This paper outlines important characteristics of hybrid power line/wireless data communication system for smart grid (SG) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Moreover, we discuss the hybrid systems advantages in comparison to nonhybrid ones. These advantages are demonstrated not only in the technical point of view, but also in the infrastructural perspective. Also, we highlight a connection between the capillarity of IoT and the communication infrastructure provided by SG. Furthermore, we address the environmental influence on wireless and power line communications. Additionally, we present ergodic achievable data rate expressions for the hybrid power line/wireless channel (HPWC) and hybrid power line/wireless single-relay channel (HSRC) and provide performance analyses by considering four different cases, which are associated with the relative relay position in the single-relay channel model. Based on numerical results, we show that HPWC and HSRC offer a more reliable data transmission path when compared to power line or wireless system working alone.

Hybrid PLC/Wireless Communication for Smart Grids and Internet of Things Applications

Internet of things (IoT), mobile edge computing (MEC), and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) have attracted significant attention in both industry and academic research. By consolidating these technologies, IoT can be facilitated with improved connectivity, better data transmission, energy saving, and other advantages. However, the communication between these entities is subject to potential cyber threats. In addition, the integrity of the data must be maintained after storing into local storage. Blockchain is a data structure that supports features like pseudonymity, data integrity etc. This paper represents a blockchain based data acquisition process in which information is gathered from IoTs using UAV as a relay and is securely kept in blockchain at MEC server. In the proposed scheme, data are encrypted prior to transfer to MEC server with the assistance of a UAV. Upon receiving the data, MEC server validates the data and the identity of the sender. Successful validation is followed by stocking of the data into blockchain, subsequent to obtaining consent from the validators. Security analysis is conducted in order to show the feasibility of the proposed secure scheme. Finally, the performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed via simulation and implementation.

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BUAV: A blockchain based secure UAV-assisted data acquisition scheme in Internet of Things

This paper presents a blockchain enabled secure data acquisition scheme utilizing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm where data are collected from the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and subsequently, forwarded to the nearest server through the UAV swarm. Before initiating data acquisition, the UAV swarm shares a shared key with the IoT devices in order to maintain communications. However, prior to transmitting data, the IoT devices encrypt the data and forward it to the UAV swarm. Upon receiving the data, the UAV swarm implements a two-phase validation utilizing the π-hash bloom filter and the digital signature algorithm to validate the sender; in addition, prior to forwarding data to the nearest server, it performs encryption. However, before adding data in blockchain, consent from all validators is required. Finally, the data are stored in blockchain with the approval of validators. A security analysis is performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed scheme is manifested through the implementation and simulation. The security analysis and the performance results show that UAV assist the IoT devices both in terms of connectivity and energy consumption, and provides security against the threats mentioned in the paper.

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BUS: A Blockchain-Enabled Data Acquisition Scheme With the Assistance of UAV Swarm in Internet of Things

Internet of things and data mining: An application oriented survey

In the literature, the majority of research efforts in power line communication (PLC) has been focused on the physical layer in order to deal with issues such as the time varying behavior of loads in electric power systems, the presence of high power impulsive noise, the occurrence of impedance mismatching, the widespread use of unshielded power cables, and the existence of coupling losses. While some works have also been carried out on the PLC medium access control (MAC) sublayer, there are scopes for further research to address the novel demands associated with cyber physical systems that need to mitigate unfairness in resource sharing, collisions and starvation, among other issues which may degrade data communication quality. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey regarding the state-of-the-art of MAC protocols for PLC systems, including an overview of existing PLC MAC research results and an organization of current PLC MAC protocols in terms of type of protocols, applications, and main research focus. Moreover, we present modern PLC technologies and standards, highlighting their MAC sublayer characteristics and providing a detailed comparative analysis of PLC MAC protocols in the context of current and emerging PLC applications. Finally, we identify future trends within the scope of the MAC sublayer for PLC systems with a view to stimulating additional research efforts on PLC MAC design.

Medium Access Control Protocols for Power Line Communication: A Survey

This paper discusses the ergodic achievable data rate of the so-called incomplete hybrid power line-wireless single-relay channel (HSRC) model. Here, the term incomplete refers to the HSRC model, which jointly and in parallel uses power line and wireless single-relay channel (SRC) models, for low-bit-rate data transmission, without a data communication link or a node communication interface. In order to analyze the behavior of such kind of defective HSRC model under the relative location of the relay node in relation to the source and destination nodes, optimal power allocation is taken into account under a sum power constraint with an amplify-and-forward relaying protocol and maximal ratio combining applied at the relay node. Analytical and numerical results show that the incomplete HSRC model, which is a defective version of the HSRC model, can remarkably outperform power line and wireless SRCs for all considered positions of the relay node and the chosen cooperative protocols.

Analyses of the Incomplete Low-Bit-Rate Hybrid PLC-Wireless Single-Relay Channel

This paper investigates the benefits that energy harvesting (EH) can offer to increase energy efficiency in hybrid power line/wireless data communication systems for smart grid (SG) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications In this regard, the ergodic achievable data rates of a hybrid power line/wireless dual-hop system (H2HS) model that uses EH strategies and the amplify-and-forward protocol at the relay node are considered Also, four approaches for performing EH in the H2HS system are discussed Performance comparisons among the H2HS, a dual-hop power line and a dual-hop wireless systems are performed by adopting four simulation settings, covering the combinations of optimal or uniform power allocation together with colored or white additive noise at the output of the power line channel Numerical results show that the H2HS model with the power splitting EH strategy outperforms the other models Moreover, if the transmission power of the source node is high, then the case with additive colored noise at the received power line signal can result in higher achievable data rates in comparison to the white noise case Overall, the H2HS system making use of an EH strategy has the potential to increase the sustainability and energy efficiency in data communications for SG and IoT applications

A Hybrid Power Line/Wireless Dual-Hop System With Energy Harvesting Relay

This paper focuses on the hybrid power line/wireless single-relay channel (HSRC) model, which is constituted by parallel power line and wireless single-relay channel (SRC) models, for data communication purposes. Closed-form expressions for ergodic achievable data rates and outage probabilities are presented. These expressions are based on the fact that both power line and wireless are frequency-selective block-fading channels corrupted by additive random noise with a definite power spectral density. Moreover, comparisons among HSRC, power line SRC, and wireless SRC under the sum power constraint with optimal and uniform power allocations, the use of amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward cooperative protocols, and different relay positions are discussed. Based on asymptotic, analytical, and numerical results, we show that HSRC outperforms both power line and wireless SRCs in all considered scenarios. Furthermore, a performance comparison between HSRC and the so-called two wireless SRC shows that the former surpasses the latter when the sum power constraint with optimal power allocation is adopted.

The Low-Bit-Rate Hybrid Power Line/Wireless Single-Relay Channel

This work addresses the use of hybrid power line-wireless channels, which are defined as the concatenation of power line communication (PLC) and wireless communication (WLC) channels, for dedicated energy harvesting purposes in in-home facilities. Based on a measured data set of hybrid PLC-WLC channels, we discuss statistical analyses concerning distinct power masks and two different regions that are associated with typical distances from the electric power grids to the wireless device. Moreover, based on the harvested energy from the hybrid PLC-WLC channels, we report the achievable data rates for data communication through narrowband PLC and WLC channels as well as through the hybrid PLC-WLC channels. The analyses show that feasible values of energy can be harvested from the hybrid PLC-WLC channels and that the high power nature of the PLC noise significantly contributes to the total harvested energy. Finally, we point out that interesting achievable data rates can be attained when the harvested energy is used for data communication purposes.

Victor Fernandes

Papers

Hybrid PLC/Wireless Communication for Smart Grids and Internet of Things Applications

Analyses of the Incomplete Low-Bit-Rate Hybrid PLC-Wireless Single-Relay Channel

A Hybrid Power Line/Wireless Dual-Hop System With Energy Harvesting Relay

The Low-Bit-Rate Hybrid Power Line/Wireless Single-Relay Channel

Dedicated Energy Harvesting in Concatenated Hybrid PLC-Wireless Systems