Developing an Open Architecture Testbed and Learning-based Management for Smart Cities (OpenCity)

Principal Investigator: 
Sherif Abdelwahed, professor, electrical and computer engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University

Co-Principal Investigators: 
Nasibeh Zohrabi, post-doctoral fellow, electrical and computer engineering, VCU; Ashraf Tantawy, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering, VCU; Murat Kuzlu, assistant professor, electrical engineering technology, Old Dominion University

Project Description: 
In this project, we will develop an open architecture testbed for smart cities, called OpenCity, which consists of data collection and processing units, database management, distributed performance management algorithms, and real-time data visualization. The aim of the proposed smart city testbed is to support various educational and research activities related to smart city development. The testbed will provide a new-real-life platform to allow students to learn about the unique features of smart cities and explore the supporting technologies. In addition, it will facilitate the development, deployment, and validation of new tools and algorithms to support future smart city developments. The proposed testbed will support various ongoing important research directions in smart cities, including smart buildings, urban mobility, smart energy distribution, and water management. In addition, it will be extendable to include other potential applications and components as needed. The developed testbed will be validated by developing and deploying a learning-based management system that focuses on building comfort and resource efficiency. The learning-based management system will integrate model-based predictive control approach and learning techniques to enable real-time management of the complex building system considering various uncertainties including human behavior and environment condition.

.