Poster Abstract: Bits and Watts: Improving energy disaggregation performance using power line communication modems

TL;DR

This paper proposes using commercial power line communication modems to improve energy disaggregation by detecting appliance signatures through bandwidth changes, offering a low-cost, easy-to-deploy alternative to traditional methods.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach utilizing COTS PLC modems to identify appliance signatures based on bandwidth variations, addressing challenges in NILM with a practical solution.

Findings

Bandwidth reduction correlates with appliance operation.

Method effectively distinguishes appliances based on powerline noise signatures.

Potential for low-cost, scalable NILM deployment.

Abstract

Non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) or energy disaggregation, aims to disaggregate a household's electricity consumption into constituent appliances. More than three decades of work in NILM has resulted in the development of several novel algorithmic approaches. However, despite these advancements, two core challenges still exist: i) disaggregating low power consumption appliances and ii) distinguishing between multiple instances of similar appliances. These challenges are becoming increasingly important due to an increasing number of appliances and increased usage of electronics in homes. Previous approaches have attempted to solve these problems using expensive hardware involving high sampling rates better suited to laboratory settings, or using additional number of sensors, limiting the ease of deployment. In this work, we explore using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) power line communication (PLC) modems as an inexpensive and easy to deploy alternative solution to these problems. We use the reduction in bandwidth between two PLC modems, caused due to the change in PLC modulation scheme when different appliances are operated as a signature for an appliance. Since the noise generated in the powerline is dependent both on type and location of an appliance, we believe that our technique based on PLC modems can be a promising addition for solving NILM.