What is the UCLA WINSmartGrid?
The UCLA WINSmartGrid is a network platform technology that allows electricity operated appliances such as plug-in automobile, washer, dryer, or, air conditioner to be wirelessly monitored, connected and controlled via a Smart Wireless hub. The WINSmartGrid technology connects home appliances and smart meters to the WINSmartGrid web service that receives live feeds from utilities and external sources on information such as instantaneous price of power, future prices, etc., and sends control signals to the WINSmartGrid which in turn dynamically controls various appliances in real time. Important aspects of this system include low-power capabilities, generic/flexible/reconfigurable technology, two-way communication capability, open-architecture for integration with sensors, devices, networks and appliances, and, standards-based interfaces.
This technology allows utilities - at the edge of the network - enabling technology to provide consumers incentive-based consumption of electrical power during off-peak hours, to store this power in millions of battery-operated Plug-In automobiles, which can subsequently utilize the stored power during the peak hours for transportation thereby helping utilize the off peak-time capacity. By intelligently operating appliances via a wireless open architecture approach within the home with WINSmartGrid, the utilities can simultaneously reduce peak power requirements during the daytime.
The WINSmartGrid system is based on the advanced technology called the ReWINS (Reconfigurable Wireless Interface for Networking of Sensors http://winmec.ucla.edu/rewins) that was developed in the Wireless Media Lab and WINMEC in UCLA over the past six years. Its architecture is a tri-layered architecture (that derives from the WINRFID Middleware and Edgeware research - http://winmec.ucla.edu/winrfid) that separates the hardware via Edgeware, the control, setup and data functions in the Middleware and the decision making in the Centralware.
