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170 records · Page 10

Meeting Global Health Needs via Infectious Disease Forecasting: Development of a Reliable Data-Driven Framework

Infectious diseases (IDs) have a significant detrimental impact on global health. Timely and accurate ID forecasting can result in more informed implementation of control measures and prevention policies. To meet the operational decision-making needs of real-world circumstances, we aimed to build a standardized, reliable, and trustworthy ID forecasting pipeline and visualization dashboard that is generalizable across a wide range of modeling techniques, IDs, and global locations. We forecasted 6 diverse, zoonotic diseases (brucellosis, campylobacteriosis, Middle East respiratory syndrome, Q fever, tick-borne encephalitis, and tularemia) across 4 continents and 8 countries. We included a wide range of statistical, machine learning, and deep learning models (n=9) and trained them on a multitude of features (average n=2326) within the One Health landscape, including demography, landscape, climate, and socioeconomic factors. The pipeline and dashboard were created in consideration of crucial operational metrics—prediction accuracy, computational efficiency, spatiotemporal generalizability, uncertainty quantification, and interpretability—which are essential to strategic data-driven decisions. While no single best model was suitable for all disease, region, and country combinations, our ensemble technique selects the best-performing model for each given scenario to achieve the closest prediction. For new or emerging diseases in a region, the ensemble model can predict how the disease may behave in the new region using a pretrained model from a similar region with a history of that disease. The data visualization dashboard provides a clean interface of important analytical metrics, such as ID temporal patterns, forecasts, prediction uncertainties, and model feature importance across all geographic locations and disease combinations. As the need for real-time, operational ID forecasting capabilities increases, this standardized and automated platform for data collection, analysis, and reporting is a major step forward in enabling evidence-based public health decisions and policies for the prevention and mitigation of future ID outbreaks.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

An Advanced Cyber-Physical System Security Testbed for Substation Automation

A Cyber-Physical System (CPS) testbed serves as a powerful platform for testing and validating cyber intrusion detection and mitigation strategies in substations. This study presents the design and development of a CPS testbed that can effectively assess the real-time dynamics of a substation. Cyber attacks exploiting IEC 61850-based SV and GOOSE protocols are demonstrated using the testbed, along with an analysis on attack detection. Realistic timing measurements are obtained, and the time frames for deploying detection and mitigation strategies are evaluated.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation of an Advanced Distributed Energy Resource Management Algorithm

This paper presents the laboratory performance evaluation of voltage regulation under a new distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) algorithm via an advanced hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform. The HIL platform provides realistic testing in a laboratory environment, including the accurate modeling of a full-scale real-world distribution system from a utility partner, the DERMS software controller, and power hardware photovoltaic (PV) inverters. The new DERMS algorithm is developed based on online multi-objective optimization (OMOO) algorithms that perform fast dispatch of distributed solar PV simulated in a real-time digital simulator and real physical hardware devices. Experimental tests confirm the correct functioning of the HIL platform for evaluating controller algorithms and satisfactory voltage regulation performance of the developed OMOO algorithms.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗

Real-time and Autonomous Water Quality Monitoring System Based on Remotely Operated Vehicle

Existing water quality monitoring systems near hydropower facilities are limited by the lack of mobility of the sensors’ carrier platform. Most systems use a buoy, a mounting fixture attached to a solid structure, or a human worker, which significantly limits the selection of the sampling sites and poses safety risks during data collection and equipment maintenance. To improve on this technology, we developed an autonomous water quality monitoring system that can operate in dangerous water environments near hydropower facilities for water sampling at multiple locations. The goal is to enable safe, timely, and comprehensive water-quality data collection; maximize power generation revenue with improved operational control; and reduce Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state water quality monitoring costs for compliance. The system incorporates a remotely operated vehicle as the mobile monitoring platform, a dissolved oxygen sensor for monitoring water quality, a tether management system for automatically winding the tether, a solar mobile docking platform for suppling power to the ROV, and a web-based graphical user interface for data post-processing and visualization. In addition, preliminary field research are presented to demonstrate the system capabilities.

Salalila, Aljon L.↗

Characterization of Connected Lighting System Potential for Grid Services Under Real-Time Pricing

Increasingly over the last decade, the management of end-use electricity demand has been examined as a potential source of services for the electric power grid beyond contracts with large commercial and industrial customers. Lighting represents about 17\% of U.S. commercial building annual electricity consumption; however, its potential rapid speed of response may position it to uniquely contribute to services that improve the reliability and resilience of the grid. Connected lighting systems (CLS), which build upon solid-state lamp technology, can change state by adjusting power demand more quickly than most other building electricity end uses and could be used as a platform to monitor lighting electricity use and space conditions. But the potential of CLS to provide grid services has not been extensively studied. In this paper, we describe initial research to evaluate the potential of CLS for grid services. We develop a model for CLS using a set of parameters to represent operation behaviors and constraints: maximal power, minimal power, nominal power, ramp rate, and time delay. Parameter values are generated for representative building types. CLS demand curves are constructed, indirectly capturing building occupant preferences for lighting as functions of electricity price. The CLS model and the demand curves are incorporated into a Transactive Control and Coordination (TCC) Platform to simulate CLS providing grid services. Previous research has shown TCC to be a powerful tool to enable end uses to provide grid services through a hybrid economic-control approach. Initial quantitative results will be provided for CLS grid services potential.

Wang, Peng↗

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation of an Advanced Distributed Energy Resource Management Algorithm: Preprint

This paper presents the laboratory performance evaluation of voltage regulation under a new distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) algorithm via an advanced hardware-in-tbe-loop (HIL) platform. The HIL platform provides realistic testing in a laboratory environment, including the accurate modeling of a full-scale real-world distribution system from a utility partner, the DERMS software controller, and power hardware photovoltaic (PV) inverters. The new DERMS algorithm is developed based on online multiobjective optimization (OMOO) algorithms that perform fast dispatch of distributed solar PV simulated in a real-time digital simulator and real physical hardware devices. Experimental tests confirm the correct functioning of the HIL platform for evaluating controller algorithms and satisfactory voltage regulation performance of the developed OMOO algorithms.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗

CONTROL AND DATA ACQUISITION IN A CYBER-PHYSICAL MIDSTREAM TESTBED

This thesis presents the development of a laboratory-scale cyber–physical midstream pipeline testbed designed to address this gap and support research in industrial control systems security. The platform integrates pumps, valves, sensors, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and a human–machine interface (HMI) to emulate the monitoring and control architecture of real pipeline operations. The physical process is implemented as a closed-loop liquid circulation system designed to replicate flow behavior characteristic of midstream pipeline infrastructure. The testbed enables real-time data acquisition of key process variables, including flow rate and pressure facilitating the generation of datasets representative of normal pipeline operation. A threat model encompassing common ICS attack vectors was developed, including sensor spoofing, command injection, false data injection, denial-of-service attacks, and relay manipulation. Multiple attack scenarios were implemented and evaluated to demonstrate how cyber intrusions targeting sensors, actuators, networks, and software propagate into measurable physical consequences in pipeline flow and pressure. The developed platform serves as a practical, cost-effective environment for experimentation, education, and future cybersecurity research in midstream pipeline systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NIR Dataset and Models (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Calibration Dataset for Butanediol Fermentation and Multivariate Calibration Models) [SWR-22-60]

2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) is an economically important platform chemical that can be used in a variety of chemical feedstocks, liquid fuels, and biosynthetic building blocks. While 2,3-BDO can be efficiently produced by fermentation, the fermentation requires continuous monitoring and control to maximize 2,3-BDO yields and minimize inhibitory coproducts. Because of the time required for sampling and at-line measurement of fermentation samples with high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), the ability for operators to perform real-time modification to fermentation conditions is limited. To overcome this challenge, researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a calibration model which can predict the concentration of several analytes in real-time using near-infrared (NIR) spectra of the filtered fermentation broth. While significantly reducing the need for off-line sampling, NREL expects this technology to play a critical role in maximizing 2,3-BDO production. 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) is a useful chemical platform that can be used to create a variety of products. For instance, 2,3-BDO can be (1) dehydrated and converted into methyl ethyl ketone, a liquid fuel additive or (2) deoxydehydrated into 1,3-butadiene for synthetic rubber, which can also be oligomerized in high yields to gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. In order to maximize 2,3-BDO production, frequent measurement of fermentation samples is needed, as small changes in oxygen concentration can drive the fermentation to undesired products. For example, oxygen-deficient conditions result in glycerol production, while excess oxygen concentrations result in acetoin production. This results in the need for measuring dissolved oxygen, glucose, and xylose concentrations in order to optimize the aeration rate of the fermentation. Traditional monitoring methods occurs off-line and can take up to 30 minutes per sample. With multiple fermenters and high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) injectors, resulting in the need for multiple samples, the sampling process can take hours to complete. NREL’s calibration model can predict the glucose, xylose, 2,3-BDO, acetoin, and glycerol concentrations from NIR spectra of filtered fermentation liquor samples. Using a partial least-squares (PLS) calibration model, NREL’s model can monitor the concentration of these analytes during subsequent fermentations at bench- and pilot-scale, demonstrating the utility of NIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics for real-time, at-line monitoring of 2,3-BDO fermentations.

Wolfrum, Edward↗