• Ivan Glesk, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Bandwidth crunch, challenges and search for solutions

Abstract: It has been suggested that fundamental limits of electronic switching relaying on the bandwidth limited silicon devices have been reached and the new technological solutions are needed. It is believed that all-optical devices and photonic integrated circuits when used in highly scalable systems may provide the needed improvements. In this talk we first examine the key disruptive milestones which led to transformation of communications into Information Technologies (IT) which today would be better characterized as Information, Communication and Entertainment Technologies (ICET). Then, the resulting challenges will be overviewed and possible solutions offering more scalable approaches by deploying advanced optical code-division multiple-access approaches and techniques will be discussed.

• Francesco Gennaro, System Research and Applications, STMicroelectronics, Catania, Italy

Active Front End Converters for High Power Charging Stations with High Frequency SiC Enabled Operations

Abstract: Car electrification is disrupting the high power applications in the automotive market but is also strongly affecting the grid infrastructure because of charging points needs. This paper deals with the analysis of front end converters in high power battery chargers operated with high frequency operations enabled by Silicon Carbide technology.

• Anton Fojtik
  Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
  National Research Nuclear University (NRNU MEPhI) Institute of Engineering Physics for Biomedicine, Moscow, Russia
  Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technology and Innovation, Technical University of Liberec, Liberec, Czech Republic

NANO – The Next Dimension, Smart Nanostructures – Sophisticated Forms of Matter for New Technology Development

Abstract: During the past several decades, “small-particle” research has become quite popular in various fields of physics and chemistry. By “small particles” are meant clusters of atoms or molecules of metals, semiconductors and others materials, ranging in size between single atoms or molecules and bulk materials.
Contemporary science reached the level which makes possible to peep into very tiny pieces of matter to observe natural processes taking place inside. On top of that the modern technology allows interfering with these internal processes and working upon them. Very important are characteristics and properties, which manage such form of matter, as well as processes that take place on nanometre scale.
Nanostructures represent the new forms of matter, which science and technology have been eagerly investigating in recent years. Problems of nanostructures is an inter-disciplinary field of research, where chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics, and perhaps some other branches of science as well, overlap in creating possibility to describe, study and employ these directions.
Today’s technology already achieved the levels that makes possible to observe and copy the process of formation of tiny structures and to imitate these structures in „nanosize" scale, or to find the ways how to prepare them. As these structures exhibit unique characteristics, unknown in the macro-world, it can be said that from the point of view of utilization of these structures for practical applications, doors are becoming wide open to undreamt-of development of science and technology.
In the very early stages of “Nano” science I had an opportunity to directly participate in experiments shaping this area. At the very beginning, we stepped into nanostructure research, which was at that time completely unexplored area, with a significant risk of failure and misunderstanding. This note presents the area of quantum nanoparticles from the perspective of one of the founders of the experimental study of nanotechnology and nanostructures as a completely new field of research, including subsequent unique applications.

• Dmitry Perepelkin, Faculty of Computer Engineering, Ryazan State Radio Engineering University, RSREU, Ryazan, Russia

Network Slicing Algorithm with Quality of Services in Software Defined Networks

Abstract: Software defined networks (SDN) are a promising platform for implementing Quality of service (QoS) technologies, thanks to centralized network management and flexible configuration of traffic transfer rules using the OpenFlow protocol. Algorithm for dividing the network into zones of responsibility for the transmission of traffic of a particular service has developed in this work. The proposed solution is based on the use of QoS metrics of network communication channels and QoS routing. The presented algorithm is implemented as an external application for the Aruba VAN SDN Controller. Testing of the developed algorithm was carried out on various network topologies using the Mininet emulator.

• Peter Svolik, A2B, s.r.o., Zilina - Povazsky Chlmec, Slovakia

UPS as an active part of smart grid

Abstract: This lecture focuses on the opportunities offered by the change in the way of use for the UPS technology present on the market. UPS takes traditionally the role as a simple stand-by device with its stored energy reserved solely for an emergency in case of grid failure. However, taking this present technology and installed base of devices offers the opportunity to use the UPS as active participant inside of the electrical grid. Particularly it is focusing also on the limitation depending on the installed battery type and connected consumer.

• Alberto Borghetti, Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

Scheduling of the Resources in a Local Energy Community

Abstract: The content of this invited lecture focuses on the day-ahead optimization of the operation of a local energy community. An energy community is a set of residential or small industrial sites, each connected to the same distribution network. In general, each site is equipped by local power generation (mostly from renewable resources), energy storage systems, and loads. It can act both as consumer and producer in different time periods. The cooperation between the participants of the community aims at minimizing the energy procurement costs by allowing direct transactions between the prosumers. Even in the case in which the production is provided only by photovoltaic units, the presence of the storage units requires the implementation of a day-ahead scheduling procedure. This lecture will present two different procedures that consider the minimization of the losses in the internal network of the community, provide the indication of the price of the direct transactions, and guarantee that each prosumer has an advantage by the participation in the community without cross-subsidization between consumers and producers. The first procedure is based on a mixed integer linear programming model that includes an approximate representation of the power losses in the internal network by using efficiency parameters calculated for each transaction. The second procedure implements a more refined representation of the network and the relevant operating constraint by using the classical second order cone programming (SOCP) formulation of the distribution optimal power flow. The models present decomposable structures that appear appropriate for the implementation of distributed optimization strategies. A distributed approach that applies the alternating direction method of multipliers will be shown. The distributed approach has been also adapted to consider the uncertainties of the photovoltaic generation and energy consumption, by using a tree generation technique based on the k-means method to deal with the problem of merging the stochastic information of the several prosumers in a common tree. By using the obtained tree, multiple decisions along the day are achieved. Therefore, a decision-making procedure is proposed for the choice of the most appropriate solution. In general, the multistage scheduling provides improved results with respect to the corresponding forecast-based solution, exploiting the chance to adapt the decisions according to the current operating conditions of the day. The performances of the procedures are illustrated for different configurations of the internal network of the community and different numbers of prosumers.