Anthony Rowe Gives a Lecture in Portugal On Embedded Sensing Systems For Energy-Efficiency In Buildings

Date: Friday, November 5, 2010, 16:00-17:00
Speaker: Anthony Rowe, Carnegie Mellon University
Organization: The Instituto de Telecomunicações and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Place: FEUP Building I, Room I-105

Abstract:
Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) is a promising technique for disaggregating per-appliance energy consumption in buildings from aggregate voltage/current measurements. One major limitation of the approach is that it typically requires a training phase during which users must manually label device transitions. This talk presents an inexpensive contactless electromagnetic field (EMF) event-detector that can detect appliance state changes within close proximity based on magnetic and electric field fluctuations. Each detector wirelessly transmits state changes via a sensor network to a circuit-panel energy meter, which can then be used to label and disambiguate appliance transitions detected from the aggregate signals as well as to track the associated energy consumption. Our EMF sensors are able to detect significant power state changes from a few inches away making it possible to externally monitor in-wall wiring to devices (e.g., overhead lights). We also address how this technology can be used as a first step towards the broader goal of net-zero energy buildings.

Bio:
Anthony Rowe is an Assistant Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He received a Ph.D. in ECE from CMU in 2010. His research interests include networked real-time embedded systems for sensor and actuator applications. Currently, he is investigating how to design future embedded systems to support applications ranging from building energy optimization to hazardous work-zone safety that are energy-efficient and provide real-time properties.