Abstract

Abstract
The growth of renewable energy sources usage at the local level contributes to decentralizing the power and energy systems. Nowadays, there is an increment of residential consumers becoming prosumers able to consume their generation or sell it to the public grid to reduce the electricity bill. This great penetration of electricity compromises the proper functioning of the system. Local electricity markets (LEM) are market platforms aimed at electricity end-users to be able to negotiate and transact it between them, thus becoming active players in the system, being a possible solution to balance local systems. Different approaches for LEM design and implementation are proposed in the literature, usually based on community markets and peer-to-peer. Despite their value, these solutions' scalability is compromised as these are centralized solutions, and processing can become very heavy. In this sense, this work proposes a blockchain-based distributed and decentralized optimal solution for implementing LEM. © 2022 IEEE.

Abstract
Given the fact that CubeSats are becoming an alternative for accessible, reduced-risk development for space applications within an emergent technological market and that the power demand of these type of nanosatellites is increasing due to the complexity of the defined missions, an alternative solution to traditional energy harvesting systems (i.e., solar panels and batteries) is proposed within the WiPTherm project. Being a high-risk category (FET-Future and Emerging Technologies) project within the H2020 European funding scheme, it aims to provide a Wireless Energy Transfer solution via a photo-thermoelectric plasmonic (HPTP) generator array device that can convert photonic energy to electrical energy via thermal gradient. In order to create it, a long-range, continuous-wave (CW) laser source targets the cells of the HPTP generator, forming, as such, the photo-thermoelectric plasmonic system. Two possible scenarios were taken into account and presented in terms of mission requirements: the laser source charging the satellite from Earth, or a laser system mounted onto a master satellite charging a CubeSat orbiting Mars/Jupiter, within the context of a deep space mission. The development of such Wireless Energy Transfer (WET) system implies an improvement of the current technology in different research fields, among them: nanomaterials, photonics, electronics, and space systems. For the success of the project, all of them shall be developed considering the different interfaces as well as the assembly principles, to be compatible with the support structure: a 3U CubeSat. From the Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) plan point of view, a testing philosophy involving different models is presented: an STM of the complete 3U CubeSat for the development of higher-fidelity tests when evaluating both structural and thermal HPTP baseplate capabilities; an Engineering Model, where all the subsystems will be assembled on the CubeSat platform and all its functionalities tested; development models for all spacecraft subsystems that are new developments and are not off the shelf: HPTP, the CubeSat electrical module and the laser generator. As a conclusion, this work presents the concept beyond the technology herein purposed, its applicability, and, from the systems engineering point of view, the challenges faced on the AIV plan. © 2022 International Astronautical Federation, IAF. All rights reserved.

Abstract
The estimation of dendrometric parameters of tree crops is crucial to decision making support for ecological and economic reasons. However, traditional methods for its measurement are time-consuming and laborious. Remote sensing data acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) combined with computer vision and Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms can provide an easier and reliable solution to estimate those parameters. Nevertheless, various UAV flight settings can influence the quality of parameters derived from these data (e.g., flight height, imagery overlap). Thus, the main goal of this study is to assess the impact of different flight configurations on the detection of olive trees and on height and crown diameter estimation. The results showed that not only the configuration of the flight affects the dendrometric results, but also the topography of the terrain. Automatic tree detection revealed to be insensitive to the different flight configurations, whereas the tree height estimation was strongly affected. Among the analysed flights, the plan in double grid at 60 m of flight altitude and 90% of frontal overlap showed the best performance.

Abstract
In this study, an interrogation system based on an erbium-doped fiber ring cavity for refractive index measurements is presented and experimentally demonstrated. This cavity ring includes a 1 x 3 coupler wherein one of the fiber output ports is used to increase the optical power of the system by means of an FBG used as a reflector. The other two output ports are used as a refractive index sensing head and reference port, respectively. An experimental demonstration of this proposed sensor system for the measurement of a distinct refractive index is presented.

Abstract
The integration of distributed energy resources contributes to accomplishing a balance between the supply and demand inside a local market. The operation of these markets is based on the peer-to-peer negotiations between users, whose cooperation leads to an increase in the social welfare of the community, thus creating a more user-centric market. This work fits in the context of the energy community, where members of a community can exchange energy in peer-to-peer transactions and use the public electricity grid as a backup. The market aims at maximizing the social welfare of the community considering the operational costs of all community members. A particle swarm optimization algorithm implemented in Python is used to solve the problem. © 2022 IEEE.