy
activated at theThis
planner. time when
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
the
last perturbing load is for
block is responsible switched on must
the running thebe
of min rescheduled.
rescheduling, suchThethatsimulation
the response led to of
time a shifting
configuration (1 6 1related
the system is strictly 8 3 8to0)the
(Figure 29). It can
computational be observed
complexity that the not-yet
of the rescheduling active loads
algorithm
(with
Figure
and the reference
28. Profile to thenon-shiftable
of the
computational switching-on
power of theloadofused
the in
hardware oven) wereitpushed
simulation
on which (sampling
runs. The totime
the1right
min).along
granularity of thethe time
axis (when compared with Figure 27) to accommodate the insertion of the better
configuration space is essential. A two-stage approach strategy can help to obtain oven profile,
The
response initial
times: optimal
a first-stageprofile was
exploration
and the peak consumption was reduced accordingly. no longer
with a valid:
larger the
shiftingappliances
step can that
be were
followed already
by a ac-
tivated
refining would
stage withremain unshifted,
a smaller shiftingbut those that were not yet activated at the time when
step.
the perturbing load is switched on must be rescheduled. The simulation led to a shifting
configuration (1 6 1 8 3 8 0) (Figure 29). It can be observed that the not-yet active loads
(with reference to the switching-on of the oven) were pushed to the right along the time
axis (when compared with Figure 27) to accommodate the insertion of the oven profile,
and the peak consumption was reduced accordingly.
Buildings 2022, 12,
Buildings2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW
1034 25 of 36
25 of 35
Figure29.
Figure 29.Simulation
Simulationresults
results
inin
thethe presence
presence of aofperturbation.
a perturbation.
AThe
second experiment
presence of thewas performed to
smart-meter assess(Figure
nodes the advantage of using
9) enables PWL representa-
this reactive behavior: the
tions
detection of the switch-on event occurs at the level of the wireless sensor, andhome
for load scheduling instead of staircase approximations, this time in a complex it is fur-
cluster/neighborhood setup (165—washing machines, 120—dryers, 180—dish washers).
ther propagated on the route wireless-hub-gateway-inference engine and strategy plan-
The cuckoo search (CS) algorithm [68] was applied on a combined profile of three types of
ner. This last block is responsible for the running of the rescheduling, such that the re-
shiftable appliance, totaling 465 appliances (Figure 30). The activity interval considered
sponse
was fromtime
8 AMoftothe system is strictly related to the computational complexity of the re-
3 PM.
scheduling algorithm and the computational power of the hardware on which it runs.
The granularity of the configuration space is essential. A two-stage approach strategy
can help to obtain better response times: a first-stage exploration with a larger shifting
step can be followed by a refining stage with a smaller shifting step.
A second experiment was performed to assess the advantage of using PWL repre-
sentations for load scheduling instead of staircase approximations, this time in a com-
plex home cluster/neighborhood setup (165—washing machines, 120—dryers, 180—dish
washers). The cuckoo search (CS) algorithm [68] was applied on a combined profile of
three types of shiftable appliance, totaling 465 appliances (Figure 30). The activity inter-
val considered was from 8 AM to 3 PM.
Figure 30. Load profile considered for scheduling.

Pow
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 26 of 35
Figure 30. Load profile considered for scheduling.
Twosimulations
Two simulations were
were performed:
performed: oneone using
using PWLPWL representations,
representations, andusing
and one one using
hourly approximations (Figure 31).
hourly approximations (Figure 31).
Figure31.
Figure 31.Load-profile
Load-profile representations
representations considered
considered for simulation.
for simulation.
Forthe
For the first
first simulation,
simulation, a shift
a shift step
step of of 10was
10 min min waswhile
used, used,
forwhile for the
the second, thesecond,
shift the
step was set to one hour. Running the CS algorithm with a population size
shift step was set to one hour. Running the CS algorithm with a population size of 25 of 25 candidate
solutions for 2500 generations for the two representations considered (PWL/staircase)
candidate solutions for 2500 generations for the two representations considered
resulted in two shifting configurations (two sets of shi values i = 1.465).
(PWL/staircase) resulted in two shifting configurations (two sets of shi values i = 1.465).
A shifting configuration specifies for each load profile the number of times it should
A shifting
be shifted by shstep configuration specifies profile
such that the aggregated for each load
is the profile
“best” the number
according of times it
to the measure
should be shifted by shstep such that the aggregated profile is the “best” according to the
of flatness considered. Figure 32 presents the PWL representations of the aggregated
measure
load of for
profiles flatness considered.
the two Figure 32 presents
shifting configurations obtainedthe PWL
(the onerepresentations
obtained using PWL of the ag-
gregated load for
representations profiles forprofiles
the load the twoand shifting configurations
the one obtained usingobtained
staircase(the one obtained us-
approximations
ingthe
for PWL
loadrepresentations for thepeak-shaving
profiles). The superior load profilesperformance
and the one obtained using
demonstrated staircase
by the PWL ap-
proximations for
representations the load profiles). The superior peak-shaving performance demonstrat-
is obvious.
ed by the PWL representations is obvious.
—
Figure 32. PWL representations of the optimal load profiles (magenta—aggregated profile based on
—
the shifting configuration resulted from the PWL approximation, blue—aggregated profile based on
—
the shifting configuration resulted from the staircase approximation, black—non-shiftable loads).
4.3.3. Software Applications for Recording and Visualization

In the initial process of installing and configuring the monitoring networks, as well
as later in the maintenance, the testing and debugging activities are strongly supported
by visualization tools. The software applications that were developed for running on
on the shifting configuration resulted from the PWL approximation, blue—aggregated profile
based on the shifting configuration resulted from the staircase approximation, black—non-
shiftable loads).
4.3.3. Software Applications for Recording and Visualization

Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 27 of 35
In the initial process of installing and configuring the monitoring networks, as well
as later in the maintenance, the testing and debugging activities are strongly supported
by visualization tools. The software applications that were developed for running on the
the embedded
embedded sensing
sensing modules
modules wereimplemented
were implementedininaaway way that
that supported
supported dual
dual data-
data-
collection
collection behavior: gateway-based data collection and the direct connection ofaamobile
behavior: gateway-based data collection and the direct connection of mobile
application
applicationtotothe
thesensing modules
sensing modules viavia
thethe
BLE interface.
BLE On On
interface. oneone
hand, the mobile
hand, app not
the mobile app
only collects current readings, but also downloads the logged values for visualization.
not only collects current readings, but also downloads the logged values for visualiza- A
screenshot from the developed iPhone/iPad app is shown in Figure 33.
tion. A screenshot from the developed iPhone/iPad app is shown in Figure 33.
Figure 33. The iPhone/iPad application.

Figure 33. The iPhone/iPad application.
On the other hand, the automated process of data collection and archiving is supported
by the software modules inherited from the smart-home distributed system: wireless hubs
are integrated with gateways that periodically send the logged data toward the cloud
databases using the scalable software architecture described in the next section.
Visualization screens generated from the records of the environmental variables ac-
quired using the integrated monitoring system are presented in Figures 34–38.
Figure 34. Records of CO2 levels.

Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 28 of 35
Figure 35. Records of air temperature.
Figure 36. Records of relative air humidity.
Figure 37. Records of light intensity.
Figure 38. Records of wind speed.
5. Discussion
5.1. Privacy
An important aspect related to smart metering is residents’ privacy. The provision
of accurate, granular data related to energy consumption to utility ’providers may be a
threat to residents’ privacy, facilitating the identification of specific appliances’ power
’
signatures and inferences ’
about residents’ private lives. Based on the smart-meter data,
’
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 29 of 35
malicious attackers may find information related to residents, such as their presence at
home, disabilities/illnesses, eating habits, sleep cycles, time spent in front of TV, age,
gender, or ethnicity [69].
The usage of load-shifting techniques and of alternative representations of the load pro-
files instead of the whole data set are among the privacy-preserving techniques considered.
The proposed PWL representation can successfully support such approaches.
5.2. Scalability
To address the matter of scalability, both building-level and city-level integration must
be considered.
In the current setup of the home network, the hub is equipped with a BLE interface
for communicating with the wireless network and an RS-485 interface for integration on
the wired side into the home network. The home network is interfaced by a gateway
module that provides a wired ethernet interface. For a larger office building or an industrial
building, an increase in the number of monitored loads may need a larger bandwidth than
is achievable through the BLE and RS-485 interfaces of the wireless hub (when higher rates,
of a few measurements/second, are considered).
To improve the communication architecture to support the real-time transfer of the
measured data from each smart meter directly to the upper hierarchical levels (cloud
database server, inference engine, and strategy planner), the usage of wired and wireless
Ethernet is considered. There are two alternative solutions: either the RS-485 port of the
hub is replaced with an Ethernet port (wired or wireless), or the BLE interface of the sensing
modules is directly replaced by a wireless Ethernet module. The transition from BLE to
Wi-Fi is facilitated by the modular design of the host module (see Figure 11), the only part
affected being the radio board. The usage of a low-power Wi-Fi module, such as the Silicon
Labs WGM160P Wi-Fi Module [70] (a module suitable for cloud-connected IoT applications,
integrating a chip antenna, 802.11 b/g/n radio, certifications, Wi-Fi and IP stacks, HTTP
server, and a microcontroller that can host user applications or be used with an external
host controller in network-co-processor (NCP) mode), allows easy transition from BLE to
Wi-Fi and direct integration with the current motherboard through the SPI interfaces.
For the city-level integration, the software architecture is mainly concerned with issues
Buildings 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW
generated when a large number of buildings are connected. The proposed approach is 30 of 36
indicated in Figure 39.
Figure39.
Figure 39.Scalable
Scalablesoftware
software architecture.
architecture.
The gateway modules periodically connect through TCP-IP sockets to the Apps in
the Driver layer to send the latest measurements and to receive user commands (the set-
ting points and the switch-ON/OFF commands issued through the graphic interface by
the inhabitants). The gateway-issued messages used for transmitting the measurements
contain the following information: the timestamp, gateways’ serial number, message
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 30 of 35
The gateway modules periodically connect through TCP-IP sockets to the Apps in the
Driver layer to send the latest measurements and to receive user commands (the setting
points and the switch-ON/OFF commands issued through the graphic interface by the
inhabitants). The gateway-issued messages used for transmitting the measurements contain
the following information: the timestamp, gateways’ serial number, message type, priority,
number of measurements included in the message, and pairs <dataSourceIdx, value>. The
App must be seen as a message broker: its main functionality is to listen for incoming
connections, create a queue of lists (one list contains messages from one gateway), and
pass it to the upper hierarchical level. Each App handles 1 to m gateways. If the number of
requests per second is greater than the threshold, another App is launched. The Apps are
configured by the Manager.
Industrial environments typically use three-phase power supply. One solution for
metering systems that can be adopted in these environments is the ST’s three-phase me-
ter [71], integrating a STPM34 board for sensing the current and voltage in the primary
and secondary phase and a STPM33 board for sensing the current and voltage in the third
phase. A microcontroller facilitates the aggregation of the information provided by the two
metering devices, computing total energy and power. Direct communication with each
individual metering device is also possible.
While for residential homes, the most important measurement is the active power, for
industrial environments, the measurements of interest are power quality, reactive power,
and harmonics. STPM3x measures voltages and currents on up to two lines and computes
the following quantities [72]:
• Active power and energy wideband 0 Hz (4 Hz)–3.6 kHz (the effects of harmonics
within this range are included);
• Fundamental active power and energy 45–65 Hz (the current and voltage waveforms
are filtered for removing all the harmonics except the first);
• Reactive power and energy;
• Apparent power and energy from RMS data;
• Apparent power vectorial calculation based on the scalar product of active and
reactive power;
• Signal parameters, such as the zero-crossing, line period, phase-delay between voltage
and current, sag and swell events, tamper and RMS values of the current and voltage
on each phase are computed on T = 200 ms every 128 µs.
Each computed power value is stored in a 32-bit register and accumulated (with sign)
in the corresponding 32-bit energy register at a rate of 7.8125 kHz.
Another solution appropriate for three-phase smart-meter nodes is indicated in [73].
It combines a hardware front-end realized with sigma-delta modulators with a dedicated
digital filter for sigma–delta modulator (DFSDM) blocks available in STM32F413. The
setup depicted in Figure 40 uses only three pairs of two-wire communication lines, which
need to be optically isolated. When compared with the direct extension toward the three-
phase measurement of the single-phase setup implemented in the prototype smart meter
(i.e., replicating the measurement chip three times, Figure 41), the galvanic isolation block
significantly increases the cost. The high rates and higher number of lines in the case of SPI
affect this, as indicated in Tables 5 and 6.
icated digital filter for sigma–delta modulator (DFSDM) blocks available in STM32F413.
The setup depicted in Figure 40 uses only three pairs of two-wire communication line
The setup depicted in Figure 40 uses only three pairs of two-wire communication lines,
which need to be optically isolated. When compared with the direct extension towar
which need to be optically isolated. When compared with the direct extension toward
the
the three-phase measurementofofthe
three-phase measurement thesingle-phase
single-phasesetup
setupimplemented
implemented in in
thethe prototyp
prototype
smart meter (i.e., replicating the measurement chip three times, Figure 41),
smart meter (i.e., replicating the measurement chip three times, Figure 41), the galvanic the galvani
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 isolation block significantly
isolation block significantlyincreases
increasesthe
thecost.
cost.The
Thehigh
high rates
rates and
and higher
higher number
31
number
of 35 of line
of lines
in the case of SPI affect this, as indicated in Tables 5 and
in the case of SPI affect this, as indicated in Tables 5 and 6. 6.
Figure40.40.
Figure
Figure 40. Three-phase
Three-phase
Three-phase meter
meter
meter block
block
block diagram
withwith
diagram
diagram withsigma–delta modulators
sigma–delta
sigma–delta (RCT—rectifier,
modulators
modulators LPS— LPS—
(RCT—rectifier,
(RCT—rectifier, LPS—
linear
linear power
linearpower
power supply,
supply,
supply, MA—mains
MA—mains
MA—mains adapter).
adapter).
adapter).
Figure 41. Extension of the implemented single-phase setup for measurements in three-phase sys-
Figure
tems. 41.41.Extension
Figure Extensionofofthe
theimplemented
implemented single-phase
single-phase setup
setup for for measurements
measurements in three-phase sy
in three-phase
tems.
systems.
Table 5. Main components in the setup of Figure 40.
Table
Table 5. 5. Main
Main components
components insetup
in the the setup of Figure
of Figure 40. 40.
Component Producer Unit Price Quantity Total
Component
STPMS2
Component Producer Unit Price Unit
STMicroelectronics
Producer 1.10Price
Quantity Quantity
3.00 Total Total
3.30
STPMS2 STMicroelectronics
STISO621W
STPMS2 STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics1.10 1.10 3.00
1.30 3.00 3.30
3.00 3.903.30
STISO621W STMicroelectronics 1.30 3.00
STISO621W
STM32F413RHT6TR STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics 1.30
6.79 3.00 3.90
1.00 6.793.90
STM32F413RHT6TR STMicroelectronics 6.79 1.00 6.79
STM32F413RHT6TR STMicroelectronics
Total 6.79 1.00 6.79
13.99
Total 13.99
Total 13.99
TableComponent
6. Main components in theProducer
setup of Figure 41. Unit Price Quantity Total
STPM32
Component
Component STMicroelectronics
Producer
Producer
Unit Price 1.39 Quantity 3.00 Total 4.17
Unit Price Quantity Total
IL260
STPM32
STPM32 NVE Corporation 1.39
STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics 5.71 3.00
1.39 3.00 3.00 4.17 17.12
3.00 17.12 4.17
IL260 NVE Corporation 5.71
STM32L496RGT3
IL260 STMicroelectronics
NVE Corporation7.40 7.40
5.71 1.00 1.00
3.00 7.40 7.4017.12
STM32L496RGT3 STMicroelectronics
STM32L496RGT3 Total
STMicroelectronics 7.40 1.00 28.69
7.40
Total 28.69
Total 28.69
6. Conclusions
The paper introduced the hardware/software codesign of an integrated smart-home
architecture that is able to combine typical distributed sensing and control networks
(targeting user comfort in smart homes) with energy-monitoring and management systems,
implemented as smart nodes organized in sensor networks.
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 32 of 35
Communication architectures and data-management systems appropriate for real-time

aggregating time series were reviewed and analyzed from the perspective of consumption-
data measurement and logging. A scalable data-transfer architecture that can cope with
time series generated by a large number of home-energy-management systems was intro-
duced, together with associated database applications for supporting the optimization and
modeling of load profiles at cluster level, sector level, and city level.
A smart-meter node that shares the processing and communication architecture with
the smart sensors previously implemented for user-comfort management (smart home
infrastructure) was developed to support the automated process of power-measurement
collection and archiving. The ability of this node to process power measurements with
a programable granularity level (seconds/minutes/hours) at the local (edge) level and
stream the processed measurement results at the selected granularity to the cloud was
identified as a valuable feature for a large range of applications (model identification,
power saving, prediction). The impact of the real-time transfer of the measured data from
each smart meter directly to the upper hierarchical levels (cloud database server, inference
engine, and strategy planner) was analyzed in relation to the scaling-up of the number of
monitored buildings. Solutions for extending the proposed setup for buildings in industrial
environments (three phase systems) were proposed.
It should be emphasized that the node introduced here is implemented at a mature
level of technology readiness and provides the essential functionalities of a smart meter [74]:
regular and precise metering, two-way communication, appliance control, and support for
demand-side management procedures.
The recorded profiles generated by the smart meter nodes and by the sensors involved
on HVAC control are easily visualized with the developed suite of software applications.
Piecewise linear approximations of the load profiles corresponding to specific appliances
were introduced and implemented in the DB application. Their ease of representation and
suitability for generating the daily profiles needed in the simulation of the optimization al-
gorithms were exemplified using some typical appliances. The advantages of the new PWL
representation for optimization procedures were demonstrated by the better performance
(higher energy savings) in load scheduling and rescheduling using the proposed system.
The modular architecture of the sensor node facilitates the reuse of the same platform
to develop edge nodes that measure environmental comfort variables and air quality, or
nodes that provide the functionality of smart meters. This supports the integration of
typical smart-home networks with energy-monitoring networks in a novel, easier, and
affordable way. The use of mature technologies for communication and database systems
combined with the scalability of the cloud-based approach suggests that the proposed
solution is futureproof.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, D.M. and N.S.; methodology, D.M., N.S., D.P. and V.M.;
software, A.L. and N.S.; validation, D.P. and M.D.; writing—original draft preparation D.M. and N.S.;
writing—review and editing, A.L., D.P. and M.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published
version of the manuscript.
Funding: This paper was supported by the Project “Entrepreneurial competences and excellence
research in doctoral and postdoctoral programs-ANTREDOC”, no. 56437/24.07.2019, co-funded by
the European Social Fund and by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and
Digitization, CCCDI—UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2021-0544, within PNCDI III.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Buildings 2022, 12, 1034 33 of 35
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3.8 3.

Buildings 2022, 12, 1034. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12071034 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings

2. Modeling and Optimization Methods for Energy Systems in Residential Buildings

2.3. Estimating the Load Profiles in Residential Buildings

Figure 2. Typical loads in residential buildings with PV system.

• Flexibility (i.e., time, temperature, dependence on residents’ behavior), which influ-

2.4. Planning Strategies

Approaches integrating machine-learning techniques have been proposed in

2.5. Identification of Users’ Behavior Patterns

3. Sensing Architectures for Energy Monitoring

Smart Home Energy Monitoring Maturity and Local

Figure 6. System architecture.

With reference With

Figure 9. Integrated smart-home architecture.

4.2. Development of the Smart-Meter Node with Wireless Communication

Buildings 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 16 of 36

22, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 18 of 36

Figure 15. Smart-meter module.

4.3. Experiments and Results

Table 3. Appliances used for experiments.

Device Model Consumption

1200 Table 3. Appliances used for experiments.

— value 110.9 (measured data—red vs.—

Figure 23. PWL approximations of the load profiles.

The simple algebra involved in defining the summation operation is:

Figure 24. Artificial daily-load profile.

4.3.2. Advantages of PWL Representations for Load Scheduling

Table 4. Load scheduling algorithms for appliances.

Ref. Algorithm Types of Devices Time Granularity

Figure 26. Activity intervals used in experiment.

Figure 27. Simulation results.

This type of day-ahead planning strategy can be easily disturbed oven

Figure 30. Load profile considered for scheduling.

4.3.3. Software Applications for Recording and Visualization

4.3.3. Software Applications for Recording and Visualization

Figure 33. The iPhone/iPad application.

Figure 34. Records of CO2 levels.

Figure 35. Records of air temperature.

Figure 36. Records of relative air humidity.

Figure 37. Records of light intensity.

Figure 38. Records of wind speed.

Communication architectures and data-management systems appropriate for real-time

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