Smart Metering Cybersecurity-Requirements, Methodology, and Testing.

This paper addresses the current challenges in cybersecurity of smart metering infrastructure, specifically in relation to the Czech Decree 359/2020 and the DLMS security suite (device language message specification). The authors present a novel testing methodology for verifying cybersecurity requirements, motivated by the need to comply with European directives and legal requirements of the Czech authority. The methodology encompasses testing cybersecurity parameters of smart meters and related infrastructure, as well as evaluating wireless communication technologies in the context of cybersecurity requirements. The article contributes by summarizing the cybersecurity requirements, creating a testing methodology, and evaluating a real smart meter, using the proposed approach. The authors conclude by presenting a methodology that can be replicated and tools that can be used to test smart meters and the related infrastructure. This paper aims to propose a more effective solution and takes a significant step towards improving the cybersecurity of smart metering technologies.

Cable Monitoring Using Broadband Power Line Communication.

Power line communication (PLC) is considered one of the possible communication technologies for applications in the field of smart metering, smart substations, smart homes, and recently for the management of renewable resources or micro grid control. This article deals with the use of PLC technology to determine the technical condition of the cable. This coefficient can help distribution system operators (DSO) to assess the condition of their cable routes. In this way, possible cable breakdowns and subsequent power outages can be prevented. The resulting methodology for calculating the coefficient is presented in two specific examples of routes, in which a significant benefit for DSO's can be found.

Broadband Power Line Communication for Integration of Energy Sensors within a Smart City Ecosystem.

The popularity of the Power Line Communication (PLC) system has decreased due to significant deficiencies in the technology itself, even though new wire installation is not required. In particular, regarding the request for high-speed throughput to fulfill smart-grid requirements, Broadband Power Line (BPLC) can be considered. This paper approaches PLC technology as an object of simulation experimentation in the Broadband Power Line Communication (BPLC) area. Several experimental measurements in a real environment are also given. This paper demonstrates these experimental simulation results as potential mechanisms for creating a complex simulation tool for various PLC technologies focusing on communication with end devices such as sensors and meters. The aim is to demonstrate the potential and limits of BPLC technology for implementation in Smart Grids or Smart Metering applications.

Possibilities of Broadband Power Line Communications for Smart Home and Smart Building Applications.

Broadband Power Line communication is considered as one of possible communication technologies for the buildings communication infrastructure in the concept of Smart Building. The possible applications where BPL (Broadband over Power Lines) solution can be used for communication in the concept of Smart Building are Power Quality (PQ) measurement, Electric Vehicle or Micro Grids and Distribution Generation (DG). This article should help to determine clear performance possibilities of BPL for an implementation in Smart Building especially due to a large amount of overhead caused by cybersecurity and the protocol overhead. The possibilities of BPL were measured with five different BPL solutions. The results show a sufficient throughput on the application layer for Smart Building application, because, in the literature, various throughput limits are introduced. According to related work, there are missing measurements on the application layer for laboratory conditions as well as compared with real field measurements. In this article, we also exploit our novel idea of a broadband PLC (Power Line Communication) modem integrated into an electrical outlet.

Transfection by Polyethyleneimine-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles: Fine-Tuning the Condition for Electrophysiological Experiments.

A non-viral tool for the delivery of nucleic acids termed magnetofection was recently developed as a promising transgenic technique with high transfection efficiency for gene delivery into mammalian cells. Despite the fact that transfection efficiency was the objective in the past, the post-transfection cell morphology and the essential gigaseal formation between cells and patch clamp glass electrodes have not been studied in detail. The cell viability and fluorescent response of Accelerated Sensor of Action Potentials (ASAP1) were studied in somatic HEK293 cells with respect to preserving physiological cell behavior and morphology. The DNA vector (pcDNA3.1/Puro-CAG-ASAP1) was intracellularly delivered by DNA/polyethyleneimine/magnetic nanoparticles and the transfection protocols varied in complex formations were optimized with respect to transfection rate, cytotoxicity of modified nanoparticles and essential gigaseal formation needed for patch clamp technique. A patch clamp study of transfected cells was carried out 72 hours post-transfection. Our results showed the best complex formation in order DNA/magnetic nanoparticle/polyethyleneimine that provides 51.82% transfection efficiency, 83.45% of patch clamp applicable cells, and 90.15% of gigasealed patch clamp applicable cells. A significant difference in fluorescent response of transfected cells was not found compared to control. Thus, these observations suggested that a large amount of the cells were able to create a gigaseal with a glass electrode 72 hours from transfection despite the lower transfection efficiencies.

A Harmonized Perspective on Transportation Management in Smart Cities: The Novel IoT-Driven Environment for Road Traffic Modeling.

The unprecedented growth of today's cities together with increased population mobility are fueling the avalanche in the numbers of vehicles on the roads. This development led to the new challenges for the traffic management, including the mitigation of road congestion, accidents, and air pollution. Over the last decade, researchers have been focusing their efforts on leveraging the recent advances in sensing, communications, and dynamic adaptive technologies to prepare the deployed road traffic management systems (TMS) for resolving these important challenges in future smart cities. However, the existing solutions may still be insufficient to construct a reliable and secure TMS that is capable of handling the anticipated influx of the population and vehicles in urban areas. Along these lines, this work systematically outlines a perspective on a novel modular environment for traffic modeling, which allows to recreate the examined road networks in their full resemblance. Our developed solution is targeted to incorporate the progress in the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, where low-power, embedded devices integrate as part of a next-generation TMS. To mimic the real traffic conditions, we recreated and evaluated a practical traffic scenario built after a complex road intersection within a large European city.