Research Projects

Given the ever increasing appetite for energy, producers and consumers must address a number of challenges, like reducing energy consumption by improving utilization and reducing wastage, and flattening peak-demand through optimal demand-supply matching. But, managing energy demands cannot be left to ad-hoc approaches that depend on human actions: Information and Communication Technologies have a key role to play, through occupancy and needs-based appliance usage, and timely demand-response strategies, including appropriate scheduling and resource allocation. The novelty of our approach to smart energy management lies in judiciously combining physics based and data-driven models, off-line planning with timely dynamic decision making, and minimal physical sensor infrastructure with sophisticated soft sensors (virtual sensors that can replace physical sensors) based on our notion of observability. The project aims to provide solutions that will be showcased in campus buildings, and subsequently packaged and deployed in partners’ premises.