Publications
Packetized energy management: asynchronous and anonymous coordination of thermostatically controlled loads
American Control Conference (ACC), 2017, , 1431-1437, 2017
Status: Published
Citations:
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Abstract: Because of their internal energy storage, electrically powered, distributed thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) have the potential to be dynamically managed to match their aggregate load to the available supply. However, in order to facilitate consumer acceptance of this type of load management, TCLs need to be managed in a way that avoids degrading perceived quality of service (QoS), autonomy, and privacy. This paper presents a real-time, adaptable approach to managing TCLs that both meets the requirements of the grid and does not require explicit knowledge of a specific TCL's state. The method leverages a packetized, probabilistic approach to energy delivery that draws inspiration from digital communications. We demonstrate the packetized approach using a case-study of 1000 simulated water heaters and show that the method can closely track a time-varying reference signal without noticeably degrading the QoS. In addition, we illustrate how placing a simple ramp-rate limit on the aggregate response overcomes synchronization effects that arise under prolonged peak curtailment scenarios.
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Bongard's work focuses on understanding the general nature of cognition, regardless of whether it is found in humans, animals or robots. This unique approach focuses on the role that morphology and evolution plays in cognition. Addressing these questions has taken him into the fields of biology, psychology, engineering and computer science.
Continuous Self-Modeling. Science 314, 1118 (2006). [Journal Page]

Danforth is an applied mathematician interested in modeling a variety of physical, biological, and social phenomenon. He has applied principles of chaos theory to improve weather forecasts as a member of the Mathematics and Climate Research Network, and developed a real-time remote sensor of global happiness using messages from Twitter: the Hedonometer. Danforth co-runs the Computational Story Lab with Peter Dodds, and helps run UVM's reading group on complexity.

Laurent studies the interaction of structure and dynamics. His research involves network theory, statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics along with their applications in epidemiology, ecology, biology, and sociology. Recent projects include comparing complex networks of different nature, the coevolution of human behavior and infectious diseases, understanding the role of forest shape in determining stability of tropical forests, as well as the impact of echo chambers in political discussions.

Hines' work broadly focuses on finding ways to make electric energy more reliable, more affordable, with less environmental impact. Particular topics of interest include understanding the mechanisms by which small problems in the power grid become large blackouts, identifying and mitigating the stresses caused by large amounts of electric vehicle charging, and quantifying the impact of high penetrations of wind/solar on electricity systems.

Bagrow's interests include: Complex Networks (community detection, social modeling and human dynamics, statistical phenomena, graph similarity and isomorphism), Statistical Physics (non-equilibrium methods, phase transitions, percolation, interacting particle systems, spin glasses), and Optimization(glassy techniques such as simulated/quantum annealing, (non-gradient) minimization of noisy objective functions).