Judith Schwarzer and Günther Eibl joined the IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT) 2015 in Sevilla with paper presentations.

In her presentation about the “Evaluation of data communication requirements for common demand response models” Judith Schwarzer introduced the results of a meta-analysis (31 contributions on literature). Based on an extensive survey of existing algorithms the evaluation model identifies the data communication requirements for common DR models. As a result, mandatory and optional communication links are identified. Based on the type of exchanged data, some general recommendations concerning security measures could be given.

Günther Eibl presented his work on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) and Security, one of our core research topics at ICIT. In his contribution Günther Eibl set the focus on defining actual use cases for privacy in Smart Metering and PETs. The perspective of use cases ist crucial to map the correct PETs to each use case and to identify gaps, use cases which are privacy-relevant but not yet covered by a PET.
By combining and reorganizing use cases of existing use case collections, a set of privacy relevant use cases was found. Besides these findings new questions for future research on use cases arised.

IEEE ICIT is one of the flagship yearly conferences of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, devoted to the dissemination of new ideas, research and works in progress within the fields of intelligent and computer control systems, robotics, factory communications and automation, flexible manufacturing, data acquisition and signal processing, vision systems, and power electronics.

• J. Schwarzer and D. Engel, “Evaluation of data communication requirements for common demand response models,” in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT) 2015, Seville, Spain, 2015, p. 1311–1316.
  [Bibtex]

  @InProceedings{Schwarzer15a,
  author = {Judith Schwarzer and Dominik Engel},
  title = {Evaluation of data communication requirements for common demand response models},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT) 2015},
  year = {2015},
  pages = {1311--1316},
  address = {Seville, Spain},
  publisher = {IEEE},
  pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Schwarzer15a.pdf},
  }

• G. Eibl, D. Engel, and C. Neureiter, “Privacy-Relevant Smart Metering Use Cases,” in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT) 2015, Seville, Spain, 2015, p. 1387–1392.
  [Bibtex]

  @InProceedings{Eibl15b,
  author = {G\"{u}nther Eibl and Dominik Engel and Christian Neureiter},
  title = {Privacy-Relevant Smart Metering Use Cases},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT) 2015},
  year = {2015},
  pages = {1387--1392},
  address = {Seville, Spain},
  publisher = {IEEE},
  pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Eibl15b.pdf},
  }

Christian Neureiter joined an expert discussion at the “Bauen und Wohnen Salzburg” fair to talk about tasks and opportunities for ICT in the field of Ambient Assisted Living.

With the increasing ageing of population, our society is forced to consider a new approach for dealing with related issues. A growing number of elderly people and their individual needs are faced with limited ressources in care and support. Most of the elderly desire to live in their own homes as long as possible. But phenomena such as a fall followed by helplessness or inicipent dementia (catchword cooker) often require a move to sheltered housing.

“This raises the question of how elderly people are enabled to live a longer and self-determined life in their own homes. Under the title “Ambient Assisted Living” there are being developed and tested concepts and technological solutions currently, to open new prospects for this matter”, explaines Christian Neureiter.

The Bauen und Wohnen Salzburg, an international fair for building, housing and energy saving took place from 05. – 08.02.2015. For further information: http://www.bauen-wohnen.co.at

ICT developments in the field of Ambient Assisted Living are funded by the European Union in the course of research projects, joint programmes, that run in cooperation with the FFG. Innovative and technical developments shall enhance the quality of elderly peoples lifes, their autonomy, safety and well-being. In particular a long, healthy and independent stay at home should be ensured to the ageing population, according to the funding bodies.

Refering to the congress slogan “intelligent solutions for our future lifes” Norbert Egger and Christian Neureiter presented their latest research on Model Driven Architecture for Smart Grid Systems, that will be needed to realize the network technological demands of a Smart City. Norbert Egger discussed about adopting an SGAM based demand side management architecture for the realization of Ambient Assisted Living. Christian Neureiter spoke about adressing the complexity of distributed Smart City Systems by utilization of Model Driven Engineering concepts.

VDE, the is one of the largest technical and scientific associations in Europe with more than 36,000 members. This years congress took place in Frankfurt, Germany from October 20 to October 21, 2014.

• C. Dänekas, D. Engel, C. Neureiter, S. Rohjans, J. Trefke, and M. Uslar, “Durchgängige Werkzeugunterstützung für das EU Mandat M/490: Vom Anwendungsfall bis zur Visualisierung,” in Proceedings VDE Kongress 2014, 2014, p. 1–6.
  [Bibtex]

  @InProceedings{Daenekas14b,
  author = {Christian D\"{a}nekas and Dominik Engel and Christian Neureiter and Sebastian Rohjans and J\"{o}rn Trefke and Mathias Uslar},
  title = {{Durchg\"{a}ngige Werkzeugunterst\"{u}tzung für das EU Mandat M/490: Vom Anwendungsfall bis zur Visualisierung}},
  booktitle = {{Proceedings VDE Kongress 2014}},
  year = {2014},
  pages = {1--6},
  month = oct,
  note = {In German.},
  pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Daenekas14b.pdf},
  url = {http://conference.vde.com/kongress2014/Seiten/Tagungsband.aspx},
  }

• C. Neureiter, S. Rohjans, D. Engel, C. Dänekas, and M. Uslar, “Addressing the Complexity of Distributed Smart City Systems by Utilization of Model Driven Engineering Concepts,” in Proceedings VDE Kongress 2014, 2014, p. 1–6.
  [Bibtex]

  @InProceedings{Neureiter14c,
  author = {Christian Neureiter and Sebastian Rohjans and Dominik Engel and Christian D\"{a}nekas and Mathias Uslar},
  title = {Addressing the Complexity of Distributed Smart City Systems by Utilization of Model Driven Engineering Concepts},
  booktitle = {{Proceedings VDE Kongress 2014}},
  year = {2014},
  pages = {1--6},
  month = oct,
  pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Neureiter14c.pdf},
  url = {http://conference.vde.com/kongress2014/Seiten/Tagungsband.aspx},
  }

Following an invitation of the Christian Doppler Research Foundation, Dominik Engel participated in the 6. Christian Doppler Forum that took place from 17.-18.09.2014 in Styria, Bad Blumau.
Dominik Engel presented our laboratory and scientific work and spoke about the question, how basic research is able to resolve practical needs.
The Christian Doppler Forum is organized in perennially intervals by the Christian Doppler Gesellschaft to promote dialogue and exchange between heads of Christian Doppler laboratories and Josef Ressel Centers.

Our research team and our university management are pleased that we could welcome our Governor, Dr. Wilfried Haslauer, on July 3rd. Together with our company partners Salzburg AG and Salzburg Wohnbau, we presented our research activities to him and informed about our future plans.

The Land Salzburg has granted our research centre with an initial funding, which was the particular occasion for Dr. Haslauers visit.

“Smart grids are the future of energy grids. Salzburg is already a smart grid model region, where major companies such as the Salzburg AG and the Salzburg Wohnbau are lead partners with researchers at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. Thus, the direct link between industry and research is to the benefit of both sides” explained Governor Dr. Haslauer. He congratulated our research team for its productive cooperation and wished success for our future.

A Special Session on “Security and Privacy Technologies for Intelligent Energy Networks” has been hosted by the research center together with TU Delft at ACM Information Hiding and Multimedia Security (IHMMSEC) 2014. Three contributions were presented, dealing with privacy in smart metering and security management in smart grids.

For our research center, Günther Eibl presented a paper discussing the relation of measurement interval in smart metering and privacy-sensitive information. Currently smart meters are beeing installed in Austria. Data privacy specialists have warned that personal information can be extracted with use of smart meters. However, existing scientific studies to smart meter privacy usually consider measurements performed with short time intervals such as a few seconds. It is still unclear what information can be obtained from longer time intervals like the planned quarter-hour values. The research team at Josef Ressel Zentrum has carried out first studies in this direction. It was shown that switching on and off short-use equipment can no longer be detected in longer time intervals. With a time interval of 15 Minutes, switching operations of lights can still be detected, whereas typically used houshold appliances like a microwave oven, water heater or hairdryer can no longer be consistently detected.

• G. Eibl and D. Engel, “Influence of Data Granularity on Nonintrusive Appliance Load Monitoring,” in Proceedings of the Second ACM Workshop on Information Hiding and Multimedia Security (IH&MMSec ’14), Salzburg, Austria, 2014, p. 147–151.
  [Bibtex]

  @InProceedings{Eibl14a,
  author = {G\"{u}nther Eibl and Dominik Engel},
  title = {Influence of Data Granularity on Nonintrusive Appliance Load Monitoring},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Second ACM Workshop on Information Hiding and Multimedia Security (IH\&MMSec '14)},
  year = {2014},
  pages = {147--151},
  address = {Salzburg, Austria},
  publisher = {ACM},
  doi = {10.1145/2600918.2600920},
  isbn = {978-1-4503-2647-6},
  location = {Salzburg, Austria},
  numpages = {5},
  pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Eibl14a.pdf},
  publisher-address = {New York, NY, USA},
  url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2600918.2600920},
  }

Three members of our research staff and one of our master students presented their research activities at the Smart Grids Week in Graz.
The Smart Grids Week has been established as an important meeting place for business, network operators and researchers in the field of intelligent electricity infrastructure. From 19 to 23 May, about 300 national and international experts met in Graz to exchange their latest knowledge and for initiating future projects.
Christian Neureiter held a poster presentation about “Model Driven Architecture for Smart Grid Systems” which was worked out together with colleagues from OFFIS (Institute for Information Technology Oldenburg).
Christian Peuker and Chrisitan Peer, alumni of the school of Information Technology and Systems Management presented their Master’s theses: “Kommunikationssicherheit in einer Smart Metering Infrastructure“ is the title of Christian Peukers work and Christian Peers work is titled “Hierarchical Key Management for Multi-resolution Load Data Representation“. Dominik Engel participated in a panel discussion on user acceptance of smart meters and the role of privacy.

Two paper presentations were held at the 8th research meeting of Austrian Universities of Applied Sciences in Kufstein (FFH 2014).
Research assistants Christian Peuker and Rene Blaschke, absolvents of ITS master degree program, presented results of their research activities at the Josef Ressel Zentrum carried out in the course of their Master Theses.
Rene Blaschke discussed flexible and secure integration of Smart Grid User-Cases in a service-orientated IKT-architecture, Christian Peuker presented a practicable communications security in a Smart Metering Infrastructure.

• R. Blaschke and D. Engel, “Flexible und sichere Integration von Smart Grid Use-Cases in einer serviceorientierten IKT-Architektur,” in Proc. 8. Forschungsforum der Österreichischen Fachhochschulen, 2014, p. 42–46.
  [Bibtex]

  @InProceedings{Blaschke14a,
  author = {Ren\'{e} Blaschke and Dominik Engel},
  title = {{F}lexible und sichere {I}ntegration von {S}mart {G}rid {U}se-{C}ases in einer serviceorientierten {IKT}-{A}rchitektur},
  booktitle = {{Proc. 8. Forschungsforum der \"{O}sterreichischen Fachhochschulen}},
  year = {2014},
  editor = {Johannes L\"{u}thi and Hans-Peter Steinebacher},
  pages = {42--46},
  note = {In German.},
  isbn = {978-3-9503491-9-1},
  pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Blaschke14a.pdf},
  }

• C. Peuker and D. Engel, “Praxistaugliche Kommunikationssicherheit in einer Smart Metering Infrastruktur,” in Proc. 8. Forschungsforum der Österreichischen Fachhochschulen, 2014, p. 72–76.
  [Bibtex]

  @InProceedings{Peuker14a,
  author = {Christian Peuker and Dominik Engel},
  title = {{P}raxistaugliche {K}ommunikationssicherheit in einer {S}mart {M}etering {I}nfrastruktur},
  booktitle = {{Proc. 8. Forschungsforum der \"{O}sterreichischen Fachhochschulen}},
  year = {2014},
  editor = {Johannes L\"{u}thi and Hans-Peter Steinebacher},
  pages = {72--76},
  note = {In German.},
  isbn = {978-3-9503491-9-1},
  pdf = {http://www.en-trust.at/papers/Peuker14a.pdf},
  }

Dominik Engel discussed about challenges and approaches to privacy in smart metering at the Smart Grid Forum on the HANNOVER MESSE 2014.
The HANNOVER MESSE 2014 opened its doors from 07. – 11. April and welcomed about 200.000 visitors from over 90 different countries. With its slogan “Integrated Industry – NEXT STEPS” this worldwide most important fair addressed the central focus for the branches future and defined the next steps towards intelligent and self-organized factories.
Dominik Engel was invited to speak at the Smart Grid Forum that took place in the key topic Energy & Environmental Engineering, to inform about topics and opportunities of the Josef Ressel Centres research in the upcoming energy transition.
In his presentation he first evaluated misgivings in privacy and current technical and regulatory solutions for protecting private information. Next, he spoke about present user acceptance of smart meters and discussed new approaches for protection of privacy in the smart grid and for secure smart metering.

Numerous research institutions, universities and organizations throughout Austria opened their doors on April 4 and presented exciting research projects and results.
Researchers of Josef Ressel Center participated with two experimental setups at the location of Salzburg University of Applied Sciences:
Armin Veichtlbauer together with ITS Master students Martin Kreil and Manuel Parfant presented how load curves can be securely transmitted by a smart-meter for typical household consumers, using a gateway according to the German BSI Protection Profile. Günther Eibl explained how special encryption methods can be used for privacy protection in monitoring aggregation scenarios.