NSF REU 2014

Research Experiences for Undergraduates
in Green Building Environments at UMBC

May 28 – August 15, 2014

New emerging “smart plugs” embed a micro-controller and low-power communication device that allows you to monitor the power consumption of individual devices (e.g., microwave, coffee machine, laptop) plugged into power sockets, and communicate such power consumption information over a wireless network to a central monitoring station. Such devices could lead to substantial savings of energy & money by enabling Internet-based monitoring & real-time control of the behavior of individual appliances. This project will use real-life microcontroller kits (ACME Plugs from Moteware) & real-life building measurement data to explore whether such measurement-based monitoring can be used to

• Develop Smart Circuit Breaker — i.e., to lessen the burden of the user of plugging each and every appliance/device in the building with a smart plug; we will investigate connecting multiple devices together with an individual smart plug/smart circuit breaker and design a smart circuit breaker using energy metering chip (ADE7753), AC/DC power supply, Microcontroller with radio (TI MSP430F16 and Cypress Powerline Communications (PLC) modem) and solid state AC relay (Sharp S216SE1) etc.
• Profile individual devices — i.e., use NILM (non-intrusive load monitoring) data analytics algorithm on the time-series of power consumption traces to infer the type of plugged-in device (e.g., distinguish between a laptop & a coffeemaker), thereby building a dynamic catalog of the types & number of devices connected by a consumer.
• Predict the power consumption of individual rooms — i.e., using the past history of the power consumption of individual devices to create predictive inferences of the usage patterns for individual devices (e.g., learn that the individual switches on a dehumidifier for ~3 hrs every Thu).
• Receive $4,500 stipend, free on-campus housing
• Access to university resources, Travel support to UMBC, Unique research experience

Please send your CV (include any relevant experience) and unofficial transcript to Dr. Nirmalya Roy at Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. .