Smart meter privacy with an energy harvesting device and instantaneous power constraints

Giulio Giaconi, Deniz Gunduz, H. Vincent Poor

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

A smart meter (SM) periodically measures end-user electricity consumption and reports it to a utility provider (UP). Despite the advantages of SMs, their use leads to serious concerns about consumer privacy. In this paper, SM privacy is studied by considering the presence of an energy harvesting device (EHD) as a means of masking the user's input load. The user can satisfy part or all of his/her energy needs from the EHD, and hence, less information can be leaked to the UP via the SM. The EHD is typically equipped with a rechargeable energy storage device, i.e., a battery, whose instantaneous energy content limits the user's capability in covering his/her energy usage. Privacy is measured by the information leaked about the user's real energy consumption when the UP observes the energy requested from the grid, which the SM reads and reports to the UP. The minimum information leakage rate is characterized as a computable information theoretic single-letter expression when the EHD battery capacity is either infinite or zero. Numerical results are presented for a discrete binary input load to illustrate the potential privacy gains from the existence of a storage device.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 2015
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages7216-7221
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781467364324
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 9 2015
EventIEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 2015 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: Jun 8 2015Jun 12 2015

Publication series

NameIEEE International Conference on Communications
Volume2015-September
ISSN (Print)1550-3607

Other

OtherIEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period6/8/156/12/15

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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